The evolution of e-commerce is allowing people to get a piece of the finer things in life.
Just as Rent the Runway allows people to rent designer clothes, an Austin company called CoCollect LLC wants people to lease fine art to decorate their walls, committing to a piece for as little as one year.
"The only way to live with original artwork is to go and buy it," CoCollect founder Keli Linehan Hogsett said. "And it's one of the last things that we buy forever. Maybe beyond an engagement ring or maybe a home. But when you buy a piece of artwork, you have it for the rest of your life."
Hogsett had moved around a lot in her life and realized she didn't want to settle for pieces bought in conventional stores, but also found it difficult to commit to several pieces of art for life. So she started her company in 2021 to flip the typical fine art business model on its head, and now she's getting ready for its first widespread rollout. Hogsett is also considering looking for outside funding.
CoCollect curates "museum-quality" artwork and includes pieces from local artists. It took the company about five months to lease 100 pieces of artwork in its beta phase. Its next collection of 500 pieces will roll out starting in October, and this time the company will advertise. Hogsett believes the artwork will be fully leased out in a similar timeframe, by spring. More than 50 people have already signed up for a waitlist for the next launch.
So far, CoCollect only leases to Austin-area residents, but if it continues to grow, Hogsett may expand membership into Houston and San Antonio.
Hogsett also plans to open a funding round in 2023. The company has been entirely bootstrapped.
"Depending how fast this round of collection sells out, then we’ll definitely be looking at fundraising," she said.
Hogsett has gotten creative in curating the art. The pieces can come directly from artists but sometimes private collectors will lend their art and even participating museums will get involved. This allows the customer a wider spectrum of art, Hogsett said.
Customers can also choose if they want their collection to come from local artists or female artists. The beta phase was predominantly made up of local artists or those with a direct connection to Texas. The new collection will have global and blue chip art, while still giving exposure to locals.
Aside from providing the art, CoCollect will send a professional to a customer's space to assess where to place the art. To ensure the art will stay in its best shape, it will not be placed in direct sunlight, and if the customer has pets or children, the art will hang high off the ground or in an otherwise unreachable place, Hogsett said.
One year in, there have been zero accidents and all of its art is still intact. But just in case, there is also insurance on the artwork.
Most of the art is original but there are some that will be limited edition copies, such as when a photographer makes limited copies of a photo.
CoCollect offers tiered services, with pieces in the lowest tier costing $3,000 to $10,000 per year, but that can rise to more than $45,000 — which are typically the blue chip museum works, Hogsett explained. On its website, CoCollect advertises artwork from artists such as Robert Rauschenberg, Ellsworth Kelly and Roger Mühl.
If the customer feels a connection to the piece after leasing it, they are welcome to purchase the art.
Hogsett declined to discuss revenue figures.
