Wall Art Business

3 Wall Art Business Success Stories [2024]

Pat Walls

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Updated: October 9th, 2024

A wall art business involves creating various wall art pieces like paintings, prints, murals, mirrors, panels, and more, using diverse materials and mediums for an aesthetic focal point.

To build a successful wall art company, you need to establish an efficient studio setup for scaling production, master your chosen art style and mediums, determine optimal pricing strategies for profitability, and market your pieces across various channels like home décor retailers, design firms, hospitality businesses, and online print-on-demand services.

With an eye for visually compelling designs that enliven blank spaces, efficient scaling through disciplined studio operations, and sales outreach across both trade and consumer channels, you can grow a vibrant wall art brand that turns spaces into distinct places.

In this list, you'll find real-world wall art business success stories and very profitable examples of starting a wall art business that makes money.

1. art.com ($100M/year)

Back in 1994, the internet was still in its infancy, and Josh Chodniewicz didn't even know what it was until his friend Mike Marston called him from Virginia Tech and told him it was going to be huge. Intrigued, Josh bought a modem and the two started brainstorming potential online business ideas. After passing on books and music, they decided posters and prints were perfect for the online market where people had limited local options for art.

They observed the struggles people had finding specialty posters, like a Boston Red Sox fan living in Texas trying to find team memorabilia. This made them realize the potential of a single online source for a wide variety of posters and prints. To validate their idea, they leveraged early internet marketing strategies, like pay-per-click advertising on Yahoo! Overture and an extensive affiliate program with 750,000 websites.

Throughout this process, they encountered challenges like low repeat sales and ineffective advertising expenses but refined their approach by focusing on profitable marketing channels and banding together for logistical efficiency. This experience taught them the importance of perseverance, innovation, and leveraging the right partners to bring their vision to life.

How much money it makes: $100M/year
How much did it cost to start: $35K
How many people on the team: 1000

How 2 Founders Bootstrapped Art.com to $200M/Year Before Selling to Walmart

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2. Hoagard.com ($4.98M/year)

In 2014, Ali Bedrettin Boz and Cagri Ayten started designing steel samples as a hobby. They realized the potential for their designs in the interior design market and established Hoagard as an e-commerce brand. Despite facing challenges and initially low sales, Hoagard experienced a significant leap in 2016, reaching an average annual turnover of 4.5 - 5.5 million Euros.

How much money it makes: $4.98M/year
How many people on the team: 43

I Turned My Hobby Into A $4.5M/Year Metal Wall Art Business

Hoagard is a profitable metal wall decor brand with an average annual turnover of 4.5-5.5 million Euros, which started out as a new hobby and transformed into a successful e-commerce business with 85% of sales coming from the brand's own website.

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3. CATSIVERSE ($2.4K/year)

Timm, the founder of CATSIVERSE, came up with the idea for his business after building a niche community on Instagram. Seeing the opportunity to monetize his cat fan page, he created a cat portrait service and premium sustainable artwear, with a portion of every sale going towards supporting causes his community cares about. In just the first week, the business raked in around $100 in profit.

How much money it makes: $2.4K/year
How much did it cost to start: $1K
How many people on the team: 0

On Starting A Niche Cat Lovers Community On Instagram

Discover how a niche Instagram community for cat lovers transformed into a booming business offering eco-friendly custom cat portraits and sustainable artwear, achieving a conversion rate of 2.54% and reaching over 20,000 people monthly.

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