Kit Kemp’s Picks for Creating a Personal and Affordable Art Collection (Part 1)

We’ve put together a pick of our favourite art works. Available to buy today, we hope these ideas in Part 1 and Part 2, will help you to begin a collection, add to an already flourishing space or make the perfect gift to someone special.

We talk endlessly about our love for art and craft and it’s something I’m deeply passionate about. A beautifully crafted interior is nothing without a carefully thought out and developed art collection. You can curate your collection in one go, or build it slowly over time, but it should always be a personal and joyful reflection of yourself.

I design every space with art in mind. Whether it’s the main focal point of a room, accented subtly or simply purposed as a gallery wall, building an art collection that captures your imagination doesn’t have to be unattainable or unaffordable. We love sniffing out remarkable art that’s accessible to all. It gives depth to our interiors and makes a space feel democratic and full of character.

This gallery wall of artworks hang beautifully against Andrew Martin’s wallpaper.

I am an avid traveller and so the work of Ramiro Fernandez Saus always transports to me to somewhere special. A warmer climate, an exotic garden, or a romantic seascape. With this in mind, I recently discovered Joshua Perkin’s work at Wondering People. The beautiful colour tones in his work allow your mind to travel.

This work from Perkin ‘Been building more and painting less recently but it’s OK’, is a diptych with hot tones which make you wonder what might lie beyond the archway.

As well as being an amazing platform for artists, online galleries make an ideal destination for finding affordable art. We love this expressive and colourful piece ‘Petal Embrace’ by Rebecca Sammon available from Partnership Editions. A British artist currently living and working in London, Sammon’s work is bold and uses a playful colour palette. She is influenced by the movement of the human body, as well as drawing upon mythology as a source of inspiration.

Wondering People offer an incredible collection of affordable art. Their ethos is to give artists the chance to exhibit their work ‘to an ever-growing community of art gatherers with an aim to inspire – to think, to pause, to wonder…’

A timeless trick of mine is to use pages from beautiful books to create art and I often use art editions and children’s stories. I’m sure there are authors turning in their graves by this, but I think books are just too beautiful to sit on the shelf, or closed on a coffee table. I often buy two of the same book. One so I can enjoy the pages as they were intended and the other to celebrate on a wall. Here at Ham Yard Hotel we lined the walls with these incredible artworks from a European children’s book. Just so much fun!

Another fun way to frame, hang or bring things together in an affordable and impactful way is by creating groups of postcards or small prints that you have collected over the years. This artwork at The Whitby Hotel was created using this simple and effective trick. Here we collected a number of postcards from one of our favourite artists Breon O’Casey. Set on a layer of textured felt, we’ve used small frames within a larger frame to create this exciting piece.

Instagram is a great way to discover talent and we recently discovered artist Meg Fatharly @printcessmeg this way. Meg creates the most charming miniature artworks. Using embossing, collating and painting her website is a treasure trove of her whimsical view on still life and the world around her. A collection of work such as this is a great way to start a carefully curated gallery wall. We love how her work can be studied and explored!

This can be replicated with just about anything, from holiday postcards, to cards collected from gallery visits. Putting oddities together like this makes a collection of entirely personal things and a true work of art in your home. Just take a look at your creative pin board or scrapbook because you might be hoarding things that can be made into art!

We hope this inspires you to discover and create art that captures who you are and what you love. If you’d like some more ideas, take a look at Part 2: Kit Kemp’s Picks for Creating a Personal and Affordable Art Collection (Part 2)