Digital fine art encompasses so much more than ink on paper; we spoke to Natascha Van Niekerk to find out what approach she has for alternative product formats.
Natascha Van Niekerk is a fine art photographer based in South Africa, dedicated to capturing the essence of the beauty in her home land. She currently sells her work as a range of products including jewellery and soft furnishings as well as digital fine art prints on paper.
The inspiration
For Natascha it was a natural progression to start selling her photography work in alternative formats; “with digital printing these days the options are quite limitless and I feel the photographic medium lends itself to such a wide range of applications.” A passion for photography and an interest in décor combined to result in the launch of her own range of wallpapers, large format prints and cushions. Alongside this she launched her ‘forest in my heart’ range of nickel free silver jewellery – her contribution to the world of wearable art. To do this Natascha had to learn a whole new set of skills. Each application required research and experimentation to learn the best production methods. She persevered through failed experiments and spent many hours working to turn each desired application into a professional product.
As a result of this Natascha now creates her products through a combination of her own resources and carefully selected external partners.
Finding the perfect team
For her jewellery range, Natascha prints digital fine art images on her own wide format printer and makes each individual piece of jewellery, including pendants, earrings and rings, by hand. She also uses her wide format printer to produce her larger digital fine art prints. Currently she is experimenting with Innova’s own YouTac® Textile product to see if printing her own wallpaper could be a viable option. For her soft furnishing and apparel products she works with a team of people, “the cushions and purses I outsource mostly as I have the fabric printed and then hand it over to seamstresses to do the sewing for me.” To choose this team Natascha developed a process to select the best people for the job. First and foremost was to make sure that the quality produced by external parties matched the quality produced by Natascha herself. This was decided through a series of test prints, pricing did play a role in the selection process but, for Natacha, there is something much more important. “Most importantly for me is how well they communicate and how quick they are to respond to emails etc. I live in a rural area and rely greatly on email communications and couriers to run my business.”
Getting the balance right
Producing her own products by hand is a continual learning curve for Natascha. Taking a different approach to large format digital fine art images was just the start of it, “the greatest key for wallpaper images is to have your print files as large as possible. Also, carefully consider the type of wallpaper, as some mediums will leave your image dull and muted.” She also has to evolve and adapt her portfolio for the applications she uses to sell her work. There are set images for specific products within her library but she also keeps the intended product in mind when she is out shooting images. There is always an element of experimentation in the development of a new product: “Not all images will be able to be applied on the whole range of products, for instance, some images won’t print well on the fabric, others will be too small or too detailed for the jewellery and so forth. This is also a big experiment mostly! I have been convinced that a certain image will work on the fabric range only to receive the printed fabric to great disappointment.”
Finding the balance between creating from an inspired place and producing products for a specific market can be a challenge but this is something that Natascha thrives on. “…it’s totally stimulating…this process can be so much fun, finding the right balance between image and product.” Alongside the creative challenge is the business one, “marketing and actually selling your product… that is a whole different ball game! It’s also a skill set I have to update continually!” The development of the right range for the right market, getting the balance between profit and desirability, is a challenge that any business faces. For Natascha, the variety of her product range achieves this, “the smaller products always sell at a quicker rate, as it is more affordable for a wider range of people. But when the larger pieces sell, it balances out with regards to profit.”
The Future
Any business has to constantly evolve and adapt, for a creative professional that is no different. Natascha has many plans to expand her range of products into a full suite of home décor offerings. The challenge is just to decide which one to do first! “I still want to further branch out my fabric range into linen bedding, curtains and table cloths, make some side tables with my images on top and set in resin, I’m busy designing and developing a sterling silver jewellery range that will feature its own range of images and will be limited edition, printing on ceramics for a full range of crockery and some carpet designs!”
You can see more of Natascha’s work on her website: www.nataschavniekerk.com and on her facebook page