BakeliteCacheBlog

creating art you can wear

from her bio info

Anne-Marie Chagnon was born twice. The first time was when she came upon her mother’s jewellery box as a little girl. The second was when she began creating her own jewellery and established her company in 1995. With a keen imagination, this fine arts graduate from the Université du Québec à Montréal is now easily recognized for her unique handmade collections that playfully push boundaries and showcase familiar materials in an all new way. Pewter, wood, resin and glass come alive in her hands, simultaneously revealing their primitive, sensual and joyous sides. Their shapes are sometimes crude, sometimes minimalist and sometimes whimsical. And yet, they combine perfectly. Finally, she breaks new ground with cleverly designed pieces that can easily be transformed from necklace to bracelet to earrings. They’re nothing short of revolutionary!

Cherished for her ingenuity and original combinations, Anne-Marie Chagnon sells her jewellery-sculptures all over Quebec and Canada, as well as Europe, the U.S. and Australia. In 2003, Cirque du Soleil commissioned Chagnon to create a special collection for their Dralion show, and since then she has released new collections each year exclusively for sale in Cirque du Soleil’s boutiques around the world. As a genuine tribute to personal expression, each of her creations is art you can wear according to your whim.

hello

come see me in west palm beach for the extravaganza

at the west palm beach fair grounds

feb 5. 6, 7,

just got a fabulous collection of vintage bakelite bangles

came from a pawn shop

don’t miss them

happy new year

if you are in the west palm beach florida area come see me

at the antiques and modernism show at the expo center at the south

florida fairgrounds

jan 1-3

www.wpbaf.com

HI COME SEE ME AND SAY HELLO Chicago Antique Market 1300 W. Randolph St. (Plumbers Hall) Saturday May 23rd 10am 5pm Sunday May 24 10am 4pm

chicago il

eBay has reversed a new policy in which it required buyers to destroy items they believed were not authentic. The revised policy states that sellers should give assurances to buyers concerned about authenticity, and if buyers and sellers cannot agree that items are not counterfeit, buyers should return the items to the sellers.

As reported in AuctionBytes Newsflash on May 13, 2009, the new eBay Purchase Protection Policy had stated that, “When buyers file a claim alleging that the item is not authentic, we require the buyer to destroy the item. Once a buyer confirms destruction of the item, we will reimburse the buyer or provide an eBay coupon.”

The newly revised policy states, among other things, “If buyer and seller cannot agree that the item is not counterfeit, for covered claims that meet the conditions and are not excluded, buyers are required to send the item back to the seller. Cost of return shipping will be paid by the buyer or eBay in our sole discretion, unless otherwise agreed upon by the buyer and seller.” It also states, “Covered claims that meet the conditions and are not excluded will count as a violation by the seller of our prohibited and infringing items policy.”

There are still some circumstances in which eBay would require the buyer to have a third-party destroy an item, “in cases where there is written confirmation from the manufacturer that the item is counterfeit, or in additional circumstances where eBay elects to exercise its discretion.”

WHO IS RUNNING THIS COMPANY?

