Box of art
KUTUDA SANAT VAR
Istanbul | Turkey
The main objective of the project is to bring concepts of art into people’s life - says Sarp Suerdas, the founder. Kutuda sanat var is a box subscription service. At the beginning of the month people who subscribe to it receive the box. Each month there is a different theme, which we call “art excuse of the month”. We try to push people to create something. It’s not a strict theme, you can interpret it the way you want. I give you the excuse, that’s it. Then we add art supplies which go with it. For example, if the theme is coloring you get brushes and paints. What’s more, we have “hand-warming” exercise, something which helps you start when you are stuck in front of a white piece of paper. And the thing which I love the most is called “excuse for happiness”. It can be toy, candy, anything, which will give the owner of the box a little smile. And the last important thing is the feature of the artist. In every box you can find a piece of art created by one of the subscribers from the previous month.
And everything started a few months ago, from personal passion to art.
I’m a visual designer. I’ve always been drawing, but I’ve never been an artist because I’m not so talented. But I’m always into this stuff. I’ve been taking water coloring lessons for 2 years now. For a long time I was receiving questions like how do you find time to do it? Can I do it if I’m not talented? I always answer it’s nothing to do with talent. If you are brave enough to spend some time with it, you can achieve something. For people it’s difficult to find time for hobbies. Then a few other things clicked together and I started to think what if we inspire people by sending them all necessary materials so they don’t even have to go anywhere to buy them.
Considering the feedback and the constant growing number of subscribers the idea hits the point. Although art boxes are just the element of a much bigger picture.
We have business where you can subscribe to stuff and we have social media. It’s the same project but with instagram we are trying to create art featuring media in Turkey. We don’t have any which will feature Turkish artists. We try to reach people and promote their work, it’s the main idea. We started 2 months before art boxes. And we received really good feedback, people said they are honored to be featured and every day new one send us messages with their art. We want to create an account which people love to scroll, only every 20-30 posts we mentioned the art boxes.
Sarp believes that art is not just a hobby. It’s much more than that.
I want to encourage people to create. Of course we need subscribers to continue but it’s not my main concern. I want to involve more people in art. I believe people making art make this world a better place. Istanbul is quite a stressful city, it’s too crowded, in the last 2 years also too dangerous with bombings. People need to express themselves. I think creating something is a healthy way of expression.
More about: kutudasanatvar.com