HOW TO FIND UNIQUE ART

A while ago my friend asked my advice on where to buy art as she has lots of bare walls to fill. I have a lot of things on my walls, but I don't actually have any paintings or big pieces of 'art', per say. I sent her this blog post I wrote about ways to create affordable wall art, which are definitely things I do in my own house - see here and here!

I also think that social media is amazing for finding artists; I commissioned a couple of SE London-based artists who I found in the most random way ever - a true digital paper trail, if you will - to do these chalk drawings for me, so bear with me as the story is a bit convoluted!

I found an interior design duo called 2lovelygays via Twitter and started following their Forest Hill coffee shop, St David Coffee House, on instagram. I haven't actually been, but owning my own cafe is my recurring daydream and this place seems awesome - they open into the evening, serving small plates and wine, and have different pop-ups some nights of the week. I started following one of the pop-ups, Nyonya - a guy serving Malaysian laksa - and became totally obsessed with the chalkboards he has every week outside the shop.

Long story short, I tracked down the illustrators - Joe Gamble and Alice Bowsher - and e-mailed to ask them if they'd recreate a couple of the boards. They arrived in the post a couple of weeks ago (I also got an extra of the one above to give to my brother for his birthday) and I think they look so smart, even just in cheapo IKEA Ribba frames (which I use for everything). Actually I got carried away and I don't really have space for three, but they are just so random and clever, I couldn't help myself! Plus, I'm half Malaysian so they are quite sentimental - that 'It's OK' line is something that my relatives say that drive me crazy, so when I saw the chalkboard version I had a good chuckle.

I'd love to hear any other ideas for finding unique, original art so please do comment your suggestions or send me links to your favourite artists as I'm always on the lookout :)