SOBRAL RESIN DESIGNER JEWELRY
FROM THE BRAZILAN DESIGNER

THIS IS INFORMATION FROM THE WEBSITE
OF SOBRAL AND THE SHOP IN PARIS WHERE HIS PIECES
ARE SOLD

In 1991, Sobral opened a wholesale store, located in the sophisticated neighborhood of Ipanema: Rita Sobral, later changed to Rsobral and nowadays only Sobral. The name was a dedication to his ex-wife, with whom he worked from the beginning of his carrier until the middle of the 90’s
the early pieces were not signed or were” signed” with
a sticker and “R”
in the last year or so many of the pieces have
the signature “engraved or carved” into the pieces
R. Sobral won the Bijorhca Éclat de Mode Fashion Accessory award for his art jewelry, won praise from Paris Fashion School for wearable art in 2005 and won favorable press from the Paris fashion media for sophisticated “hip” handmade jewelry design. HISTORY OF SOBRAL During the hippie movement in the late 60’s, Carlos Alberto Rezende Sobral – nowadays Presidente and main designer of Sobral – impregnated with the culture of that time, used produce handmade purses of leather, sandals with tire soles and costume jewelry made from corroded metal with acid. By that time, Sobral’s handicrafts, which used to be sold at restaurant doors, or in handicraft fairs and cultural events – Ouro Preto’s Winter Festival, Fenart de Miguel Pereira, Feira de Cabo Frio - were very similar to the work of millions of artisans that would find a way of living from this art. The costume jewelry market was extremely pulverized Sobral’s products would only reach the most important sales spot like the Hippie Fair at General Osório’s square, in Ipanema, through help from other people. Maybe nothing would have changed in Sobral’s professional life if, in 1976, he had not met, in a fair in Cabo Frio, Região dos Lagos, a totally new kind of raw material, the polyester resin.
When Sobral saw this material for the first time, the resin was being used by argentine artisans on the development of costume jewelry. Interested in meeting the origins of that material, Sobral asked the Argentines about the name of it and obtained as an unsatisfactory answer, followed by the word “breu”. It is not known if the name “breu” was an Argentine strategy to keep in secret the use of that resin or if it was because the material was a by-product of petroleum. Later on, when Sobral finally discovered the resin, the will to work with it motivated him to found, in 1978, an industry in the back of a small farm located on Tatú Gamela highway, in Jardim Alvorada, Nova Iguaçu. Gênesis was born, company which later would originate the Sobral. Despite its modest dimensions, the Genesis got some attention in the world of fashion. The pieces created by Sobral, different in shape and colors, quickly got some room in the press, being its creator, in 1979, interviewed on the talk show of Edna Savaget, in TV TUPI studios
The 80’s left the hippie movement behind. Fashion got sophisticated. The world of production followed its revolution. New spaces and enterprises were created. In the middle of this context, in 1981, Sobral founded the Memphis. More structured and better equipped than the old Gênesis, the new industry used to divide a shed, close to the center of Nova Iguaçu, with the School of Samba Leão do Iguaçu. In 1982, the founder of Mêmphis, who was 31 years old by that time, traveled to Paris in search of new consumers. Inexperienced and unable to speak French, Sobral arrived in the capitol of France in the middle of the celebration of July 14, the French Revolution Day. With a catalogue in hands, despite his will to win, the industrial / trader did not succeed because of the natural difficulties of doing business, or sales, in July and August, due to the vacation season in Paris. In the following year, Sobral returned to Europe, but this time he chose the right season. In his luggage there were around 120 kg of merchandise that were cleared at customs thanks to the “Brazilian way”. Sold in Paris through a delivery system, the pieces of costume jewelry conquered the European admiration and opened the way to a flow of regularexportations, making the production of Mêmphis known in Brazil and abroad. The sales of the company smashed the record and reached 1 million dollars in 1988. The investment of this capital financed the diversification of the business. . Source: THE
SOBRAL WEBSITE

is anyone shopping?

we all need to go out and shop, now, fast,

before all the stuff we love is gone

all our favorite stores will close

and all the people who make and sell our favorite

stuff

will lose their jobs

we will be in way worse trouble

then we are now

so save our economy

GO SHOP

PeSA Official Statement on eBays Marketplace:
Deteriorating eBay Market Conditions Erode Seller Confidence

Members of the Professional eBay Sellers Alliance have been concerned with the vibrancy of the eBay marketplace for the past few years. In the first nine months of 2008, we have observed a substantial deterioration in the value of the marketplace for merchants. Broader e-commerce growth is in the high teens while eBay’s GMV has increased at low single digit rates; a clear sign that eBay is losing wallet share among online shoppers.

We were encouraged with the culture of change that swept through eBay during the past 12 months; however, we believe the flawed execution of change has accelerated the deterioration of the marketplace. Today eBay merchants have an increased level of business uncertainty due to eBay’s poor execution of changes in many areas including seller performance measurement, fees, site search, buyer activity, and seller communication. The result is that merchants are changing their behavior in ways that we believe is not beneficial to the eBay marketplace.

Merchants are pursuing alternate channels for their businesses which are more economical, including launching their own website, participating in other third party channels such as Amazon and Overstock, and even opening brick and mortar stores. Based recent feedback from PeSA members, merchants are focusing on other channels at higher rates than we have ever measured in the past. Prime products that used to find their way to eBay, are now being diverted to these new “premier” channels that are reportedly delivering higher margins with greater certainty and decreased overhead.

Merchants that used to prioritize the eBay channel now regard the marketplace as a venue of last resort used mainly for liquidation of product that doesn’t sell elsewhere. eBay has acknowledged that it may have an undersupply of merchandise on the site, however, they fail to recognize that the supply issue on eBay is a direct result of their relationship with their customers, the sellers. The lack of credible communication from eBay to its sellers about its strategy has resulted in a marketplace of skeptic sellers, which is bad for business. We would like to highlight eBay’s recent move to allow “big box” retailers free access to eBay, at a competitive advantage to its existing seller base, as an example of a decision that exacerbates the situation by threatening the diverse supply of merchandise that shoppers expect on eBay.

