The inflation is absolutely outrageous.
Local stationery store is having a 10% off sale on art supplies. Great, let me check.
The prices are DOUBLE what I remember from 3-4 years ago. The "affordable" brands are not at all affordable anymore. Getting into a creative hobby should not be this expensive 😭
@nelchee I choose to think of this as a dry run for when, hopefully, people making these things will be paid fairly and things will be made more locally, and prices will be significantly higher than the unsustainably low prices we've been enjoying. Would prefer to skip to the actual thing where the higher costs actually benefit workers though :V
@eishiya that's quite optimistic. Meanwhile the Amazons, the AliExpress, and the Temus are flooded with cheap 🇨🇳 stuff and that's what hobbyists now flock to.
My country used to have 2 art supply factories in the heyday of socialism. Both made exclusively kids school stuff, nothing good enough for "talented" kids or adults. One of them closed down about a decade ago. I don't think anyone will open a production of any kind of art supplies here. Who would they sell to?
@nelchee Aye, totally local production is only financially sustainable for non-specialty goods. Even before globalization as we know it, speciality/luxury goods such as paint pigments were a global trade, albeit with prices that reflected the distance travelled. I think degrowth is going to mean the death of many hobbies due to prices reflecting what are now externalities, and a shift to different hobbies. My entire art life, reliant on electronics as it is, is doomed. Worth it, I think.
@nelchee 😱😱😱