Bureaucracy Against Culture

If you are in the European Union, you may have noticed that many small shops run by craftspeople and artists have had to stop selling within the common market. Artimia, which I am part of, is one of them.

I do not want to get into the details of the new packaging regulations. What interests me is the story of selling art and crafts online, and how, in just a few years, we have gone from a world that seemed to be opening up to one that appears to be becoming increasingly complicated.

The Renaissance of Social Networks

A little over ten years ago, the combination of social networks and platforms such as Instagram, Pinterest, and Etsy made it possible for a great many small artists and craftspeople to start making a living from our work in a way that would previously have been very difficult to imagine.

For an artist working in a small studio, having access to an international market completely changes what is possible. It was quite normal for someone to discover a piece on Pinterest, contact us through Instagram, buy it, and have us send it by courier. Shipping was fast, relatively simple, and affordable enough that many of us could offer it for free.

And it was not merely an economic phenomenon. Because we were able to devote more time to what we did, we improved our skills. Communication between artists and craftspeople around the world also increased enormously. It created tremendous cultural richness. I think that, a few years from now, people will look back on all of this as the beginning of an artistic renaissance.

The Door Began to Close

From 2022 onwards, shipping became increasingly complicated. We had to provide more information, give more detailed descriptions of materials, state their origins, deal with tax issues... Each small change seemed manageable on its own, but they kept piling up. I eventually had to close my Etsy shop because the bureaucracy became more than I could handle. The problem is that either I do the paperwork or I am in the studio creating.

Then came more controls, more customs procedures, more tariffs, and more differences between countries. When things work smoothly, someone can make a small first purchase to check that everything works, that you are not a scammer, and that the piece really is what it appeared to be online. If they receive it within three or four days, they may make a larger purchase the very next day. But if the process is complicated, if the package is delayed, if new taxes or costs appear upon arrival that the buyer was not expecting, the whole experience becomes more unpleasant and frustrating. And that directly affects the relationship with the customer.

The Final Blow

The final blow has been the new packaging regulation (EPR). In theory, it is a measure designed to control waste and make companies responsible for the packaging they put into circulation. But for a small artist, it can become an enormous burden: you have to declare the materials and quantities used in your packaging, register, and take on costs and obligations that may vary from one country to another. And although the regulation is European, it is implemented at the national level, meaning that to sell in different countries you need to have a representative in each of them. We are talking about several thousand euros simply to open the necessary files and maintain that representation during the first year. And that is before adding the fees and additional costs associated with each shipment. For a large company, perhaps this is manageable, but for a small artist selling only a handful of pieces abroad, it is simply impossible.

The result is rather absurd: we may find that shipping to the United States is cumbersome but possible, while shipping to France or Portugal—countries right next door and supposedly part of the same common market—becomes unviable.

What Do We Do Now?

I do not want to be pessimistic. I think we are going to win this particular battle. The law is so absurd and so destructive to small businesses and to culture that I believe it will eventually be simplified, or exceptions will be introduced that allow us to keep working. But I do see a broader trend that worries me: more and more borders closing, more bureaucratic barriers, tariff wars, and increasing difficulties even within spaces that were created precisely to make exchange easier.

We have the option of joining forces. Small artists and craftspeople are people who want to be in their studios making things, not corporate sharks. Bureaucracy, logistics, and sales consume our time and energy. Perhaps we need to create shared structures—platforms, cooperatives, or companies—that can collectively handle everything we cannot manage individually. The problem is that we are very small, introverted, and fiercely attached to our independence. For such a structure to grow, we would have to be willing to take risks, come together, and work collectively. And that does not come easily to us.

Perhaps such an initiative will not come from the artists themselves. Perhaps it will have to come from someone with a more entrepreneurial mindset who sees what is happening and says: here are people making things that other people want to buy, but they have an intermediary problem. Let us solve it.

We had found a wonderful little opening that allowed us to reach the whole world, and we enjoyed it immensely. I would like that opening to remain, but perhaps the world really is changing. If borders continue to close, if costs keep rising, and if sending a piece to another country becomes increasingly complicated, perhaps we will have to accept that reaching people scattered all over the world will no longer be possible.

But if that opening closes, it will not be the end of everything either. Instead of engaging with isolated individuals in every corner of the planet, we will have to try to make things that have charm and value for our own communities, rebuild closer relationships, and create a culture that grows once again from the local. For thousands of years, that is how we worked: making things for the people around us, forming communities, and creating culture from what was close at hand. It is an important change, and it will probably be difficult for us. But it would not be something entirely new.

So, for now, I remain optimistic.