And the artists are learning the business of Art… What was once a figment of imagination today is a reality. Making art accessible to just about anyone, anywhere and in any form. What amazes me the most is the beauty of connecting unknown people to art from local or unknown artists from any part of the world, simply with one powerful tool E-commerce.
The high-end art market has seen all-time record sales in recent years. A growing number of younger buyers are looking for ways to buy art more easily and at a wide range of prices. Online art sales are expected to more than double to $3.76 billion annually in the next five years, according to a newly released report by British insurer Hiscox.
Its pretty empowering a tool especially if you are a little savvy as it helps you not just sell art but also create a place for yourself in a global network. If artists from Haiti, Kashmir, Africa and the remotest parts of the world can find a platform to showcase art, how powerful would this tool be for you and me.
So lets take a deep dive into the whole business of art. Lets take a look at the types of online platforms that artists and art buyers have.
Artnet auctions is the traditional auction gone online. It promotes features like 24/7 online auctions and enables immediate purchases of Modern and Contemporary paintings, prints, photographs. It serves as a digital bridge to brick-and-mortar galleries and auction houses. The company vets sellers and relies on their photographs and descriptions of the provenance and quality of artworks.
A buyer, who pays a 15 percent commission to Artnet, usually sees only a single picture of the work and often doesn’t talk to the seller, who could be an art dealer, a private collector or an artist’s family. (Sellers pay a 10 percent commission). After the auction, the buyer pays the seller, and the work is shipped. Despite a slow start auctions have begun to contribute to profitable online revenues for these companies with consumer confidence growing.
The Tappan Collective is an online gallery that brings the collection of artists, graphic designers photographers and many more art disciplines together. Started by Los Angeles natives Chelsea Neman and Jordan Klein – an artist and art historian who studied together in Michigan.
They saw great opportunity for an online platform that would connect emerging artists to the many aspiring art collectors seeking exciting artwork at affordable prices. They’ve tapped into local art scenes across the world to curate a collection of cutting-edge work by the next generation of artists. They sell work by 21 artists, who live in New York, Paris, Chicago and London.
The Tappan Collective sells limited-edition prints and original work from young, emerging artists. A lot of the art (which starts at $20) has a cool Los Angeles vibe — muted pastels, retro-looking beachscapes, and so on — perfect for making your walls Instagram/Pinterest-friendly. They showcase individual artists , giving the buyer a peek into the artists world and style.
Ten Thousand Villages has been selling crafts made by artisans in developing countries since 1946. It sells its goods at festivals, 160 stores across North America and online. This platform truly stands for art with a cause where on the one hand it gives a platform to local artists from around the world to sell their wares,on the other it gives Americans access to art that is truly global. So you can buy a pitcher from Bangladesh, coasters from the Philippines or a necklace from Kenya. It also gives customers the product’s history and a photograph of the artist.
Ten Thousand Villages is an exceptional source for unique handmade gifts, jewelry, home decor, art and sculpture, textiles and personal accessories representing the diverse cultures of artisans in Asia, Africa, Latin America and the Middle East. One of the world’s largest fair trade organizations and a founding member of the World Fair Trade Organization (WFTO), the company strives to improve the livelihood of tens of thousands of disadvantaged artisans in 38 countries. Ten Thousand Villages accomplishes this by establishing a sustainable market for handmade products in North America, and building long term buying relationships in places where skilled artisan partners lack opportunities for stable income. Product sales help pay for food, education, healthcare and housing for artisans who would otherwise be unemployed or underemployed. Who said the business of art does no good.
For all the handmade product lovers , here’s a site that’s just for you. A part of Etsy, this is a market place for artists designers craftsmen, which enables designers to create their own pages and market them efficiently. Handmadeology teaches artists how to successfully sell their handmade goods online and to feature the newest handmade, vintage and supply items found around the web. With 115,000 followers on Facebook and 31,000+ followers on Twitter, this place is catching up on its model for showcasing unique products across various categories and giving individual shops (pages) to artists to showcase their own ware.
Blik is on my list as it is the world’s first removable wall graphic company. But before Blik became the internationally acclaimed design company it is today, it started in 2002 with 2 people Scott Flora, an architect extraordinaire, and food writer Jerinne Neils, looking for wall painting / wall paper options. Lack of creative options led them to create BLIK, a truly novel idea that attributes its widespread success to its e commerce platform and strategy of making wallpaper art affordable. Thus giving people an option to try something unique, different, and a lot less permanent. It also customizes art for the adventurous.
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