Meet Lanre Studio | Pop Artist/Sculptor & Product Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Lanre Studio and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Lanre Studio, every day, we about how much execution matters, but we think ideas matter as well. How did you come up with the idea for your business?
From my teenage years, I knew I wanted to tow the creativity path, but this remained a dream until I turned 14.

Everything changed with a visit to an internationally recognized Nigerian experimentalist artist, David H Dale. It was during this visit that I derived inspiration from his numerous Fine Arts including bead work, stained-glass, wrought iron, etchings, mosaic, and lino print.

As a master artist, David took me around his studio located in Lagos, Nigeria. I was fascinated to learn that even before the internet, David’s art pieces already had collectors/buyers from all over the world. That was an aha moment for me as a teenager.

This realization made me develop a stronger passion for creative arts and upon completion of high school, I decided to pursue a pre-degree foundational course in Design and later obtained a university degree in Industrial Design with a major in Graphic Design.

I have worked in various sectors both at home and abroad, including product design and large-format digital printing, which have helped me with my current business.

Irrespective of the setback I experienced in delving full-time into this chosen profession, I am very grateful for the steadfast faith in keeping me grounded and never abandoning my childhood dream. Over the years, I have evolved and operated under different business names, before finally settling on the current name, Lanre Studio.

My love for e-commerce selling platforms started way back in 2001, when an artist friend introduced me to Novica.com, an online selling platform in Accra Ghana West African branch with headquarters in Santa Monica, California, USA. The staff in Accra, Ghana used to collect the original unstretched canvas art from artists, take quality photographs, upload them to the site, find customers, and ship worldwide with a 50/50 percentage agreement. I sold a lot of my originals on this platform, which gave me a lot of online exposure; I met a collector living in British Columbia, Canada who had been noticing me on this platform right from when I was in Nigeria. When the collector noticed that I had moved to Canada, she travelled from British Columbia to Ontario, Canada where she grew up to visit her parents and purchased a very large original canvas art piece from me.

I moved to Canada from Nigeria in 2005 with the hope of advancing and selling my products myself online. As a new immigrant, I had to work full-time in graphics/large format digital printing for many years and started mastering the art of selling online. I joined Etsy in 2011 and by 2013, I got busier selling original art, open edition art prints, and functional wearable art online.
At this time, I started getting comfortable about quitting my day job. Ever since 2014 when this became a full-time job; I started expanding and selling on various online selling print-on-demand platforms, like Amazon, Society 6, Fine art America, and Redbubble Marketplace Company.

In addition, I have signed a couple of art licensing contract agreements which helped me in reaching more customers worldwide with an agent, I have been able to sell online via popular stores, like Walmart, Lowe’s, Macy’s, Sears, Kmart, and Bed Bath & Beyond.

Early this year, I got approval into the Amazon brand registry store and the list continues to grow.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
My art is inspirational and eclectic. My style is distinct with a fusion of artistic techniques of pop art and a compositional aspect of cubism, which I describe as “Afro-Pop Cubism”.

My art is therapeutic; it opens the mind to new possibilities, creates energy, and provides comfort to the soul and spirit, My art allows the mind to find an escape, sending the individual on a “healing journey through the painting”.

Colours stimulate the mind more than we know. In creating my art pieces, I always like to use subtle tonal variations, not just only to encourage a calm and contemplative mood but to evoke the healing power.

It is amazing when surrounded with harmonious sweeping line images that speak to the conscious mind in the desert, rainfall, and sunshine.
I want to heal the world with my creativity.

I’m excited to see my creations being shipped to different customers around the world, just as I envisaged when the master artist took me around his studio as a teenager and showed me his different art pieces intended for destinations around the world. It is indeed a dream come true.

My creative art career journey was not an easy passage. I knew it was not going to be a walk in the park, therefore, I was ready for whatever came my way but like Confucius rightly said, “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life”. This aphorism kept me going amidst setbacks. I did not pick this path for monetary gain or fame; I simply enjoy the evolution and the creative processes of my imaginative ideas, which I find very therapeutic.
I struggled for many years trying to make a living only from my art without having to supplement with a day job, but in 2014, I took the bull by the horns. Not only that, but I asked myself this question, “Why did I relocate from Nigeria to Canada? Was it not for me to reach the world with my creativity?” Immediately I was able to answer that question, I resigned from my day job in product design/large format digital printing and concentrated 100% on fulfilling my dreams.

In the course of my art career, I have learned that doing what you are passionate about and working relentlessly towards your goals will yield positively in due time.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
My story would not have been heard without the inspiration I derived from David Herbert Dale. I will always treasure the memory of this great, internationally recognized Nigerian artist.

I feel bad each time I remember that the only time I met David as a teenager was also the last, as he passed away in 2019.

David was born in Nigeria to an English father and a Nigerian mother. Unfortunately, I didn’t get the chance to say thank you, but for the rest of my life, I will always refer to him as the torchbearer of the person I have become today.

Meeting him as a 14-year-old was a turning point in my life, the accomplishment that I saw during my visit made me pursue a career in art/design

Thank you, David, and I pray your soul finds eternal rest.

Website: https://www.lanrestudio.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lanrestudio

Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/lanreStudio https://www.amazon.com/lanrestudio