Meet Christina Twomey, a self-taught artist and CEO of Christina Twomey Art + Design, a Los Angeles-based art firm that offers abstract and resin artwork, and furniture.
It all began when one day Christina walked into a Joann fabrics store in her neighbourhood, casually picked some art supplies, and started painting. A few days later, after a small party at her house, her artwork became the talk of the town. She put together an Etsy store on the suggestion of her friends and later got contacted by an art curator to be on her show. Christina never went to an art school or had any formal art training. She just started painting out of the blue, discovered her hidden talent, and found her calling.
Before starting her own company, Christina worked as a sales manager. She continued her job while establishing her business on the side. She quit her job two years ago to work as an abstract artist full time. Her artworks are “reminiscent of earth’s natural gifts & color palettes combined with expressions of emotion and depth”. She works on 3D resin paintings and even furniture with her husband, Bobby Marsden who also owns a business in the design industry.
From designing their own website, managing it, to taking care of social media and shipping, as small business owners, Christina and her husband do it all together. The company uses the power of social media to market the artwork and increase its customer base. Platforms like Pinterest and Tik Tok have helped them with this. Their follower base is increasing tremendously, and Christina finds these platforms much easier to use with easy algorithms. Having alumni of the New York Film Academy as her husband has been a blessing for the business. Bobby is a producer by trade and a photographer too. He helps curate top-notch content for the social media channels and the website while working as the Managing Director of the company.
And with her experience in retail, Christina is constantly working to get the word out about the new and affordable products that the company offers. Customers can get the products like iPhone cases, bedding at as low as $100 on the website. Their collaboration with Kavka Designs helped them in signing up for e-retail stores like Wayfair and Overstock.com. Now, Christina wishes to focus on high-end artworks while also running her Etsy store on the side.
Talking about her goals for the company in 2021, Christina wishes to double the business but also accepts it can be challenging for a small business like hers. If given a choice between easy money and the challenging role, Christina feels she would take on the challenging role and follow her passion. She finds pleasure in selling beautiful artwork to luxury homeowners and being able to go to their homes to take videos. It gives her immense satisfaction and makes her happy in what she does.
Despite COVID posing a threat to the art market, Christina is grateful for the support she has received from the customers. Her artworks have been featured on Netflix, HBO, Amazon Prime, Pluto TV, etc. They have also been recognized by magazines like Artful Living, Conde Nast’s House & Garden Magazine, Wescover, and several others. When asked about her plans of partnering with big-box retailers like Target, Christina feels she is still a few years away from the collaboration, but it is definitely on the cards for her business. Presently, she wants to focus on establishing an online presence for her brand first on e-commerce. She says, “I wanna show them (big-box retailers) data that gives them a reason to bring me (artwork) onto the shelf”.
With so many artists trying to build their name in the market, Christina advises the budding artists to try to create their original art and differentiate themselves from others. She says, “You need to find your voice and what makes you happy and then share it with the world”. Talking from her experience, she shares that sometimes the paintings she thinks are her best work don’t sell for almost two years. She inspires people to not get discouraged and have patience.