ARTHOUSE SYNDICATE IS DEAD! LONG LIVE ARTHOUSE SYNDICATE!!!

AHS Newsletter – Issue #3, August 2023

 

Hi All Art Lovers and Art Freaks,

Today it feels like we made it to the top of a hill.

To make it this far we had to use all of the good will, all of the support, and all of the patience we have been generously given by the artists, customers, and studios like Legend Story Studios & Erik’s Curiosa who have created something that we can cling onto and survive (like a weird lichen or fungus).

But have we really made it? Well, now that we are here, I see that Arthouse Syndicate’s progress is more akin to having successfully rolled out of bed, pulled at least one sock on, opened the door only to realize we haven’t even left the house yet.

And that is good! But the real hill is still in the distance. And there’s a mountain beyond that. And it turns out, one sock is not enough.

So, we turned around, went back to bed inside, and decided we better go change so that at least we look like we were ready.

 

AHS 2.0 - What’s Changed?

We spent a lot of time listening to your feedback and the biggest issue raised was the long wait times and the wish that we had stock on hand.

There have been several issues on our side too, particularly with keeping track of, and keeping customers up to date on orders that span many artists, as it can take a long time to get an update from each artist. These communication issues were beginning to threaten our reputation and potentially our existence.

Another major issue has been the amount of choice that we made available to customers. Whilst the options were great, we found that many customers weren't coming back due to how difficult it had been for them to navigate the website - which was becoming more and more complex as new artists joined us.

Our new process hopes to address all these issues, either by having pieces on-hand and ready to ship, or providing a more limited, but cooler set of choices.

Therefore, we are excited to announce our new model which features a simple 4-week turn around and a simple set of price-ranges (e.g. Tier 1, Tier 2 & Tier 3) so that everyone can still get something unique to fit your budget.

And yes, personal artist proof sketch requests are still available! (…within reason – the artists do not have enough free time to research obscure characters or movie/manga scenes 😉). We do, however understand that these sketches can sometimes be very special and personal gifts.

 

Feel free to send in questions about how this will work. Like all things it will probably take us a few product launches to get the process refined and running smoothly. We love and need all feedback.

AHS 2.0 – Collaborations and Partnerships?

You might have seen the collaboration we did with MetalFaBTokens for their deck-box. That was a great example of things that we want to do more of in the future.

 

Premier Card Grading (PCG) Partnership!

Another very cool thing that has progressed is our partnership with Premier Card Grading (PCG) with whom we are using to encase and enthrone artist proofs and signed which provide official validation and authentication of original artists’ work!

A huge thank you goes to Matt Rogers & his PCG partners for supporting us!

https://premiercardgrading.co.nz/

https://premiercardgrading.com.au/

https://premiercardgrading.com.my/

https://premiercardgrading.com/ (temporarily closed as the new base is set up)

 

 

Wrap-up – Benefits & Living Legends

Some final words on the AHS relationship with artists, as I know many of you care.

When AHS first set up, we used signed contractual agreements with the artists - not to restrict them, but because we felt we needed to in order for the business to have a chance to survive. We feared other parties seeing what we were doing and replicating it. In fact, the agreements placed more retrictions on us at AHS than they did with artists. Legend Story Studios also require  artists be the primary beneficiary of any Flesh and Blood relationship with third parties such as ourselves.

We have always abided by this requirement (and we barely made any money from artist proofs).

This approach may have helped us start up but it isn’t how we want to, or need to continue. With the savvy business advice of our new AHS partners in Stephen Nowatkowski and Mat Saparito, we discovered there was a better way.

We also want to say thank you to Phillip Plew, one of the original members of AHS who is leaving us. He helped hugely in getting the Arthouse ball rolling and did all of the original legal and business set up for us. His love of artists and artist proofs goes on! Thank you Phillip!

LOOK! There’s a hill! Let’s go climb it (but this time we won’t wear only one sock)…

Until next time!

David Batten and the Arthouse Syndicate Team