Polyform, You are not Listening!

This is what average clayer will have to live with.

Polyform just doesn’t get it.

According to information on at least one distributor’s blog, a total of 3 on-line distributors have been named the sole providers of cobalt blue and zinc yellow Premo in 2011. Polyform confirmed this to me over the phone.

 

Not only is this unresponsive to customers’ needs; it is patently unfair. It gives these distributors a competitive advantage over others who have been distributing Premo for years.  (How many buyers are likely to go to one distributor for yellow and blue and another for the rest of the their colors? It stands to reason that if they are going to switch providers for yellow and blue, the rest of their business will go as well.)

 

It will mean that the users of smaller amounts of clay will no longer be able to get the entire array of primaries at their local craft stores.   We teachers will be unable to expect students to provide their own clay for classes, unless we are satisfied with a truncated set of primaries.

 

Polyform seems to have missed the point that cobalt blue and zinc yellow are essential for anyone who mixes her own colors or wants to explore color theory, not just a relatively small number of artists who have developed product lines requiring these colors.

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8 Responses to Polyform, You are not Listening!

  1. Pörrö says:

    Thank you for spreading the word.

    Pörrö
    who is in business of selling clay for Finnish customers and who got very alarming, sad and anxiety filled Christmas present from Polyform. I have bursted to tears many times today because of this. For me clay is both my art and livelihood and this truly matters more than for some hobbyists 🙁

  2. JuLi says:

    🙁
    I just won some packages of Premo and can show one of my pieces on the Paperworld fair in Frankfurt. Yay! 😉 But Polyforms disrespect for us artists makes me not really want to promote their stuff… :/
    Hope they’re changing their mind once again!
    Sad greetings from Germany!

  3. This whole thing worries me to no end. I love the Premo line and it has been an excellent product to recommend to my thousands of students and members. But if my followers are not able to get the colors they NEED easily (say at their local Michaels) then I am going to be forced to recommend another clay brand.

    I really do not want to do this. It will undermine years of work and trust that has been created to propel this medium from a ‘child’s toy’ to a serious art medium. I am still crossing my fingers that this will all play out in an acceptable manner before moving to Plan B.

    BTW, if there are any clay companies out there interested in my business and that of my loyal follows, let me know. I am starting to test some new clay lines, just in case I need to abandon the Premo ship.

  4. Carolyn Good says:

    That is interesting. I made the leap some time ago and work almost totally with Kato clay now and I like it so much better since the new formula is much easier to condition. The only thing I am disappointed in however, is the their yucky and weak yellow. Nothing compares to the rich Premo zinc yellow!

  5. clsdesigns says:

    I’ve been ordering zinc yellow and cobalt blue on-line, but Polyform has yet to confirm they will continue to produce them next year.

  6. Your point is well taken. When I worked with Bill Mangelsen at Makin’s, Michael’s discontinued the yellow clay is the Makin’s line. No amount of reason would sway them. They said it did not sell well. I happen to know it was not the color that sold the least. Why companies do things, sometimes is beyond me.

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