From left: Dominika Marcisz, Mei Hill and Elisabeth Vaneveld MNZM make up the team at artradie, which hopes to revolutionise the New Zealand art market.
From left: Dominika Marcisz, Mei Hill and Elisabeth Vaneveld MNZM make up the team at artradie, which hopes to revolutionise the New Zealand art market.
Mei Hill, founder and director of artradie, talks to Tom Raynel about why she celebrates Aotearoa New Zealand artists, and what it takes to thrive in the industry.
What is artradie?
Launched in April 2024, artradie is an innovative and accessible online platform dedicated to showcasing and selling New Zealandartworks by talented artists living and practising in Aotearoa, and that’s quite special for us that it is supporting local artists.
What inspired you to start the business?
As an artist and designer myself, I wanted to sell more of my work. Being entrepreneurial, if I could find a solution for myself, then I might as well share it with other artists, right?
I believe that’s because we all have to deal with increasing commission fees, which can be quite taxing.
I wanted to establish another model that was not based on commission fees, plus the fact that I’m also an avid buyer and I understand both sides of the sales process, so coming up with something that could attract artists that aren’t necessarily represented by galleries or auction houses.
I think focusing on artists was really the inspiration, almost a sort of marketplace by artists for artists in a way.
Mei Hill, founder of artradie, works with mosaics as part of her art, drawing upon her indigenous heritage as inspiration for her work.
How does the marketplace work?
I think that artradie wants to distinguish itself as a go-to online marketplace for New Zealand art by offering artists a commission-free platform with what we believe is a diverse range of currently 12 and growing categories. We want to empower them to build their careers and connect directly with a local and global audience.
We currently have categories for all the usual art disciplines like painting, sculpture, and mahi toi. Artradie offers categories that other art-selling platforms don’t have - for example, recycled materials, we just launched that at the tail-end of last year. There’s also the next-gen category, which is a special offering for emerging and young visual artists, and I think that’s important.
Later this month we will be launching the “Sell on Behalf of” category, and hope to launch auctions in February/March.
How do you find inspiration for your artwork, and why mosaics?
Being Māori, being indigenous to this land Aotearoa, it’s an energizing element for me. I draw inspiration from our whenua, our moana, our tupuna, just being Māori. I celebrate the four tribes within my whakapapa.
Glass has been a medium which I’ve worked with for at least the past decade from cast glass through to a very, very small stint with glass blowing. Glass for me is really, what you see is what you get. If you’ve got that natural light coming through, it just opens up a whole new world. I’ve loved glass from a very early age.
Mosaics or karaehe is what we call glass, is a centuries-old discipline from around the globe. There aren’t so many Māori working in mosaics, so I’ve combined it with a strong identity being Māori and it’s very fine, it’s quite labour intensive.
Mana Motuhake, created by founder of artradie Mei Hill, is made of recycled glass. The piece currently for sale will see 25% of its sale price go to the Tino Rangatira group which Hill has partnered with. Photo / Supplied
What does the next year look like for artradie?
We celebrate our first anniversary in April 2025, so I think just being able to have a robust social media strategy is kind of crucial for artradie’s success. We really want to enable the site to reach out to a wider audience, build our brand awareness, engage with potential buyers and artists, and ultimately drive traffic to the platform and facilitate art sales.
I think the value for us is that it’s hopefully a site where people can understand what’s on offer, and what the proposition is. I mean our biggest highlight you might say for our first year has been the growing response from New Zealand artists as they begin to understand what artradie offers and how they can remain in control of their pricing and sales process.
It’s been demanding no doubt to navigate the challenges of establishing a new online marketplace business. However, I think the opportunity for us is to connect talented artists with buyers and offer them a growing range of online tools.
What would be your advice to other budding entrepreneurs?
My advice I think for new startup entrepreneurs is to focus on building a strong social media presence because, in a way, you don’t have those physical building costs overhead, so to speak. I think build a strong social media presence, continuously validate ideas with potential customers, and be prepared to adapt and iterate as you learn and grow.
It takes longer than you think to become financially sustainable, you need to be prepared for the long haul, especially in these challenging economic times.
Tom Raynel is a multimedia business journalist for the Herald, covering small business and retail.
