At first, the outright commercialism of this site kind of irked me — it's strange for a gallery to name itself I Need Nice Things, even if it is targeting young collectors with small budgets. But after surfing the site and reading about the concept behind this Australian company, I could re-frame it as the pragmatic confluence of business and art that Andy Warhol called "the best art."
Warhol famously said, "Being good in business is the most fascinating kind of art. Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art." Repositioning myself in that mindset of entrepreneurial thinking, there are a few things about I Need Nice Things that stand out:
- They don't think "trend" is a bad word. From their site: "I Need Nice Things was created to make contemporary art collectible, changeable and most important of all, affordable. Each week, we create or commission art inspired by the latest global trends in contemporary art, design, and fashion."
- They think it's fine for art to match your sofa. "The concept is simple, you choose the artwork you like. The size and material you like. And then we pop it in a poster tube and send it to you, wherever you are in the world, to instantly brighten up your home or workspace."
- They're all about objects, not names. "All our works are designed by some of the coolest and hippest young artists, typographers, illustrators and photographers in the world. But you won't find a signature on them. Why? Because we believe it's all about loving the art — not the label."
All in all, I Need Nice Things is a well designed site that offers pretty pictures at inexpensive price points. The art might be a little derivative, but there are lots of galleries that showcase the same kind of stuff under much haughtier pretenses.
What do you think? Cool or contrived? Irksome or interesting?
SHOWN ABOVE
• Kaleidoscope, starting at $49 AUD for the smallest size
• Capsule Collection, starting at $49 AUD for the smallest size
• I Can Count '5', starting at $49 AUD for the smallest size
• Target Practice, starting at $49 AUD for the smallest size
• Why Hello, starting at $49 AUD for the smallest size
• Essential Stripes, starting at $49 AUD for the smallest size
• Rain Drops, starting at $49 AUD for the smallest size
• Urban Flowers, starting at $49 AUD for the smallest size
• Urban Fringe, starting at $49 AUD for the smallest size
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Comments (10)
This was so helpful! I really like the urban fringe! <http://www.compartmentlife.com>
Some of these are nice, but $50 for what's basically a poster (AUD being basically equivalent to USD these days if I'm not mistaken) seems kind of derp. Especially for a print-out of a number.
Please tell me where I can get that sofa, PLEASE!?
$50 poster looks great above a $15K leather sofa.
B&B Italia, Le Bambole sofa.
While the Oz $ & the US are roughly even, and the price (especially at the small end) is high, things like this do tend to cost more in Oz due to various differences including size of population, higher shipping costs, rents, and so on. When we returned home to Melbourne after living in the US, it became a game to work out why some things (fresh produce) cost less, yet others (books, clothes, somewares) about a zillion times more.
This is nothing new in Australia. We had Blue and Brown that started and launched an entire business based on this years ago. They've since rebranded and become Bleux focusing on graphic design for interiors. http://www.bleux.com.au/
Anyone with a good printer and good ins with wholesale interior surface or arts products can produce cheap work like this. It does serve a very valid need.
Just do a search on Google for the term "digital canvas prints" and you'll find any number of businesses with staffs of illustrators and graphic designers who create wall art.
Kanvas has been around for a long time too.
http://kanvas.com.au/
I find it odd that the name of this site would be considered irksomely commercial here on AT while the endless number of new "social shopping" sites generally seem to be well-received. I guess I take the opposite view; I see the name of this site as funny and clever, but the idea of thinking of someone as a "tastemaker," or blah blah blah, because they express themselves by bookmarking nice objects they would like to buy irksomely commercial. Likewise the use of the phrase "price point" to sound like a marketing person when "prices" would do just fine.
Just saw this yea what a great sofa.
Had a look what dedee914 said. Yea you can find digital canvas prints on google, but these on I Need Nice Things are cool. They also have some cool photography. It looks like they are going add stuff each week which will hopefully make it a one stop shop. It will make my job of getting art for projects much easier.
What Anonniemuss said. I found the 'irksomely commercial' comment to be laughably ironic, really.