a variety of items.
What do a square chair, a $12,000 table, a Cuisinart, paper bowls and a bunch of silk scarves have in common? They’re all on display at the Rhode Island School of Design’s own retail store called risd/works, on Westminster Street in Providence.
RISD is the only art and design college that has successfully opened a retail store composed solely of works and products made and manufactured by alumni and members of the RISD faculty, according to risd/works Associate Director Matthew Bird, a 1989 industrial design graduate. This Oct. 1 will mark the store’s one-year anniversary.
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“It’s been one of those ideas – it was a no-brainer,” he said. “Although it was a very obvious and logical idea, it’s been very difficult” to see the idea become a reality. That idea to open a retail store showcasing RISD work can be traced back 26 years, Bird added. “It’s an educational adventure.”
Since its opening, the store, what RISD Senior Press Officer Brien McDaniel called a hybrid retail space and gallery, has had visitors from other art and design colleges, asking how RISD got it started. Not only the students, prospective students and alumni are happy about having an outlet for their work after they graduate, but parents are happy as well, Bird said. Area high schools often bring prospective students and their parents to risd/works as part of the RISD campus tours.
“Parents come in here and see all of this and say, ‘Oh, so they’re not just drawing nude people,’” he said with a laugh. It gives prospective students and their parents a chance to see what a RISD education can do, he added.
The RISD store grossed $316,000 in sales in its first year of operation.
Besides showcasing artists’ work and selling it, risd/works also serves an educational purpose, Bird said. People who might not know much about fine art and design can come into the store and learn about each piece and the artist who made it by talking to the staff. They can also use the store’s two computers to log onto the store Web site, www.risdworks.com, and looking under artists’ bios to check out a particular one.
Some of the many artists and products featured include Gus Van Sant’s (Class of 1975) “To Die For” video, Nicole Miller (Class of 1973) umbrella and other accessories, Marc Harrison (former RISD faculty member) Cuisinart DLC5 home food processor, and Chris van Allsburg (Class of 1975) books.
Artists’ works featured in the gallery portion of the store are rotated each month, and include paintings as well as fine art and sculptures, all of which are for sale.
“Women will spend $500 easily on a Kate Spade bag, but when it’s a painting, they’re a little wary,” said James Hall, (Class of 1994), director of Campus Design and Exhibitions. An important part of educating the public about fine art was showing them that buying it is an experience unto itself. “We had a better showing of selling fine art than expected,” Hall said. Fine art comprises 10 percent of total sales.
Bird said many of the alumni and faculty members, some of whose names are very well-known, were schooled at RISD is a field much different from the one they eventually chose. Chris van Allsburg, a very well known and acclaimed writer, went to RISD for sculpture. Others never had any further contact with the college after they graduated and are slowly coming back to their alma mater, Bird said.
“We want to collect them, not for their worth, but for their artistic worth,” he said. Some of RISD’s alumni are behind some of the most popular consumer products, Bird added, such as American Tourister luggage and Oneida dinnerware and flatware.
With approximately 16,000 alumni, Bird said the possibilities are endless for potential items in the store. Unfortunately, there is a limit to the number of alumni who can show their work at the store at one time, in the store’s annual collection, exhibits or trunk shows. The Web site is one way for interested alumni and faculty to submit their work, and to check up on other fellow RISD artists to see who’s in the database listings. Those interested, Bird said, can go online and send a submission form or print it out and send it to the store with copies of work to be viewed.
“There are a lot of people we want in the store but we don’t have the space yet,” he said. The works are reviewed by a team including Hall, Liz O’Neil, director of Publications and Marketing, and Bird. The team will also seek advice from department heads during the process. Bird said the deadline for submissions for the next annual collection is Oct. 15.
“We have featured more than 300 artists since our opening and we’ve carried more than 500 items since we opened,” Bird said.
Every item that is sold at risd/works comes with a biography of the artist who made the item. Prices range from $1.75 for a greeting card to $12,000 for a piece of fine art, Bird said.
Many of the gift items, like scarves, cards, bowls or vases are in the $3 to $400 range, but Bird said that more than half of the items are around $20.
“People walk in and say they feel they can’t afford anything,” he said. “We work really hard to make sure these items are affordable.”
The paintings, sculpture, kitchen and home accessories, wearable art and music might seem geared toward the artistically inclined only, but the very opposite is true, Bird said.
“Most of our customers come from the downtown business community,” he said, as well as other people in the downtown area. Students, faculty and prospective students have also contributed to the sales and success of the store. Most surprising is the summer clientele, Bird added.
“The fine art shows are more for the RISD community,” he admitted, but where would an art and design school’s store be without its artist eye candy? “July and August, we expected to be lethal, but we were busier then” than they expect to be in the fall. He attributed this to the tourist population, who Bird said often wandered around the city during the day, shopping and sightseeing before the water fires started at night.
In October, to herald their second year of business, Bird said the Web site will be remodeled and improved, cards sent to customers and artists notifying them of different exhibits, shows will be redesigned and the list of the annual collection updated.
“Over the past year, everyone has had their eyes opened,” Bird said.
For more information, go online at www.risdworks.com, or call the store at 277-4949. Risd/works is located at 10 Westminster Street.
