Kit Kemp’s Picks for Creating a Personal and Affordable Art Collection (Part 2)

If you read my recent blog post Creating a Personal and Affordable Art Collection (Part 1), then we hope you’re already on your way to building an art collection that captures your heart and represents your individuality. But our ideas don’t stop there and we have even more to share with you!

Kit Kemp’s Picks for Creating a Personal and Affordable Art Collection (Part 2)

Finding special prints and editions is another great way to own art without breaking the bank. Cob Gallery in West London is one of our favourite destinations for prints. The gallery works with a remarkable roster of artists to purpose their work with beautifully made prints and editions. We love this array of fun lino cuts by Thomas Langley. His playful use of colour and materials make for humorous textural work. 

Another great place to find prints is Print Club London, an East London screen printing studio and contemporary online gallery. They are dedicated to nurturing creative talent, offering high quality screen prints at affordable prices.

This beautiful still life by Rose Electra Harris is captivating, layered and boasts a wonderful colour palette.

We found a similar throw from Glassette by Kara Rose Marshall. I’m a real horse lover so ‘Tart On A Horse’ really captured me. Kara hand draws these throws with a theme of old western movies and cowboys running throughout. The fabric is beautifully handwoven by a small family run mill in Texas using recycled cotton.

I love using pieces that perhaps weren’t intended to be framed as artworks. Sometimes this can be a fabric, a throw, a flag or a blanket. Here I even threw some painterly tea towels together and placed them in colourful frames to make art.

Second hand pieces are a brilliant way to find affordable art. Trawling a market makes a wonderful day out and when admiring my finds, I’m always reminded of the adventure.

Take a look at our tips for exploring Sunbury Antiques Market which makes a great example for how we’ve found art in unexpected places, such as this collection of vintage kimonos.

Or take a look at The Whitby Hotel’s room 1408, where we have appliquéd and embroidered remnants of vintage kimono fabrics onto a dark wool. It really goes to show how art can be found and repurposed almost anywhere!

Kimonos are an artwork in their own right and look striking framed on a wall in a Perspex box, as we have done in room 512 at The Soho Hotel.