Buying, delivery and returns

What the price includes

The price you see is the price everywhere, in the studio, at a fair, on this site and through a gallery. It includes the frame, so the work arrives ready to hang, and it includes delivery anywhere in the United Kingdom.

Every piece comes with a certificate of authenticity signed by me, giving the title, the year, the materials and the dimensions.

I am not registered for VAT, so there is no VAT to add and none is shown.

Delivery

Within the UK I deliver personally wherever I reasonably can, because a panel of this size travels better in my car than in a courier network, and because I would rather hand it over than post it. I will contact you within a day of your order to agree a time that suits you. Most deliveries happen within two weeks.

Outside the UK, shipping is quoted separately once I know the destination. The work is crated properly and sent by an art shipper. Ask me before you buy and I will give you a real figure rather than an estimate.

If you would rather collect the work from the studio in Sheffield, you are very welcome, and we can arrange that instead.

Changing your mind

If you buy from this website, you have fourteen days from the day the work arrives to change your mind, for any reason at all. You do not have to explain yourself and you do not have to have found anything wrong with it.

To cancel, email me at elementa.laudis@gmail.com within those fourteen days and say that you are cancelling. A sentence is enough. You then have a further fourteen days to get the work back to me.

Please return it in the condition it arrived, packed as well as it was packed on the way out. Return carriage is at your cost, and for a work of this size and fragility I would strongly recommend arranging it through an art shipper rather than a parcel courier. If you would like help finding one, ask me and I will point you at the people I use.

Once the work is back with me and I have checked it, I will refund you within fourteen days, including what you originally paid for delivery. If the work comes back damaged because it was not packed properly, I may reduce the refund to reflect that.

Two exceptions, which are the normal ones. A commission made to your own specification cannot be cancelled this way, because it was made for you and for nobody else. And work bought in person at the studio, which is my business premises, does not carry an automatic right to cancel, although I will always talk to you if something has gone wrong.

If something is damaged or not as described

This is separate from changing your mind and it is not something I can sign away.

If a work arrives damaged, or is not what the photographs and description showed, tell me straight away and I will put it right. Depending on what has happened that means repairing it, replacing it, or refunding you in full. Photographs of the damage help, and please keep the packaging until we have sorted it out.

Marquetry is durable, but it is wood, and wood moves. Small variations in colour between a photograph and the work in your room are normal and are not a fault. Screens differ, and so does the light in your hallway.

Commissions

Commissions usually start with your wall, its size, its light and what surrounds it. We agree the design, the size, the timescale and the price before anything is cut.

Because the work is made to your specification, the fourteen day cancellation right does not apply once making has begun. That is why I would rather spend time on the drawings with you first than rush into the workshop.

I normally ask for half the price to begin and the balance on completion, and I am happy to split the balance if that helps. Nothing is charged for the conversation beforehand.

Paying in instalments

If it makes a piece possible, I will split the payment over two or three instalments at no extra cost and no interest. Just ask before you buy.

The work stays with me until the final instalment is paid, unless we specifically agree otherwise, and if you change your mind before the end I will return everything you have paid.

Looking after the work

Keep it out of direct sunlight, because strong sun will lighten dye and darken pale woods over years. Keep the room at a normal and fairly steady humidity, so not directly above a radiator and not in an unheated outbuilding. Dust with a dry soft cloth and nothing else, because silicone polishes and household sprays leave a film that is difficult to remove later.

Treated like that, a panel will outlast all of us. If anything ever happens to one of my works, wherever it is and however long afterwards, write to me. I would always rather repair my own work than have somebody else guess at it.

Your details and your email address

When you buy something, I keep your name, address, email and phone number, because I need them to deliver the work, to write your certificate and to keep a record of where my work has gone. Payments are handled by Stripe and I never see your card details.

If you sign up to the studio letter, I use your email address for that and nothing else. I do not sell it, I do not share it, and there is an unsubscribe link on everything I send. You can ask me to remove you at any time and I will do it the same day.

If you want to know what I hold about you, or want it deleted, just ask.

Getting hold of me

Jan Katewicz, Elementa Laudis, Unit 16, Gordon Works Complex, Valley Rd, Sheffield, S8 9FT, United Kingdom. Email elementa.laudis@gmail.com. I read and answer everything myself, usually within a day.

Nothing on this page affects your legal rights.