Rercy Flood's home is her test ground. Three years ago, she and her husband and daughter moved into a three-storey house in Sandymount, Dublin 4, that needed significant restoration.
Flood wanted each room to have a unique atmosphere. She was always going to use artwork to achieve that – she has a background in art restoration, illustration and wood-carving – but she didn’t have the budget for original work.
“I went shopping online but I was disappointed with the range and quality of the prints available,” she says. “Cost was an issue too. I didn’t want to go for the very obvious works that you see everywhere, but anything unusual cost a fortune or the print quality was poor. With one particular online purchase experience, the item that I received was clearly just a page ripped out of a book.”
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And so a business was born, as Flood set up the Vintage Poster Company. And what started as an Etsy store quickly grew as orders mounted. She now has her own dedicated website with room-by-room art selection advice and a huge range of popular fine art prints, vintage posters, botanical illustrations and more obscure artwork.
Unusual artwork
Downstairs in Flood’s house, there is a dedicated room where she curates and prints unusual artwork, some of which is not easily available online. She searches out, digitally enhances and prints rare artwork from around the world, using specialised printers and “giclée” inks, which saturate the poster in colour.
The result is rich, vibrant and unique, with posters ranging in price from €7 to €27. She is selling to customers in Ireland, the UK and Europe, Canada, the US, Japan and Australia.
“I’m one for a bargain but I also want to avoid looking as if I’ve been shopping for art in a warehouse off the M50,” says Flood.
“Unless you have artistic ability or find crafts a cinch, it can be very expensive to individualise your home or avoid the homogeneous look. I wanted to offer a shopping platform where the customer can shop for carefully considered and affordable art and give their home a distinctive feel.”
Flood never stops adding to her gallery. “I love searching out and adding beautiful and rarely seen works by well-known or obscure artists. I like seeing what customers order and then broadening those collections, as well as introducing new artists to see how they resonate with customers,” she says.
So what’s popular right now?
"William Morris design is in demand at the moment, so I have included a collection of his prints. Geometric design is trending too and I love the work of Josef Hoffman, " Flood says.
“Buyer requests will also give me an indication of trends and I am open to sourcing for customers and tailoring prints when I can. One US customer requested a number of animal artworks for her jungle- themed den and another purchaser is creating a collage of antique maps.
“Buyer requests can spark ideas too: an enquiry from an Australian mum for small-scale prints for her daughter’s dolls house has inspired me to develop a range of miniature framed Bauhaus prints.”
Vintage magazines
Flood also likes to keep an open mind on what constitutes art. “I trawl through old advertising imagery, travel posters, vintage magazine covers, anything I’d like to hang on my wall.”
After a recent trip to Marrakesh, she now plans to include prints of Moroccan textiles in the collection. Whether it’s woven fabrics from Istanbul, tiles from Spain or textiles from Berlin, every trip brings a new addition to her house and new artwork for the shop.
As the business grows, Flood is starting to provide customers with more tailored support in making the most of their home. To that end, she has developed a free interiors advice section on the site based on her own experience of home decoration and her art background.
"I also like to include interesting facts about the artist or the artwork. One such story that has struck a chord with buyers is from the artwork Over The Town by Marc Chagall. It depicts the artist and his sweetheart floating over a town shortly after their engagement. One American buyer told me that the two lovers flying through the air visually represents how he felt when he and his partner got engaged; it now hangs over their bed in their New York home."
Flood may look to recruit next year if the website ups her customer base. For now, like many a home enterprise, her business is streamlined by technology.
“I have an app on my phone that alerts me every time a customer buys a print. That ‘ping’ is going all day and night; I haven’t got tired of the sound just yet. It’ll be a good sign when I do.”
vintagepostercompany.com
Eclectic arrangements: Rercy Flood’s tips for hanging art
Black and white noir The understated Nordic influence on interiors is in full swing. Concrete, glass, steel and this season's hottest metal – copper – are key in any minimalist Nordic room. Modernist monochrome art prints can complete this ethereal noir look. If it all gets a bit stark, blue-based art prints provide a cheerful burst of colour.
Dark spaces Fed up with dark rooms in your home? Saturate your walls with bright colours and bold design in your prints. Whether you use contrasting colours or stick to a colour theme, strategic pops of coloured prints will bring any lacklustre corner to life.
Contrasting art If you can't brave a whole wall of William Morris design, a little goes a long way with a framed Morris motif. Once just for fabrics and wallpapers, these intricate art prints are always popular. If you're feeling braver, marrying a Morris pattern (below) with a contrasting Moroccan tile print will give a distinctive mood. If you stick to a specific palette, these unexpected combinations will create a cohesive look.
White walls A large windowless wall can be daunting and plain boring. A collage of disparate images or frames clustered together will add dimension. Asymmetry in wall art arrangement will yield better results. And it doesn't have to cost a fortune: you can pick up framed art in secondhand shops. There are no rules in eclectic wall collage. Start in the middle and work outwards; if something feels wrong, just swap it. Keep the look fresh by moving pictures around.
