OLIVIA'S LOFT
Verified on April 20th, 2017
OLIVIA'S LOFT - Original Art Studio - Affordable Hand Painted Art.
Add some personality to your office or home with original hand painted wall art. Prices starting at just $50, oil & water painted on canvas and wood surfaces.
Hello and Welcome to OLIVIA'S LOFT. We are a group of forward thinking creative individuals based on the West Coast of Canada, seeking to develop unique, beautiful and original home products.
Hand painted art has always had an awe-inspiring appeal. Original art reflects our inner sense and adds personality to a room or an office far more than factory produced prints do. For many of us, hand painted art triggers certain thoughts and feelings every time we look at one, as if the artist is expressing an emotion through his or her craft. In contrast, manufactured prints are like fake smiles and plastic flowers, devoid of emotion, dimension or authenticity. However, the prohibitive cost of original hand painted art is a major drawback, costing from the hundreds, and into the thousands. We are not talking about the famous and the great; or dead artists whose art appreciates greatly over the years. That’s a different universe reserved for the super rich. We are talking about every day, commonplace hand painted individual art created for the rest of us, by living artists; none of whom are household names, but still very expensive. This prompted us to learn and understand the art business, to see if it was possible to create original art that we and others liked, for a affordable cost. This is what we learnt:
Unlike other products there is no proper costing method in pricing art. Generally, you pay for the art gallery commission, the artist's talent & time, and a certain cache associated with the art gallery and the artist's name.
The cost of materials in art such as the canvas and the paints is almost negligible. The bulk of the cost is for the art gallery’s commission and the artist’s time. The art gallery takes around 50% of what you pay. So if you paid $5,000 for a painting, $2,500 goes to the artist and the art gallery keeps $2,500. How does an artist decide that his or her painting is worth $2,500? After speaking to many artists in various countries this is what they told us: The time that the artist spends on a painting is the major determinant of the price.
Generally, the more time a painting takes, the higher the cost. However, more time spent on a painting does not necessarily result in better art. Take two artists, both are equally talented, but paint at different speeds. One spends days and weeks on a painting. The second one can do a painting of equal size and complexity in just a few hours. Yet the detail, artistic merit and passion behind both pieces are comparable. If you calculate the cost of labour per hour, per painting, for both pieces, then the slower painter’s art could run into thousands of dollars, while the faster painter’s piece would cost significantly less, maybe a couple of hundred dollars. Yet, both pieces merit equal consideration and could be sold for the same price.
The solution to lowering the cost of art is twofold: Firstly, bypass the art gallery and secondly, buy directly from the artist; but only work with highly talented, time conscience, disciplined and prolific artists guided by some cost accounting principles into their artistic output, without discouraging their artistic integrity; or quashing their talent and passion. Guided by this model we have been able to work with a group of talented artists that fitted our criteria, resulting in the art costing no more than $150, and as little as $50. This is the basis of our new venture, selling hand painted affordable art. The democratization of art!
We are calling our business OLIVIA’S LOFT. Olivia is an imaginary “muse” that we would all love to have as a best friend. She is creative, witty, well informed, highly skilled and full of unique insights and original ideas about design and home. We love going to her cozy, chic and stylish loft for ideas, inspiration and fun.
All art lovers are welcome. Fill your bare walls with interesting and personalized art at affordable prices.
Thanks for reading,
Team @ OLIVIA'S LOFT