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When did you set up your business and why?
It was the summer of 2017 and we were living in Los Angeles. When a big acting job fell through, my husband bought me a few canvases and paints and encouraged me to get creative, as it's always something I've loved doing.
With those canvases, out popped “POSH PIG” and “HIS” and “HER GIRAFFE”. I posted them on social media for fun and the response from people looking to buy them, or prints of them, was overwhelming.
So I jumped straight in and schooled myself on the fine art printing process.
What was an absolute must for me was that everything needed to be produced to the highest quality and this led me to The Copper House Gallery in Dublin. I also decided early on that all Audrey Hamilton Art pieces would be limited edition.
I've been fortunate that the business has grown steadily year on year since it started and, in 2020 during lockdown, myself and my husband Jack, who is a creative producer, decided to put our talents together and create an apparel range.
This was more challenging than expected, but an incredible process and result.
Fast forward to November 2021 and we proudly launched Audrey Hamilton Apparel, a premium apparel selection that merged art with fashion, offering oversized sweaters that don some of my most well-known art pieces.
We recently launched the AHA Apparel summer selection, which allowed us to creatively broaden the scope with new designs and artwork.
What is your design process?
I use acrylic paint on canvas to paint my original paintings. These then get scanned in The Copper House Gallery by a cruise scanner, the highest quality scanner there is in printing, with only three of these cruise scanners in Europe.
From this, all of my limited edition archival pigment prints are created on German cotton rag paper.
What is your best seller?
That's a tough one, as there is such a mix in my collections. I would say “POSH PIG”, “RAINBOW RABBIT”, “SNOW LEOPARD”, “THE LION” and “HOT MESS” are up there with some of the most popular pieces of mine people have in their homes.
What is it about your business that brings you joy?
I have always loved art, painting, drawing, doodling, anything creative to be honest.
Growing up in a very creative household (my mum and dad are very creative), myself and my brother and sister were always encouraged to use our creative side, which I think is so important in kids. But I never thought my job one day would be as an artist.
I love my job, I love being able to create what I want when I want; the perks of working for yourself!
I love using colour and creating colourful pieces people can hang in their home to brighten up a space. I have been told my work makes people smile and that's the biggest compliment an artist can get I think.
What are your hopes for 2022?
We recently launched the “Fashion Is Art” summer pop-up for an exclusive three-week run in Powerscourt Townhouse in Dublin.
The pop-up gave customers an opportunity to come see both my new artworks, old favourites and, of course, the new AHA Apparel collection.
When you launch a new business during a pandemic, it's very difficult to share that brand and product with people solely online, so the “Fashion Is Art” pop was the perfect way to invite people to experience AHA in 2022.
We were quite overwhelmed with the response and I'd love to take this opportunity to thank everyone that came by.
Now my days are busy with the final designs for winter '22 apparel selection and creating my current “ICONIC ERA” series of work in my art studio.
What advice would you give to another start-up business?
Put the work and time in, ask questions and believe in what you are creating!
Visit https://www.audreyhamiltonart.com/ and https://audreyhamiltonapparel.com/
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