Earlier this year, I wrote about ArtCorgi, a startup that makes it easy to commission custom artwork. Now the company is launching a new site called ArtCling, which takes a different approach to actually getting that art up on your walls.
ArtCorgi co-founders Malcolm (CEO) and Simone (COO) Collins (yes, they’re a couple — Malcolm proposed to Simone using commissioned art) created ArtCling in partnership with Walls360, a company that prints images on adhesive, non-damaging fabric. Basically, “ArtClings” are sturdy-looking posters that you can stick straight on your walls and peel off again without any damage.
If you live in Palo Alto, it sounds like you’ll get a chance to see an ArtCling up close, because over the next few weeks, Simone and Malcolm have plans for a promotional stunt — they’re going to create portraits of startup CEOs, then stick them on their office doorways. (I saw one of the portraits in-person and it was, um, quite vivid.)
The ArtClings I saw definitely look classier than the ol’ thumbtack-and-poster combination, especially once they’ve been mounted on the wall. The video below shows off their toughness, which I got to see in person as well. I was able to crumple up an ArtCling, then the wrinkles disappeared as soon as I smoothed it out on a wall.
At the same time, these pieces are more affordable than most print-and-frame services — pricing starts at $15, and the company estimates that a mural, which can be assembled from multiple ArtClings, won’t cost more than $1,500. Put another way, Simone said that on ArtCorgi, the artist’s fee was usually lower than the cost of printing and framing the art, something that didn’t sit well with her given the company’s aim to “democratize art.”
Malcolm added that most printing processes were created for “the old world” of physical art, while this approach, with its affordability and flexibility, “really makes digital art producible in a way that’s almost native to it.”
To be clear, the printing process existed before, thanks to Walls360, but you couldn’t commission personalized art on this fabric; that’s what you get by combining Walls360 with ArtCorgi/ArtCling’s marketplace.
As for why they’re launching ArtCling as a separate site, rather than an additional feature in the existing ArtCorgi service, Simone said she and Malcolm realized they needed to be “specialized in the way we present ourselves,” because that places “as little burden of thinking as possible” on the customer.
So rather than adding lots of options to a single site, they plan to launch a number of services, in an experimental way, that are “powered by ArtCorgi” but focus on specific use cases. Next up? Wedding art.
Quick Walls360 Demo from ArtCorgi on Vimeo.