Sculpture is not exempt from the sometimes heated debate on exporting Australian jobs.
I’m a sculptor, industrial designer, and project manager with nearly a quarter of a century of experience in these skills and disciplines. I’ve made more than 65 working journeys abroad involving sculpture manufacture, mostly in China. They’ve afforded me enough knowledge to make some basic observations on the ethics of outsourcing sculpture manufacturing.
My art is business, my business is art
First, let me explain that my art is my business and my business is my art. My driving principle is to produce works of beauty that bring enduring delight to those who commission, own, or experience them.
In fulfilling that principle, like any business I have to operate with and within all kinds of market forces and restraints, not least of which are client budgets and making a living. I produce the work honestly, transparently, and ethically.
Some people accuse Australian businesses and others in the developed world of exploiting underpaid workers in sweatshops, particularly in China.
I have travelled to and traded with many countries for the past 10 years and lived outside of Australia for five of those. Returning to Australia was an economic reality check, giving me the opportunity to compare indicators such as inflation, cost of living indices, taxation, and relative prices on imports and exports between countries.
Australia’s inflation levels, for example, while apparently low in percentage terms, are high when viewed against those in the Middle East, for example, where I was living.
Excessive Australian margins and profits
Australia’s high cost of living is brought on by excessive margins on imports aimed at boosting profit levels beyond either the reasonable or the fair. As a result, Australians also demand high wages and salaries to compensate for rising costs, in itself causing an inflationary spiral.
The result is the decline of the Australian manufacturing sector, as seen in the decimation of footwear, clothing, and textiles production over decades, and more recently the strangulation of automotive manufacturing.
Chinese labour costs are relative
Obviously costs of labour are much cheaper in China, but for average workers, their main expenses such as electricity, food, and rent are proportional to their incomes. It’s true they don’t yet have the same levels of life style as their Western counterparts, but they are catching up quickly.
Indeed, outsourcing from Western economies, whose technology and expertise China so values, is helping them succeed in their mission to modernise and raise living standards.
In the Chinese foundry with which I have a long and trustful relationship, the workers are not simply unskilled labourers brought in from a remote region of central or western China and paid the bare minimum. They’re the opposite.
Well-paid artisans in high demand
Workers with specific artisanal skills are in high demand and are difficult to find. They command more than double the average wage. Employers treat them with respect, providing good and flexible working conditions, knowing these artisans could quickly find well paid work elsewhere.
Recognising that Australian foundries have become unsurvivably expensive led me to a series of Chinese explorations. On the ground over 12 years, I have established for myself that the producers with which I partner are themselves ethical and appreciate my ethical behaviour in turn.
If you’d like to know more about how and where we find the best sculpture production partners at the fairest prices, call Todd Stuart on +61 4 5151 8865, or visit mainartery.art.
