This Startup Lets You Rent Fine Art to Hang in Your Home
Displayed in museums and sold at high price points in art galleries, fine art can certainly seem inaccessible. Either you have to go out of your way to see it or you have to pay a ton of money to own it. Well, now you don’t have to do either thanks to Curina, a new art rental company that lets you hang original artwork by up-and-coming artists in your home.
When Curina founder Mio Asatani moved to New York for grad school a few years ago, she went to art galleries in Chelsea, hoping to find original art to hang on her walls. But she found the galleries intimidating and the art way out her budget. She also didn’t know if she was going to stay in New York for longer than a few years, so she didn’t want to commit to something so big and expensive if she wasn’t sure she was going to be able to keep it. So she decided to create an affordable, accessible, and non-committal platform that would let more people hang original art in their homes.
“I think art can be part of everyone’s life, and everyone should be able to own original art and not just mass produced cheap prints,” Asatani tells House Beautiful.
So how does Curina work? You can choose from three monthly subscription plans, which are priced at $38, $88, and $148. Once you pick a plan, you select a piece in your plan’s collection to rent. If you can’t decide on a piece, you can reach out to Curina and one of its art curators will help you find the perfect paining for you.
The minimum rental period is three months for all artwork. But after that time, if you decide that you want something different, you can swap your piece for another one at the same price point. You can also switch to a different plan if you want to rent a different pieces in another collection. And if you fall in love with the piece that you’re currently renting, you can purchase it. The best part? All of the previous rental fees that you paid for the artwork you want to keep will be deducted from its buying price.
“I think understanding the artists is really important when you’re purchasing art,” says Asatani. So if you’re interested in learning more about the artists behind your favorite pieces, you can watch videos profiling some of them on Curina’s website and social media accounts.
Currently, Curina operates in New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, but Asatani is hoping to expand to the West Coast soon.
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