Deepa Shetty - Founder Art18 India

How will you introduce yourself to the world?

Art has always been an integral part of my identity, but since childhood I was always told that I could
only pursue it as a hobby whilst looking for a stable profession. That's how my career in HR began,
and whilst i was climbing up the career ladder towards achieving significant success, somehow i lost
my connection with art for a brief moment. After quitting my job after a few years, i didn't wish to sit
idle at home and hence started pursuing my hobby of painting again. Initially it was for my personal
engagement as it made me feel happy, but it really struck to me as a profession when i got my first
enquiry in regards to the sale of one of my art piece, and then began my journey of bringing
customised art pieces in the life of others, whilst me working on my passion and still earn to pursue it
as a full time career. Each painting gave me a different experience, different learning and different
level of satisfaction and that's when I realized why people always say you should do what makes you
happy.

Tell our readers about your achievements till today?

I consider my biggest achievement is to provide independent artists an opportunity to sell their art or
their services to a wider clientele through my online portal www.art18.in. We can proudly say that
we have been able to make sure that around 70 independent artists have been enrolled with us and
have been able to earn money by selling their artwork even during the COVID 19 pandemic. We as a
team could also collaborate with a few students when we had bulk orders and this had enabled them
to pay for their course fees though the money they earned rather than asking from home.

Tell us about your startup.
After pursuing my hobby as a profession, I realised that there would be so many independent artists
like me who would be wonderfully skilled, but due to not reaching out to the right audience would
have to give up on art. That's when i decided to create an online platform where any independent
artist can upload their art piece or services and earn money by selling their art. Through
www.art18.in we were able to empower more than 70 independent artists and are looking forward
to empowering many more artists and giving them steady earnings through us. At the same time we
are also working passionately towards making our surroundings beautiful by delivering one art piece
at a time.

What's the most important thing you are working on right now, and how are you making it
happen?

We are looking forward to collaborating with Corporates, NGOs and MNCs promoting the positive
effects on how art pieces can help bring productivity by spreading positivity and a sense of beauty in
their workspaces. We are simultaneously also working towards coming up with an Virtual Art
Competition where independent artists of all age can participate and showcase their talent to the
world whilst standing a chance to win a cash prize in various competitions. We will also encourage
many talented artists amongst this lot to list and sell their artwork through us.

What's your take on ur segmented / targeted market?

While Shakespeare's phrase remains true that “Beauty lies in the eye of the beholder”, we aim to
cater to the artistic needs of every art enthusiast whilst ensuring that we empower the lesser known
artist towards giving them a stable income which encourages them to keep on pursuing their hobby
as a profession. We understand that we cater to a niche crowd, but we have witnessed it ourselves
that when an artwork speaks to someone, the majority will want to possess it in spite of all other
challenges.


What are the challenges you have faced and what are the current challenges? Mention the
top three challenges for both and what have u started up?

Acquiring art has always been considered as a luxury and due to the sudden reign of COVID 19
pandemic majority of people preferred holding on to their passion until the overall situation of our
country would get better. Hence getting a decent number of clientele who would purchase the art
piece from our artist was a huge challenge we had to conquer. We also had to see days when
pre-ordered assignments went on hold because there weren’t enough resources to either produce or
to supply finished artworks. Taking from our artist’s point of view, they had many innovative ideas
and concepts in hand but they were not able to execute most of it as they were not able to acquire
the required raw materials. These were few of the challenges we faced most recently, but thanks to
things starting up slowly and steadily, we are slowly but steadily moving towards being fully
operational again.


Where do you want to see yourself in the next 5 years?

In the next 5 years, we aim to become a leading art supplier in our country. With the support and
dedication of all the independent artists we associate with, we are certain that we will reach our
goals whilst ensuring that we empower them to grow with us and fulfill their dreams.


Share your learnings
My passion for art and my implementation of the startup idea has made me discover a lot of
wisdomful learnings. To mention a few, through art i have learned that it is essential to know when to
stop otherwise it just takes a stroke or two to transform beauty into junk. I have also learnt to be
patient and to know that i should force myself just to produce more and more art, instead i should
let my creativity speak to me and go with the flow. My startup idea has also helped me understand
the true meaning of ‘united we stand, divided we fall’. It has taught me to be humble to people and
always remember to give something back to society as we need to take the first step if we want to
experience change