As PeSA has stated in its prior position statements, the real issue affecting eBay is buyer activity. We believe that issue still exists. According to eBay’s latest published results, eBay’s annual active user churn rate was close to 40%. eBay has discontinued reporting the data that allowed us to actively monitor the issue, but based upon the flat active user growth, we believe eBay is still seeing poor user activity.

Unfortunately, most of the changes at eBay have been focused on sellers, not buyers. We are proponents for measuring the performance of sellers and rewarding those sellers that provide positive customer experiences. The concept is used in other marketplaces; however, the eBay execution of that concept resulted in a Detailed Seller Rating (DSR) system that is substantially flawed both in its measurement and transparency. We understand that a new system will not be perfect and should be adjusted as experience builds. The real problem is that eBay seems to be building on top of a flawed DSR system that has not been adjusted to reflect true buyer experience.

At PeSA, our position on eBay fees has been that as long as sellers are receiving value, eBay is certainly entitled to share in that value. During the past few years, that economic balance has shifted dramatically to the disadvantage of merchants. In our opinion, eBay still does not recognize that their excessive extraction of value in the form of fees and other monetization techniques has resulted in dramatic underinvestment on improving the marketplace. Declining buyer activity also has a direct result on average selling prices and conversion rates on the platform. Thus the lower margins in conjunction with rising eBay fees, results in eBay taking more value while leaving less for merchants.

In addition, the diversion of traffic off the eBay platform in the form of advertising (run by Yahoo in the US) helps eBay monetize the marketplace, but leaves less buyer traffic for merchants that list on eBay. And, the greater compliance burden of operating on eBay combined with the risk that a merchant business will be shut down with little visibility creates an unworkable environment.

We embrace the effort that eBay has made to adjust fees to better align with the success of merchants. But, again, the implementation of the changes comes across as an effort to increase the take rate on merchants without really investing in the marketplace. While eBay lowered the upfront cost to list on the marketplace, they dramatically increased the fees on the back-end. We were disappointed with this approach and would have preferred that eBay show some commitment to increase value to the marketplace before raising final value fees on its customers.

We argue that the declining economics on the marketplace justified lowering front end fees without an associated increase on the backend. After all, less buyer activity means that the marketplace is not as valuable a channel for a merchant and the cost to list on the marketplace should be less. Unfortunately, eBay does not see it that way and the result is that eBay is placing the burden of all the changes on the marketplace on the backs of its customers, which are its merchants. We continue to experience one step forward on concept and two steps back with execution. We cannot find any other case where a company, with the desire to restructure and improve its business, places the burden squarely on its customer base.

PeSA is focused on promoting professional and successful selling on the eBay marketplace and are actively working with all professional sellers to help them navigate the changes on the marketplace. We believe eBay still needs to better understand its customers and we hope that sharing our views helps highlight the most pressing issues. it is our intention to continue working with sellers and with eBay to effect positive change in the marketplace and will be publishing additional papers with more specific commentary in the near future.

• Q: What is “bakelite”?
  A: Bakelite is a completely synthetic plastic, developed and patented in 1907 by Leo Hendrik Baekeland as a shellac substitute. Celluloid and plastic were just being developed, and Baekeland’s new substance, with it superior properties of being insoluble, infusible, and cost-effective, soon made it the dominant leader in that field for handles, radio boxes, and, of course, personal jewelry. Brief chemistry tutorial: Bakelite is sometimes referred to as a “phenolic plastic” because it is made from phenol, a petroleum by-product. The characterizing feature of phenolic plastic it that it can always be made to release its distinctive smell.
• Q: How can I test that my piece to see if it is bakelite or phenolic plastic?
  A: Bakelite will release a faint but distinctive smell if you rub the piece with your fingers (that rubbing gently heats the Bakelite, and it is that heat which releases the smell). Another way to apply gentle heat is by putting the piece under hot water for a few seconds. A more conclusive test is to use Simichrome, a polishing paste—Simichrome is pink, and when a small amount is rubbed on Bakelite (usually by putting a drop of Simichrome on a Q-tip, and rubbing the “back” of the piece), the pink Simichrome turns yellow. Pink Simichrome does not change color when it is rubbed on other plastics such as lucite, galalith, french bakelite.