Finnish Painters' Union
A modern platform for displaying and selling art online
Online art gallery with a WooCommerce shop for Finnish Painters' Union for their event Teosvälitys that collected together the artists and their artwork to be sold online
teosvalitys.painters.fi
About the client
Finnish Painters’ Union - Taidemaalariliitto in Finnish - is a nation-wide organisation of professional painters, promoting visual art and taking care of the social interest of hundreds of artists.
The Union organises an annual event, Teosvälitys, at Kaapelitehdas in Helsinki for showcasing and selling its members paintings. Around 20 000 visitors and over six hundred artists take part in the exhibition, putting nearly 1700 works of art on display and making it the biggest art event in Finland.
Challenge
The Client approached Contrast with the idea of renovating the web presence for the Teosvälitys event, and at the same time creating a modern and flexible tool that works before, during and after the event. Contrast helped conceive, design and develop a platform that boosts art business in the difficult times of a pandemic, and functions as a digital gallery and catalogue as well as a webstore.
Approach
First of all we defined how the webstore was going to function as a catalogue as well as a webstore. We had to make sure that the paintings could be sold and reserved before the event and that the potential customers, as well as the event visitors, could explore each painter's biography and available works. We also built a registration system for the artists to apply for selling paintings both at the event and online, communicating all the needed details, as well as their biography and portfolios.
Solution
We developed a renewed image for the Finnish Painters Union’s Teosvälitys Event, where the inspiration came from combining the clean and edgy shapes of industrial design and the classical geometrical shapes of Renaissance architecture. The broad white space that frames the paintings, reminds of the displaying of art in exhibitions. The combination of large pictures and photos with the use of a sans serif typeface, helps give a fresh and modern feeling, while the use of a dark green as accent colour reminds the website visitor of Finnish forests and nature.
We developed a WooCommerce webstore for browsing, selling and purchasing the paintings online. We created a customized functionality for the store, which allows visitors to pre-book artwork without paying before the event. To support the purchasing we built a system of filters and search tools allowing users to easily browse through the collection. The information of more than 600 artists was smoothly taken to the WooCommerce webstore through a tailored form. The project was executed in a tight cooperation with the Client on a tight schedule exceeding expectations.
Client says
Since the beginning Contrast stood out with an excited attitude and a genuine interest in our project. The website was executed in a tight schedule in good collaboration. Both the client and the artists have been pleased with the end result.
