Hi, I'm Louise and I'm one of the co-founders of
Art District, which is a web-based concept which wants to help artists make a living of their
arts. We actually started Art District because we could see all these artists in our own network,
my partner and I, and these artists just couldn't make a living of producing their
gorgeous products and designs. I thought it was a brilliant idea to somehow make a platform
where the artists could meet the customers and vice versa. So I went to India for one and a half
months to think and when I came back I decided to quit my job in the media industry and actually
start this company with Tina, my partner. We have this this mission of helping artists make a
living of their arts and yeah that's what we try to do with this webshop we have. So we have been
hand-selecting all our artists that we have now and that's also because we want there to be like
a correlation between all the artists so it has to be something arts and crafts that are like
stylish but it still has this edge in some way and it has to have a story to tell because the
storytelling is really important in Art District and that's also because we believe that today
it's more like we don't want more stuff we want better stuff and therefore we focus a lot on
telling the stories behind all the products and really creating this platform where the artists
can actually tell like the story behind all their products and stuff. So in the beginning we
actually just selected some artists and went out to meet them and talk to them and in the beginning
it was also very important for us to like just brainstorm a little and clear the concept with
them and hear their opinions and what they actually needed so kind of market research as well. We
have ceramics and jewelry right now because we just had to start somewhere like and get a lot of
products in those categories so as long as it's good quality and it's design and style that we
think fits Art District and it's yeah then we are open for anything. Our mission is the most
important thing. Helping artists make a living of their arts and we have this mission that in
2020 we want to help 200 artists live from their arts. So it's yeah we have to get out there.
I think we're quite quite a modern company in a way because we are very value-based and I think
that's why we started as a passion project. It was like yeah this passion of combining
creativity with business which my partner and I both have so it was just this like love project
in a way. This has to be fun and we don't want to like ruin the planet or anything it has to be
like yeah sustainable in a way. I often get emails and calls from some of the artists like okay what
about price setting and what would you advise me to do and with this product they even sell or
should I make it cheaper in like change the whole production process or whatever so it's also
because many of the artists are so new at this and I think many of the artists just they don't
really want to bother with this whole business aspect or even setting up their own webshop or
something it's just and I really understand that because it's a it's a huge task so I'm just glad
that we can help because both my partner and I are like business women and like we have a lot of
experience in that field so we just want to use that experience to help the artists so they can
do what they do well and we can do what we do well. Well right now we just we have Danish artists but
that's only because it was the easiest and all the artists that we got in contact with are here
in Copenhagen so it was just like happening it wasn't really planned that way but I know that
there are so many amazing artists all over the world and I studied in China and I spent a lot of
time in the 798 at district in Beijing you can just see in all these little shops and amazing
little like crafts room that people are just sitting there making a lot of like wonderful
items that I would love to sell at some point so it's we're gonna be international at some point
that's for sure so for me it's just so important that I've found we've found this combination
of like something like hardcore business and it is hardcore business to start your own business
and still like being creative and having this contact with all the these creative people and
actually doing something to help creative people in Denmark and creativity in Denmark as well
and then of course it's not just the Danish projects we started out in Denmark in Copenhagen
but during autumn 2012 we want to be international and start out in Europe and then the rest of the
world so so you can like create this big platform for the artist and customers to meet
