PARTICIPATE

Welcome to our online guide of RISD alumni makers + designers from across the globe. This site is a robust collection of alumni work of all kinds, including prints, paintings, home goods, furniture, and more. It not only connects RISD alumni with interested buyers, it also showcases the incredibly rich and diverse work that comes out of a RISD education. There is no charge to participate, and your profile will link directly to your own shop. RISD is the connector, allowing the customer to be in direct contact with the artists.

Once included on RISDmade, artists should alert us if the status of their shop changes and they no longer sell work online, or if changes are made to their URL using the profile update form.

 

ELIGIBILITY GUIDELINES

RISD reserves the right to exclude any work at the discretion of the Alumni + Family Relations Office that does not meet the following criteria:

  • Participants must have, operate and maintain their own website shop, which must be capable of transacting e-commerce retail sales. [Online marketplaces do not qualify if there is no way to limit viewing to the alum’s own work, as RISD cannot endorse non-alumni work]
  • Shops must maintain adequate inventory (5 item minimum) and may be removed from the site if there is insufficient inventory.
  • Only RISD alumni from undergraduate or graduate degree programs are eligible.
  • All work must be original and either made by hand or designed and outsourced in an ethical way by a RISD alum. Participants selling items made from kits (wholly or in part) are not eligible.
  • Participants must comply with all applicable laws, including but not limited to copyright.
  • All work to be displayed on the RISDmade website and all linked websites must reflect RISD’s high standards for quality and its values.
  • The sale of goods containing the RISD name, logo or insignia is prohibited without RISD’s express consent.
  • Participants must observe appropriate business practices and be aware of the rights of consumers.
  • Photography must be of a professional quality. [Images must be less than 1mb, jpg/jpeg format, at 300 dpi, and between 600 and 2000 pixels on the longest side. Please include your name or business name in the file name. Your application will not be considered complete if you do not upload at least 3 images.]
  • Participants are responsible for obtaining all copyright and other permissions necessary for the submitted images to be posted to the RISDmade website.
  • Participants understand that submitted images may be used for promotional purposes on social media and digital marketing at any time [RISD will include image credits to the alumni/business].

APPLICATION

RISDmade accepts submissions on a rolling basis. There is no jury process: if your site meets eligibility requirements, we will add your profile to the site as time allows. Please allow up to three weeks from the time of application to hear from us. We will send you a confirmation email once the profile is live on the site.

Apply to RISDmade Now

PROFILE UPDATES

If you already have a profile on RISDmade and would like to submit any changes or switch images on your profile, please use this online form to submit these changes. Please allow up to three weeks from submission for the changes to go live on your profile.

UPDATE MY EXISTING PROFILE

FAQ

RISD doesn’t actually have a hand in selling the work– we just provide a platform to be able to connect people looking to purchase outstanding art & design from alumni directly to your own existing online shop.

The one vital requirement for participating on the site is that you have e-commerce capability on your own website, so that people are able to go to your site and purchase something directly from it without having to email / call the alumni unless they want to order something commissioned.

If you decide you want to add a shop component to your site to meet RISDmade eligibility criteria, we suggest you first go to the RISDmade site and check out some profiles of people who are working with a similar media to your own.
How to add a shop to your site really depends on how your website is built:
  • If you had a designer build your site and there’s not a backend/template that you easily change yourself, but you don’t want to pay a designer to build a shop for you, it might make sense for you to check out platforms like Shopify or Big Cartel. You can create independant e-commerce sites, and then just have your web designer connect that newly created shop page to your main site by a menu option.
  • If you already use an easily customizable template for your site from a service like Wix, Wordpress, Squarespace, or something similar, they probably already have an option for selling work online. Check out the help or support section of your platform to get started.
  • Those who have Etsy shops might consider adding Pattern, an Etsy-powered tool that allows you to build an independent e-commerce shop that can be managed through your existing Etsy dashboard.

 

These non-RISD affiliated articles may be helpful to check out:

Although you have a “shop” page when you put your work for sale on Saatchi, it’s not dedicated–that is, the shop is part of larger directory and suggests other artists on your page. Since the intent of the site is to guide visitors to RISD alumni-made artwork only, and not promote a for-profit third party marketplace that contains non-RISD artists, we are unable to link to them on RISDmade. 

Those artists that have an Etsy shop may want to check out Pattern, which allows you to have your own separate shop site, while keeping all inventory synced in your familiar Etsy back-end. If you set up a Pattern site, it does not link to the full Etsy marketplace, and would therefore, be eligible. 

For inquiries regarding eligibility, please contact RISD Alumni + Family Relations at risdmade@risd.edu.