Marking a significant expansion for The Art File, the Nottingham-based publisher has just gone live with Tall Boy Designs (www.tallboyprints.com), its brand new wall art and art print division.
The new consumer-facing online business debuts with 150 artworks from 15 talented artists and designers, but with many more likely to join in due course. Next month (July) will also see a designated V&A collection joining the portfolio.
Explaining the rationale behind Tall Boy, Ged Mace, managing director of The Art File told PG Buzz: “Tall Boy is the culmination of something we have wanted to do for the last five years. Through The Art File, we have had the privilege to work with and discover many talented artists and amazing designers, and felt their work should be promoted way beyond greeting cards.”
This, coupled with the consumer’s increased interest in their home décor, something which has escalated over the last 15 months of the pandemic further reinforced the merit of launching Tall Boy. In fact, it has even come up with a new phrase ‘homesters’ as the target market for Tall Boy products. Using this in its marketing, Tall Boy Designs defines a ‘homester’ as ‘A house proud, design-inspired, discerning individual or couple (homesters) who love their home and choose statement objects for their space that reflect their own personality and style.’
Ged stresses that the prints being offered through Tall Boy Designs and very much “art and not just reproductions of greeting cards.”
Ged has worked closely with his son James (and fellow ‘tall boy’), who is sales and marketing manager of The Art File on the new strand of the business.
The inaugural portfolio of artists whose work features on the Tall Boy Designs portal includes Emma Ball, Emily Brooks, Stuart Cox, Snowdon Flood, Ally Gore, Kate Heiss, Rachel Hibbs, Natasha Newton, Robert Reader, Catherine Rowe, Sarah Watson. In addition, some of The Art File’s in-house artists’ work also features under a Tallboy Originals collection. These include Bethany Kemp, Kerry Lister, Clare Mayes and Lucie Whitehead. A biography of each artist is included on the site.
The company has invested in a state-of-the-art printing press to produce the wall art in-house. While initially the prints will be being supplied unframed, the plan is to progress to offering a framed option in due course.
The cost of the prints ranges from £27.50 up to £50, with each artist to receive 8% of this each time their print is purchased.
The Tall Boy Designs site was created by Skylight Media, the Nottingham-based company who built The Art File’s very first website (which also saw Skylight go on to create websites/ecommerce platforms for almost 50 other greeting card companies).
Top: Two of Sarah Watson’s prints on the Tall Boy Designs’ site.
