The "paint and sip" trend is booming. Art studios are popping up across the country to teach group painting classes while also getting you a little tipsy. Demand for the classes have led Pinot’s Palette wine and painting business to recently open its 100th location, and a paint and sip startup on Shark Tank just got a $500,000 investment.
With popularity skyrocketing, a Chicago startup wants to get in on the trend, but with a twist: It's bringing the painting class to you.
Painting to Gogh lets you order a painting kit packed with an easel, paint, paint brushes, palette, apron and 16x20 canvas. Users select from over a dozen different type of paintings, and follow along with a digital video tutorial that can be accessed through Painting to Gogh's website.
Materials arrive between two and five business days, and prices start at $50 for an individual starter kit with everything you need to paint. The cost decreases on subsequent orders when all you need is the paint and canvas. (You'll have to order the wine on your own, though).
The idea is to capitalize on a booming trend, while also offering the convenience of not having to leave your home, said co-founder and CEO Shashin Patel.
"It is an expanding market, but there isn’t anyone else that does what we do in terms of an acrylic painting experience that's delivered to your home," Patel said.
Painting to Gogh launched around a year ago and has sold about 400 painting kits in 36 states, Patel said. The startup has partnered with Chicago-based brick-and-mortar wine and paint shop Arts and Spirits, utilizing some of the shop's suppliers and marketing to their customers. Arts and Spirits' founders have an equity stake in Painting to Gogh.
Patel said Painting to Gogh has been popular with couples looking for another dating option, as well as people who don't live in city centers with access to paint and sip classes.
"(With Painting to Gogh) you're not tied to a set schedule. You don't have to go out and do this somewhere," he said.
Image via Painting to Gogh
Correction: This post has been updated to reflect that Pinot’s Palette has opened 100 locations across the US. Not 100 locations in Chicago.
