Sustainability, ethics and finances

This is quite a long document lol, feel free to read as much as you fancy. I’ve probably missed certain things, so feel free to chase me on anything you think this should include. I will cover the actions I am currently making, and my goals within each area. I want to stay transparent about these things since I believe businesses should be held accountable for their impact and even though I am a small business with little impact compared to large corporations, I will still adhere to the standards i wish they were held too. I think it’s important to work on our societies mentality towards holding ourselves and others accountable for our wider impact.

Environmental impact

At the end of the day the amount of plastic waste I could create as an artist is almost negligible compared to say, the impact of a fishing company dropping a net into the ocean, but I still think the consideration of sustainability and ethics is important as it plays a part in our wider societal mentality towards waste. Plus if we as creators buy materials/processes we know are not sustainable we buy into and promote that into continuing, so its useful and important to consider these things as at the end of the day, spending money can be considered as voting for or against something.

Packaging:

In terms of being good to the planet, the area where I have the most control is with packaging, and I’ve made a lot of progress with changes this year.

Currently:

• All of my packaging material used to ship my artwork is plastic free and recyclable.
• All of my prints are shipped in cardboard envelopes which are also re-usable since I don’t use branded packaging.
• Where possible, I reuse packaging I have personally received to ship artwork, which does occasionally mean some packages could include plastic packaging, but that is only when I’m reusing my materials.
• I keep my packaging as minimal as possible, which means I avoid using branded packaging, business cards and thank you cards. Although these things are nice to receive, avoiding them means I can keep my shipping costs lower whilst also avoiding the unnecessary impact of excess materials in my packing.

How I want to improve:

• I have a goal to start purchasing materials from more sustainable companies, since I have a habit of being unprepared and having to do a last-minute amazon order. I have began to buy my packaging materials in bulk from more sustainable companies, and hope to fully transferred away from amazon by the end of the year.

Prints:

When I talk about prints, I am talking about both my on-hand prints, which are my cheaper option which I personally order, package and ship from home, and I am also discussing my on-demand prints which are my prints shipped through a third-party company.

Currently:

• All of my on-hand prints are printed on recycled paper (Some of my older prints are not, but any I have printed in the past year and in future are on recycled paper). The recycled paper is made up of 100% recycled fibres, and saves more than 70% of the energy and water used in regular print production.
• The company I use to print my on-hand prints uses vegetable-based inks which produce significantly less pollution than petroleum based inks.
• My on-demand prints are shipped to me in eco-friendly materials (cardboard and paper).
• My on-demand prints are a higher quality, Giclee print option, which is why I use Hahnemule bamboo paper to print on. This is 90% bamboo fibre and 10% cotton. Bamboo grows extremely fast making it resource-saving.
• The provider I used for on-demand prints have been carbon neutral since 2020 and are gradually reducing their carbon emissions to reach net zero.
• My on-demand prints are shipped in eco-friendly packaging, the mailing bags are made from sugar cane.

How I want to improve:

• Since a lot of the print-making process is out of my hands, I don’t have any current plans on how I want to to improve in this area, other than making sure the companies I use stick to the principles they currently do, and improve in the areas they say they would.

Art materials

I have prioritised sorting environmentally friendly materials and methods for my prints and packaging since these are things I use or sell in mass. Things get a lot more complicated when it comes to sustainability in my art materials, due to the availability and expense of the materials. Since I have got my packaging and my prints to a good sustainable level, I am aiming to now put the work in to make my original artwork the same. With my business growing, it also makes more eco-friendly options more accessible.

Currently:

• I reuse canvases and canvas frames where possible. If I’m unhappy with an artwork, or it’s old, I either paint over it, or I remove the current canvas, and replace it with fabric (Where possible, the removed canvas is used for other projects such as sewing collars and accessories). All of my fabrics are either from old clothing or they are second hand, and given to me by other people.
• The canvases I use are just wood and cotton canvases.
• The gouache paints I buy come in pallets which I reuse for storage to save me disposing of tubes. Though, the individual pots within the pallets get disposed of.
• I have moved from using acrylic to Gouache since acrylic paints are technically liquid plastic, there are plenty of issues with disposing of the water responsibly and the amount of microplastic waste. There are still instances where I use acrylics, but that is to just work through the tubes I have already got instead of wasting them.

How I want to improve:

• Although my canvases are wood and cotton, they usually are bleached and come in non recyclable plastic packaging. So I am looking for a better option, those I am looking at are either pre-stretched such as the Liquitex professional sustain brand, or buying the wooden stretchers and stretching my own. The issues I’m currently having is the cost of these options, since these options can be 2-4x the price of my usual options. At the moment I’m just trying to balance my options whilst still keeping my prices accessible.
• Similarly to my packaging goal, by the end of 2025, I want to have moved away from amazon and focus on getting my art materials from small brands and businesses.
• Admittedly on research, I couldn’t find anything in regard to sustainability, the environment and carbon footprint for the current gouache pallet I used. It is also a palette which only seems to be available from amazon or other big suppliers so I will not be buying it again. I will be looking for a gouache alternative. As much as I fear stepping away from my usual materials, I believe my style and voice in art is strong enough to undergo some stress.

Finances and pricing

Currently:

• I charge a $15 an hour rate for my original artwork, this is too keep my prices accessible. Since I can complete works in a short time, it means many of my works are sold at a very low price, I make sure to do lots of mini paintings which are a lot quicker to complete to make sure I always have a handful of paintings available at an accessible price.
• To keep even more accessible prices, I also have many print options available on my site, both higher quality more expensive prints, and a lower quality, low price print. This is to make sure I have options available for those who do not have as much disposable income.
• In terms of paying myself, I track my hours worked each week and pay myself $15 an hour for those hours worked. The money AoB makes fluctuates a lot, so there are weeks where there are profits left over, and in those cases that money is saved, and used for materials or will be used for other purposes (TBA).
• I aim to make sure that this business is never run on a capitalist business model, when it makes excess profits, that will be donated or put to another project that needs it, it will never be taken for me personally. If AoB or any of my other businesses (TBA) ever get to a point of being able to pay people, they will be paid the same as me.
• With commissions, Im always open to working within individuals budgets.

How I want to improve:

• Find permanent solutions for any excess money. I currently have a project that AoB excess profits are going to, which I will announce when everything is confirmed, but going forward I need to either a charity or something where this money would go.
• I would love to make an affordable print option for the EU and NI since at the moment I only have my on-demand prints available as due to GPSR, I cannot personally ship items to the EU. At the moment, this is purely an aspirational goal since Ive exhausted all options and currently I cant afford to meet the standards the regulations provide for EU shipping, but it’s something I will revisit in future.

Overall

• Within AoB, I aim to be as sustainable as possible with my methods and my materials.
• I aim to keep my pricing accessible.
• I aim to ensure my business never makes me an excess amount of money, any excess profits will go towards good causes.
• I aim to keep track of my goals to make sure this business has as little impact as possible, and any impact it does make is good.