University Chronicle

Issue date: 4/30/07 Section: Intermission

Media Credit: Bounyoo Philavanh A collage of materials made from Esty.com; all of the artists shown are from Minnesota.

The old concept of "Do It Yourself," or DIY as it's now being called, is becoming new and relevant again. Etsy.com, a Web site dedicated to the DIY concept, has given fuel and a paycheck to artists looking to create something.

"Your place to buy & sell all things handmade," is the Web site's logo.

Anyone can become a member, and anyone who is a member can buy things from any other member.

Everything being sold on the Web site is handmade and monitored to make sure this rule is followed.

With around 200,000 active members, 50,000 of which are sellers, "Etsians," as they are called by the Web site, are not few nor far between.

Jenna Halek, a past SCSU student currently living in Eagan, Minn., formed a network of Minnesotan Etsians to, share ideas and help each others small businesses flourish.

"We are currently working together to maybe do craft fairs and to do more advertising within Etsy. We are now up to 54 members who are all from around Minnesota. I'm kind of the leader of the Twin Cities, so I schedule group meetings, and we get together and discuss Etsy as a whole, then we also talk about our own crafts which are all different," Halek said.

Jenna currently operates "Artistic Edition" on Etsy.

She has sold jewelry in the past on Etsy, but the market for jewelry is so flooded on Etsy she said she had to rely on other things she was making. Such as her hair snaps, which are made entirely by hand with real crystals.

"I use top quality materials, like real crystals, and everything is done by hand. So I would say if I was to compare myself with mass produced items, I would say mine are a little bit more top quality and more of a reasonable price," Halek Said.

Etsy was founded in Brooklyn, N.Y., by their current CEO, Rob Kalin, and it was started in his living room.

Currently, Etsy has their own labs in Brooklyn, where members can go to make stuff as one large community. This is also were they monitor and update the Web site.

The Web site is run much like eBay or any other buy-sell Web site. Items are categorized for people to search through. Though the prices on Etsy are up to the sellers, the items created are one of a kind.

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