9th August 2016

Art Junkie

Life - By Alexandra Stedman
The fab staircase in J Crew, Regent Street. Photo by Erica Davies
I’m a believer that an house unfilled with Art is a lonely house. But it doesn’t have to be orignal Damien Hirst to be cool, there are so many fab brands out there selling affordable pieces or stores trying to bridge the gap between high end and mid market.
My Slim Aarons print from Yellow Korner
‘Love’ print, £15 via Big Jon
When it comes to Art, I am in the Jenna Lyons school of thought – more is more. And that means it can’t all be expensive. I love collecting nick nacks from around the world – I bought a vintage map from New York for $1 and spent the money having it framed, and my husband and I loved finding the perfect print whilst on honeymoon in Japan – a piece I love still every time I see it. I mix old family photos with modern prints from Etsy and small boutiques I find on Instagram.
Our collage wall, comprising on prints bought from Etsy, Tate Britain, old photos and records owned by my grandmother-in-law  
Print by Sarah Maple at The Other Art Fair. Mount Fuji print bought from the antiques street in Kyoto, Japan.

I love this subversive print from Sarah Maple. My sister said ‘but yeah, you could’ve done that’ when I showed her, and I just laughed. I love that modern art strikes up a conversation and if you like it, so what? The gold bear money jar was a Christmas present from Linda Farrow and a bit Jeff Koons in itself – we collect all our change here and treat ourselves to dinner when it gets too full!

Left to right: Painting by our talented friend David Northedge (he also does bespoke framing should you need – Sharp Objects), print by Lola Donaghue at Etsy, Swiss Cross typography poster from Etsy, ‘Two eggs in a bowl’ a wedding gift from another talented friend Theo Platt 

9 great places for affordable art:

1. SOOUK

One of those fab instagram finds (through one of my interiors obsessions Dee Campling). They do cool graphic prints, typography as well as landscapes – and the styling on the site is pretty great, too.

2. THE OTHER ART FAIR

I love to browse the Art fairs, if not always to buy (I love the Affordable Art Fair too, but this one is far less busy). It’s a great mixture of established artists as well as others on the rise and a real range of pricepoints (and no one was snooty when I asked about prices – I got the impression this wasn’t the done thing at Frieze!).

3. BALIBART

I love the feel of this website – unpretentious and with interesting collaborations bringing a new wave of accessibility, this is definitely a site to note down.

Print on fine art paper: €19, Balibart

4. THE POSTER CLUB

Kate Moss poster print: £75

Because everyone needs a Kate Moss giant poster print in their lives…And all their other prints are modern, cool and contemporary too.

5. MAPIFUL

I am obsessed with these map prints, and you can even design your own! They’d make such good gifts too, to remind someone of a special place – but which place to pick…?

6. PRINT CLUB LONDON

Working to bring affordability and accessibility to the art scene, and the team curate their own annual poster show called ‘Blisters’. On their site you can find prints from rising artists such as Cassandra Yap (below) and – one of my favourites – Ben Eine. 

7. MINTED

Minted is just one of those sites who hit on something, originally starting out with cool, bespoke stationery and since growing with interiors and art prints (fine art, photography and independent artists). The prints are really affordable, but shipping less so – but it kind of evens out. The best part is the customising aspect – you can have it with or without the Artist’s signature, different types of frame etc – and this all adjusts the price accordingly.
Limited edition print, starting from $23, Minted

8. LUMITRIX

I probably mention this site every time I talk about art prints, but I just really love what Lumitrix are doing. They’ve moved more into Fine Art but you can also find some really affordable pieces here, too.

Small print, £120, Lumitrix

9. IKEA


Remember the days when every student had a New York print with the taxi club whooshing past in bright yellow..? Well they’re long gone, and the poster section of ikea really impressed me last time I was in. They have access to the Norman Parkinson archive and starting at £6 for a print, you can’t really go wrong…

By Alexandra Stedman

Fashion Editor, Blogger, Realist

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Comments

  1. Check out Society 6 also! If you have a few hours to burn looking through the enormous selection…

  2. Such a good post thanks Alex! Do you have any suggestions on where to buy frames from? Do you have a london based framer that you use?
    Keep the interior blogs coming <3

  4. So my friend at Sharp Objects, Bermondsey did our Japan one (with the floating paper etc), or we try and use a guy at Merton Abbey Mills (as keep being told the place is being demolished for flats so we like to support!). Or if something is standard size, Habitat or Ikea do decent frames for the price (as it is an expensive habit!) x