Where the Journey Begins: The Art of Sourcing
Where the Journey Begins: The Art of Sourcing
Inside the soul of the studio, the rhythm of the art fair, and the quiet value of presence
There’s a moment, often just before entering an artist’s studio, where time softens. The door hasn’t opened yet. You’re standing in a sunlit courtyard in Mallorca, or an industrial stairwell in Madrid. You hear the faint echo of a brush against canvas, the clink of ceramics being shifted, a dog’s tail tapping the floor. The world feels quieter. Expectant.
This is where our journey begins.
The Studio as compass
Before the logistics. Before the moodboards. Before palettes and dimensions. There is the artist. And their space.
Visiting studios is how we reorient ourselves again and again. Each visit is a recalibration—not just to what is being made, but how and why. These spaces, often raw, personal, chaotic in the most beautiful ways, reveal something no online portfolio ever could. The materiality. The silence between words. The objects tucked in corners. The energy.
From the coastal calm of Sóller to the wide open light of Madrid, this year has drawn us across Spain—listening, learning, staying curious. We’ve spent slow hours with painters, textile artists, and sculptors. Some names you might know. Others you will soon.
Every encounter becomes part of our internal compass. When a new hospitality project or private residence takes shape, it’s not about simply placing art. It’s about recalling a gesture, a conversation, a moment of recognition that happened months earlier—in a studio filled with drying oils or the scent of clay.
Beyond the Studio: The Dialogue of the Art World
Of course, sourcing doesn’t end at the studio door. It widens in rhythm with the art world.
Madrid’s vibrant ARCO art fair gave us space to re-engage with our trusted galleries and discover emerging voices shaping the Spanish and Latin American art scenes. Soon, we’ll touch down in Ibiza and Basel—each fair offering a different pulse, a different window into what artists and curators are asking of the world right now.
Art fairs aren’t just about discovery. They’re also about continuity. About deepening relationships. About understanding how an artist’s practice evolves—what new themes are surfacing, what shifts are happening in scale, medium, or tone.
It’s here, in the quiet in-between of a booth conversation or a gallerist’s insight, that we gather not just artworks, but contexts. These become essential when aligning an artwork with a client’s interior, brand, or story.
The Living Archive
Every artist we meet, every gallery we reconnect with, every fair we attend—feeds into something larger: the living archive we’ve built at VELVENOIR.
It’s not a static database. It’s a curated, evolving resource shaped by emotion, experience, and time. It’s how we ensure that what we present isn’t algorithmically sourced or trend-driven—but deeply aligned. Culturally relevant. Emotionally grounded. Visually transformative.
Because sourcing isn’t a transaction. It’s a responsibility. A quiet art in itself.
It’s why we take the time to be there. To stand in the studio. To sit with the work. To know what moves us—so we can sense what might move you.
Essence.
At VELVENOIR, sourcing art is not a task—it’s a deeply personal, intuitive process grounded in presence and connection. Our journey begins in artist studios, where we experience the work in its most honest form. These visits—from Mallorca to Madrid—are moments of immersion that shape our understanding of an artist’s intention, material, and emotional language.
From there, we move through the layered landscape of galleries and art fairs—ARCO Madrid, and soon Ibiza and Basel—where we engage with curators, deepen relationships, and stay attuned to the evolving global art market.
Every encounter informs our growing, curated artist archive—an internal resource we draw from to source work that is not only visually striking but contextually meaningful. This quiet, consistent presence in the field ensures that the art we place is aligned with the spirit of each project—whether a private residence, boutique hotel, or cultural space.
It’s a reminder: meaningful sourcing begins long before a piece is installed. It begins with curiosity, care, and showing up.