The shape of things to come
Whatever the “new normal” holds, it won’t be cheap.
On the day falsely described as ‘Freedom Day’ (actually, Day of Outsourced Restrictions), I walked through the city to visited my regular art store. Neither I nor my colourman wore masks. We chatted business – quiet on that day, due to the sweltering heat – and I selected some canvases. ‘By the way, these canvases are going up in price from the August 1st.’ I doubled my stack.
As he rang up the purchases, he told me something startling. Rather than skilfully upselling me four canvases instead of two – or rather, not only doing that – he warned me that the prices of all companies’ canvases would be going up 25-40 per cent. ‘The days of cheap canvases are over.’
Most artists’ canvases are sold pre-stretched on wooden frames called stretchers, ready made in standard sizes. My colourman indicated two loose rolls standing in a corner. The flax linen comes from Belgium; the cheaper cotton cloth comes from India. All canvas is imported. The stretched canvases were manufactured in China for British companies. Margins are tight. ‘You fill a container from China with these,’ my colourman tapped the canvas on its stretcher, wrapped in polythene, ‘half the unit is filled with air.’
He told me there isn’t a single firm that manufactures artists’ canvases in the UK. Self-sufficiency won’t be easy and certainly not quick. ‘One British company has started to build a factory but it will take two to three years to get into production.’
‘I ordered these paints from Holland and look what I got'.’ He pulled out a form from HMRC, billing him £157 import duty. ‘I’ve never had one of these before.’
He has already raised some prices. ‘All the prices will go up. Even if not all the products are imported, most of the materials are. Online companies won’t fare any better than me.’
I debated adding more canvases to my stack but held back. Money is tight. The company that rents me a storage unit is putting up its charges by 40 per cent in August. Inflation isn’t just coming, it’s here.
Stepping out into the heat. Passing the closed-down shops of the high street, I wondered about when I could afford to come back to the art store. Whatever the ‘new normal’ holds, it won’t be cheap.
