Contributed by: Josh Kasper
Demand for commissioned artwork is at all time high as people seek to further customize their interiors. In modern interior design language, there are more triggers designers can pull to make their properties unique. It is no longer a game of just high-end millwork, beautiful fabrics and different types of unique stone and tile. For example, there is a whole element that involves the many innovations we have seen within the interior lighting sector as well. People are backlighting stonework and integrating more lighting into their designs…and this goes far beyond basic cove lighting.
To this point, customization is almost a requirement when designers source art. However, this can be challenging for most curators as they do not have the process controls in place to bring a site-specific piece from render to reality.
The way we work with designers on customized site-specific pieces or what we refer to as “commissioned art” at Studio Kasa begins with understanding the aesthetic of the property, the designer’s vision and what the clients actually want. Next, we go through a very detailed rendering process where we are covering everything from dimensions to colors and even different mixed media.
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In this situation, Studio Kasa is driving the ship, not the designer. This is what we do; it is what we know, and for the designer to manage it would be burdensome so we remove that burden completely. A very important part of this question is around the navigation of the artist relationship. Believe it or not that is the hardest part of this entire journey.
We ask the designer if they want an artist who is going to put their unique style into the piece or if they are looking for something that is exactly to a specification. If they are looking for something super specific, we have artists that we know are open to that type of work, so we go that route. Remember, not all artists will accept direction.
For example, a designer may want a 36-inch-tall, twisted metal sculpture. That is easy as we know who can make it. We show the designer various artists, see which style they like the most and then we can ask the artist to make tweaks based on existing pieces they have made. The takeaway here is that designers need curators who have both process controls and know how to match the correct artist to the project. Does the designer want the artistic interpretation and some creative freedom, or do they want exactly what they put on paper?
Most curators miss this and end up delivering things to designers that are not what they expected. Because we are process-obsessed, our designers know exactly what they are getting and there is not a lot of back and forth as we know how to match the appropriate artist to the appropriate commission.
How designers are sourcing elevated artwork at more accessible price points
Many times, “blue-chip art” fluctuates in value as the worth of those pieces teeters on auction results, which makes such high-end art less appealing to many buyers. In fact, there is a generational shift as younger buyers inherit wealth, they want to support living artists, while many blue-chip artists are deceased.
These same younger buyers also want the experience of being able to engage within the arts community and a lot of blue-chip art limits that engagement to prestigious auction houses and museums. These buyers would much rather be working with a new up-and-coming artist that they can become a patron of and have greater impact on their career. Many curators do not actually understand this key point. However, Studio Kasa only works with living artists and specialize in emerging talent.
That said, the question here is really around designers, not curators. The reason why designers go down this route is because of limited funds. Even with wealthy clients, designers would not be tasked to buy super high-end art. What you have here is a bit of a catch-22. The curators don’t understand the changing market dynamic so they focus on the super high end and their buyers don’t bite. Meanwhile, the designers have no choice because their clients are limiting their funds or explicitly telling them living artists only.
The way designers tackle this is quite simple – they usually end up looking for the art on their own. They will scour online resources trying to find the next up-and-coming gem and sometimes they can do so effectively. What often ends up happening is they land on the webpages of galleries and they click through their current and upcoming exhibitions to see what may go in the property. The issue here is the gallery business model is broken, and many are overcharging the designers.
As a curatorial firm, we will take the aesthetic of their property and match it to an up-and-coming star. We have plenty of these artists at multiple price points, so it is very easy to simply signal X,Y, Z original art that is more accessible and blends nicely with their interiors.
Studio Kasa owner Josh Kasper spent over a decade on Wall Street with a number of those years at Goldman Sachs and later at Fidelity Investments. Today, he and the Studio Kasa team help interior designers curate art through an open architecture process that explores custom pieces for specific spaces based on aesthetics and style preferences.
