Interview with Founder of ArtQuid - artmarketblog.com I recently came across a site called ArtQuid (http://www.artquid.com) which is described as an “Online Art Broker”. The extremely well designed and professional website immediately caught my eye
News-Antique.com - Jan 02,2009 - I recently came across a site called ArtQuid (http://www.artquid.com) which is described as an “Online Art Broker”. The extremely well designed and professional website immediately caught my eye as did the range and quality of items listed on the site. With my interest piqued I decided to contact the CEO and founder of ArtQuid, Rudolph van Valkenburg, and get the lowdown on Rudolph and his business. See the full interview with Rudolph below.
1. What is ArtQuid?
ArtQuid is a global marketplace dedicated to the Art World and yet accessible to everyone including artists, professional art dealers and individual art lovers.
The ArtQuid catalogue offers an important diversity of artworks to the visitor: from emerging contemporary artists to objets d’art and Antiques
Sellers can create their own customized online art gallery and exhibit their artworks within a privileged environment. Buyers have free access to the entire catalogue and can make price offers and contact sellers directly.
ArtQuid’s main mission is to provide a powerful promotion tool for the Art World. A targeted audience of dealers, collectors and interior designers are continuously using this multilingual (English, French and Spanish) social art network platform to look for new items. In addition to help artists and galleries to promote their works of art, the site guarantees maximum of exposure for sellers and allows users to multiply contacts and sales between professionals and private collectors.
With a strong traffic growth of more than 10% per month, ArtQuid is:
* Reaching 75,000 visitors per month
* Exhibiting 20,000 artworks
* From Antiques to Contemporary Art
* In 16 headings and more than 80 categories.
New functionalities are added every week on the site and numerous new features are yet to come during 2009!
2. What is your background?
With a double Dutch and French nationality, I have an international background. I graduated from a European business program and subsequently followed art history classes at the Ecole du Louvre.
3. What motivated you to start ArtQuid?
After I started my career at Christie’s and while I was working with several important Parisian galleries, I identified a true potential for an online Art World Marketplace for artists, art professionals and a global audience of art lovers.
As a young contemporary art collector with an entrepreneurial spirit, I created ArtQuid.com in 2006 together with four business partners, all experts in their own fields. Since its creation, ArtQuid.com has rapidly become an important Art World Marketplace.
4. What makes ArtQuid different from other online art marketplaces?
Truly elegant and functional, this site is positioned between professional marketplaces on the one hand and classified ads and auction sites on the other.
The site is a user-friendly showcase for the artworks in the most appropriate and professional manner.
Every ad is validated and translated into the three working languages of the site. This unique process keeps the catalogue up-to-date and guarantees a privileged environment.
In the forefront of innovation in the Internet Art Market, ArtQuid offers to sellers the possibility to
