I have renewed my online store and it is now possible to order from overseas.
https://store.hidemishimura.com/
I used “Shopify” for production. I deliberately designed it to be elegant and not like a typical online store.
There are several reasons why I made this.
- I have always wanted to create a store with Shopify and customize the design.
- There are occasions where credit cards cannot be used to purchase artworks at exhibition venues, so I thought it would be convenient if people could purchase online from any country.
- My works are often purchased by foreigners, so I thought it might be a good idea to have a cross-border e-commerce site just in case.
- If I plan a group exhibition in the future, I might also sell through the online store, so this serves as practice.
- As an archive for my works – for portfolio and inventory management. Many artists create and manage a list of their works, but I’m not good at that, so I wanted an online archive that can be viewed from anywhere.
For works like mine, which are difficult to understand without seeing them in person, the main sales are through exhibitions, so I regard this online store as a supplementary tool.
Also, if a gallery is handling my works, I can’t list them on other online stores. In such cases, some of the works will be temporarily hidden.
During the COVID-19 pandemic, it became mainstream for galleries to have online stores, but there are still some that don’t. I think this could be a useful sales method for exhibitions at such galleries. For example, creating a special page for a limited time during the exhibition and returning the sales commission to the gallery might be a good idea.
Currently, there are not many works available, but I am stockpiling them now, so the number will increase significantly around the next exhibition opportunity.
I am taking a break from exhibitions for a while to create works, try making an online store, do research, reduce clutter, and create a more conducive environment for production.
My artworks take time to create, but I will hold exhibitions again when I have a large number of works, so please wait a while until my return.
