Artsy discusses the art of pricing art.

Here’s an excerpt highlighting differences between the ways galleries and auctions price art.

It is suggested that collector’s, including perhaps especially those that work in the financial industries, not treat art like a financial investment.

Galleries price works according to the size of the work, the success of the most recent show, and any other relevant career-related variables, such as a recent institutional show or a nomination for an award, said Bowling, who spent seven years at Andrea Rosen Gallery before joining Phillips. In addition, galleries try to keep the prices for their artists on a steady upward trajectory, rather than riding the highs and lows of the broader art market as auction prices more often do. By contrast, auction estimates usually account for buyers’ tastes and appetites, as well as where the art market is in its cycle. “I have to think about many people it will appeal to, how many bidders, how that competition is going to drive up the price, and base my estimate range on that,” she said.

While Bowling describes herself as “the biggest proponent of the gallery system,” she said the straightforward nature of auction pricing can be a great entry point for new collectors. “I think there’s something appealing about the auction environment,” she said. “Here’s the estimate range, we have an auction, and people bid against each other. That’s how the price is achieved.”

Bowling, Campbell, and Levin all stressed one thing: Collectors shouldn’t treat art like a financial investment. (That’s even, and perhaps especially, the case for those who work in financial services, who often cite headlines of multi-million-dollar prices achieved at auction.)

See: “The New Collector’s Guide to Understanding Art Pricing” | by Anna Louie Sussman, Artsy, 3 April 2017

#art #galleries #auctions #finance #pricing #luxury #smartluxury #urbanluxury

The colors of peacock feathers, butterfly wings, and opals are structural or physical colors. They result from light-modifying micro- and nano-structures.

Dyes and pigments, such as those used to color fabrics, are chemical colors. They produce their visual effect by selectively absorbing and reflecting specific wavelengths of visible light. The colors produced might be beautiful, but the environmental cost is high as dyes enter streams and rivers.

A two-step process has been developed to transfer 3-D colloidal crystals, a structural color material, to voile fabrics. The development team says the process does not produce contaminants that could pollute water.

#luxury #smartluxury #fashion #tech

See: “Peacock colors inspire ‘greener’ way to dye clothes” | phys.org, 1 February 2017

In 2013 Carnegie Fabrics introduced the first bio-based high performance interior textile: BioBased Xorel.

• exactly the same price, aesthetics and performance
• the first high-performance interior textile in the market with a majority of plant-based content
• depending on the pattern, comprised of 60-85 percent polyethylene sourced from sugarcane instead of fossil fuels

#yourchoice #urbanluxury #interiordesign #retail #hospitality #homes

See:

“World’s First and Only High Performance BioBased Interior Textile” | Carnegie Fabrics

“How Carnegie uses sugarcane to make greener textiles” | Tish Tablan, GreenBiz.com, 25 July 2013