As with many business success stories, it all began with a market stall. This one was at the Lambeth Country Show in Brockwell Park, London, four years ago. Gina Cross, who at the time was running the art department at The Guardian newspaper, decided she would like to promote the work of the illustrators and graphic artists she was working with and she offered to sell their work at the show.
“I was mobbed!” she says. After that it was the East London Design Show at Shoreditch Town Hall and the Wayne Hemmingway-led Kiosk Kiosk – a pop-up shop outside City Hall. Two years ago she took the plunge to sell and promote artists’ work full-time, took redundancy and started her website A Little Bit of Art. Through it, she sells affordable, limited edition, hand-printed art works in three price brackets: £20 – £50, £50 – £100 and £100 – £250. “People love the variety of work I have,” she says, “When I meet them at the shows, they say ‘it’s like being in a sweet shop!’”.
Gina also collaborates with artists to offer prints which are exclusive to A Little Bit of Art. “It’s what distinguishes me from other websites. I have a dialogue with most of the artists. I help my bestselling artists to develop their work and sell it. I don’t want everything to be the same; that’s not interesting for the customer,” she says.
What Gina looks for in a print is something with a slight sense of humour. “Something that’s quite fun. The work itself has to be approachable. However, I don’t want it to be twee. There’s got to be a bit of an edge to it.” She also looks for colourful prints. “Colour is a big thing with me,” she says. And as her background is in printing, the quality of the printing matters to her.
The prints are usually either giclee prints, silk screen, linocut or planographic prints. She also sells etchings. The giclee prints are digitally printed and use museum-quality archival inks. “They produce very saturated colours and can last 70 years or more.” The screen prints are hand printed. They are usually printed on paper but, Gina says, she is open selling works printed on other surfaces, such as wood, metal or mirrors, and has in the past. And because all the prints are hand-printed, each print in a run will be a little bit different. “That’s what I like about the printing process,” she says, “Although one print is a multiple of say 20, each one is different. The artists will mix up new ink in the middle of a limited edition print run and so the colours can change slightly.
Gina is now developing her work with the artists into bespoke designs through a new agency: the Gas Art Agency. She will be working with people who want to apply imagery as surface decoration to ceramics, textiles, wallpaper and flooring. She also has plans to produce products such as etched pewter bowls and coasters. “I want to apply unique and unusual imagery to traditional items,” she says.
The Gas Art Agency will be launched at Tent London, London Design Festival in September.
A Little Bit of Art can be found atwww.alboart.co.uk.
Gas Art Agency www.gasartagency.co.uk
