Marta Boza Samanes

I am Marta Boza, and I am a creative carpenter. I combine self-taught work in wood with my training in the field of illustration to create pieces destined to dress spaces such as museums, schools, hospitals, or institutions and public bodies.

Right now, I am in the process of giving a thought to my business model, focusing only on taking two or three big projects per year, so I can spend more time on each.

I studied Fine Arts and I have come this far, working hard to be able to do rhizome from the type of pieces that gave the best result and responded to the market demands.

I combine manual work with some basic carpentry tools to build parts that are basically woodcut illustrations, inside a universe full of plants and animals.

My business objectives are:

Right now, I’m hoping to achieve my goal of living on an average of three or four big projects a year, so that I can spend several months on each one with no distractions.

My business idea is based on combining both professions, illustration and carpentry, to produce custom pieces for spaces that would otherwise require the hiring of two different professionals.

My learnings from the Crafting Business Programme:

I have learned to value my work, and not to be afraid to charge what I consider fair.

I have understood that you cannot charge by the cost/hour when it is related to crafts and I have discovered what my market niche is, and who I should go to.

It has been in the course that I have decided to address only institutional clients and stop working for individuals. The teachers have helped me see where my clients are and how to best reach them.

My 5 top tips that I have learnt on this journey:

1. You better than anyone knows how much your work is worth. The value of a product is not the same as its price.
2. Find what you do well and find a way to make a living from it. Your product is not just your product, it is a business model.
3. The most important question you should ask yourself is what makes you different from the rest of the professionals in your sector? What problem do you solve? In my case: how many people work with wood in the world?, and how many are better than I? How can I contribute?
4. Being an artisan consists of searching for your purpose, and finding what you are passionate about.
5. Being an entrepreneur implies leaving the workshop, the comfort zone, getting informed, training and making decisions.