This Indian startup wants to empower visual artists with a transparent online platform

Many wonder about the fancy lives of famous artists likes Pablo Picasso, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Andy Warhol. Their art may be priceless today but hardly anyone thinks about the countless hours of blood, sweat, and paint spent in its creation. There are artists all over the world, but many remain undiscovered, and only a few achieve recognition even within their own countries.

Shaishav Todi, Rituraj Dowerah, and Justin Alva from Bangalore want to change that. They have built a minimalist and responsive online platform – Cupick – for artists to showcase, sell, and promote their art virtually. The idea is to make art accessible and affordable to masses.

It is similar to Society6 and operates very much like Postergully and Bluegape, but isn’t focused on merchandise.

Cupick also offers a space for artists who wish to raise funds for social causes. Right now, the Design for Kashmir initiative started by Prathima Muniyappa and Unnati Agarwal has a collection of work by several Indian artists. Alva believes Cupick can also play a pivotal role in raising awareness and funds for such causes, as well as reach out to those who need support.

Infrastructure for artists

Right now, the site has options for artwork to be sold on postcards, greeting cards, posters, art prints, and canvases. Cupick lets the artist decide prices of his or her art, although there are base fees that account for the cost of materials and the site’s commission. The artist gets paid via PayPal or bank transfer and can withdraw those funds anytime.

“Unlike other platforms heavy on merchandise, we provide the infrastructure to the artists who simply have to upload their artwork and reach out to masses. Our goal is to make that hassle-free and take care of the rest – printing, packaging, shipping, and payments,” says Alva.

Artwork on the website is protected with watermarks and by download protection tools. The artist also remains the rightful owner of the work he or she uploads.

When a user places an order for any of the items, the transaction is initiated and the selected artwork is taken for printing. A simplified dashboard allows sales to be tracked, and houses analytical tools that can be used for promotion.

Ardent art lovers might be concerned about the quality of Cupick’s printing materials, but Alva reassures: “Our current best printing partner in Bangalore rejects his own work until he’s convinced of the output. We use the best quality materials in the market and work closely with reputed professional printers to produce the best work of the artists.”

Cupick works with another startup – do-it-yourself ecommerce platform KartRocket – to find a logistics provider for every shipment.

Scaling up

Cupick was in private, invite-only beta until October 21. It now hosts over 2,500 artworks from over 350 artists. Although 75 percent of artists on Cupick are from India, a good 25 percent are from Europe, US, and other countries. However, shipping is limited only to India for now.