Benefits for Artists & Interior Designers Working Together

BENEFITS FOR ARTISTS WORKING WITH INTERIOR DESIGNERS

Receive feedback and opportunities to collaborate. Working in collaboration with interior designers and curators, you may receive feedback and guidance on your work during a project. This can come when working on commissions that are site specific, perhaps adjusting scale or colour to harmonise more impactfully with the setting. Portfolio review, guidance on pricing or digitalising an artwork in high resolution are some examples of support and collaborative learnings artists may expect.

Enhance your portfolio. Projects with interior designers are great opportunities to develop your practice. Often, works will be required to be highly unique or tailored to suit a location or a specific narrative. Your artworks, whether purchased from your portfolio or commissioned bespoke for the project, will be captured in a diverse range of real-life settings, this diversity can attract a wider range of clients based on your ability to show creative adaptability.

Receive feedback and opportunities to collaborate. Working in collaboration with interior designers and curators, you may receive feedback and guidance on your work during a project. This can come when working on commissions that are site specific, perhaps adjusting scale or colour to harmonise more impactfully with the setting. Portfolio review, guidance on pricing or digitalising an artwork in high resolution are some examples of support and collaborative learnings artists may expect.

Target new audiences. Working on projects with design studios, brands and creatives themselves can push your artworks towards new and wider audiences that may not have discovered your work if displayed solely in a gallery environment or online. Interior designers often work with luxury hospitality developers whose aims are to target and impress an international market of cultural connoisseurs. Many of whom may also be avid art collectors themselves.

Get paid for exhibiting your work. You will be paid to have your work exhibited in unique and beautiful locations within the hospitality industry. Your works may travel countries, continents and hemispheres across the world, whilst you are being paid for the sale, commission or lease agreement. Often with gallery exhibitions artists may be expected to display their work for no fee in exchange for exposure. Interior designers and curators will ensure equitable artist fees are set and adhered to.

Gain further opportunities from your successes. Successful projects will lead to more opportunities to create more art. Completing projects with interior designers will benefit your portfolio and enhance the likelihood of opportunities for future commissions. Part of what makes a project successful also comes from building professional relationships with your curator, project manager or suppliers within the industry. Networking consistently can lead to

Gain access to high-profile projects. Interior designers often work on high-profile projects with repeat clients or within large groups of property developers and owners. Their project opportunities can be a fantastic way to gain knowledge of a growing industry whilst seeing your works be displayed in some of the most sought-after travel and leisure destinations in the world.

Gain valuable project experience. You will develop key skills and knowledge associated with the running of large-scale projects in the creative and hospitality sector. Collaborating with interior designers will provide insights into the detail-oriented concepts surrounding design principles, colour theory and the practical concerns of functionality in design. There are always timelines, deadlines and iterations involved in projects developing artwork collections and design schemes, and it’s fantastic to have an understanding as to the decision-making steps involved. or storytelling within the project, whilst the interior scheme is kept closely in mind. Through this collaborative discourse we are keen to understand your creative process and your lived experience as presented or imbued within your artwork and creative practice. You are encouraged to impart your own storytelling through your artworks, influencing the narrative and tone of the project.

BENEFITS FOR INTERIOR DESIGNERS WHEN USING ART IN PROJECTS

Original artworks stand out. Making those first impressions count. It is so exciting for guests and clients to have unique artworks curated well for their arrival into a new setting; it’s a great opportunity to show off your creative design work. Being bold and incorporating original artworks by local talent can layer a final sense of materiality into your finishes and fabrics – think textured paper, ceramics, impasto oil paints or wood carved sculptures. The tactility of artwork never goes unnoticed and is such a standout moment when elevating an interior. Artworks can add a focal component of uniqueness. Standing out from competitors has never felt more important in the widely expanding hospitality and residential project landscape, and artwork is a great tool to do this.

Art brings a focus to your marketing. Once a project comes to completion it may see a launch or opening or be put on the market to be sold. Marketing will support the project to reach as many potential guests, buyers or experts as possible and the artworks shown in the photography will enhance this reach and impact. We often see architectural and interior designers renting artworks ahead of a project being sold to a final buyer purely to market that sense of place, home, familiarity and cultural pizzazz.

Support living artists & their careers. Perhaps most importantly, working with artists and folding creatives and makers into your interior design projects supports the wider creative economy. Supporting living artists ensures viability to their careers as creative professionals, they have a vision and a story to share which is shared with all foundational components of design work. Extending your vision to incorporate artists has the potential to support multiple careers and communities. In turn artists can supply artworks that will harmonise with the interior design scheme, artworks that will layer on top of the materials, finishes and colour palettes and artworks that will deliver impact to every space.

Increase the value of your client's new space. Artworks can help create the best possible space for your clients. Providing them greater investment in their new interior through the inclusion of an art collection. Art holds value which grows over time, and sourcing emerging talent will enhance the value of the setting as future investment.

Provide authenticity by engaging local talent. With projects possibly stretching globally, it is important to tap into the authenticity and appeal that draws guests to specific locations. Be it the cultural heritage, geographical uniqueness or a vibrant nightlife – all components can be pulled into design choices to make guests feel right at home in their chosen stay. Working with local artists who can imbue a sense of their own lived experience is the most authentic way to highlight materials, pigments, compositions and stories that hold the key to understanding a sense of community or place.

Artists can offer insight & solutions to challenges. Working with artists can provide new perspectives and creative solutions to challenging interiors. Artists who have experience positioning their works in unique settings outside of the standard gallery model are adaptable to working with the setting and the requirements of a project. Oftentimes, artists can lend their skills to create commissioned works that are able to disguise access panels, unwanted architectural features, or use their work to highlight and celebrate a buildings uniqueness or character through thoughtful and highly bespoke solutions.

Win over your prospective clients. Forget the last minute google search or stock image archive scrolling, it is a game changer to have access to research that has been recommended by curators and sourced directly from artists that are local and relevant to the narrative, colour palette and budget level of your project. This will surely wow that new client and kickstart a project with tailor selected artworks dropped into your concept CGIs as a well thought out and personal touch.

Beth Fleming, Associate Director, Curatorial at Artiq