MADEinSB: Buy local – live local

14 December 2017

My friends were urging me to look for more opportunities to sell my art, „to make it more marketable” because who the heck buys original artworks without practical applications? I’ll give you the answer: practically no one. Except if you’re an established artist with lots and lots of supporters from the elite art world.

So when the occasion presented itself I accepted the creative marketing challenge that came with the campaign “Buy local – live local”, an excellent opportunity for me to become acquainted with the art market in Sibiu and to find solutions for a series of products dedicated to the profile of this bar – a juice-bar in the city center (L.E.: SIBIO has closed down at the beginning of 2020).

I accepted the invitation of Adi Oprea, entrepreneur-juice-barista-wizard-designer, who was preparing to launch the campaign meant to bring local artists into the spotlight and to attract art-lovers to his place, a bar that promotes a healthy lifestyle.

 

fab4

 

In the words of the wizard himself, Adrian Oprea: “MADEinSB is a campaign through which Sibio juice-bar targets artists and craftsmen from various areas that live or work in the county of Sibiu. For our most ambitious project implemented under the motto “Buy local – live local”, in which I act both as a customer and as creative director, we bring together the most creative designers, illustrators and craftsmen from Sibiu.”

Source: Business Review

It was around Christmas so me and Adi debated what gifts would the people of Sibiu like to find at SIBIO. Finally, we settled on veggie monsters based on the ingredients found in the smoothie menu, which Adi uses every day: spinach, ginger, carrot and mango. I made the illustrations and then I designed magnets, tote bags and postcards.

 

 

 

Then Adi suggested to us, the fab 4 artists selected for this first campaign, that we pick 3 days during which we could come at SIBIO, talk to the interested customers and see how the campaign was going while he energized us with his good mood and his equally good ginger shots. So I selected some of my original artworks and had a temporary exhibition at the juice-bar. I was fortunate enough to be approached by the daughter of an art collector from Sibiu, who liked what she saw and bought a painting as a Christmas present for her father. I also sold a handful of framed prints.

 

 

 

The products were also really well received, except for the postcards, which mostly stayed in the TOM archive; people don’t really use this means of communicating anymore (just so you artisans starting out know).

The campaign was a success so Adi is still organizing these fairs with invited creators and he now also has a permanent shop with local products at SIBIO. If any artisans starting out are reading this: go grab a coffee at SIBIO and talk to the boss: if he likes what you do, he’ll hook you up!

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