When Talenia Phua Gajardo created The Artling in 2013, Asian contemporary art had been a hot topic for more than a decade. The concept of buying it online, however, was entirely new.
There were tons of websites based in the US and London which catered to European and American art [such as Amazon Art], but there wasn’t anything that specifically catered to Asian contemporary art,” says the Singapore native. “There was a big opportunity to create something that didn’t exist within our market.
Talenia, a former architect with Zaha Hadid’s eponymous firm in London, secured S$200,000 (HK$1.1 million) in seed funding from an art collector and began work on her e-commerce platform.
It started as a forum for her to promote the work of emerging Singaporean photographers but quickly ballooned to include all sorts of artists and mediums. Today, the click-and-buy platform showcases a curated selection of art from galleries and artists in Asia.
The site, which currently lists the work of more than 900 artists, also recently acquired its direct competitor, Artshare. Hong Kong-based art consultant Alex Errera founded Artshare the same year The Artling was launched. Errera, who has known and admired Talenia for some time, remains an adviser to Artshare and will work closely with its CEO on the transition.