Image source: The British Library
The internet has provided us with yet another wonder: instant art for your walls (or more specifically, art that you can download and print at home). If you’re a fan of great design and love to regularly update your space, you’ll adore printable art. And if you’re a classicist when it comes to this sort of thing, the benefits of this art form may just sway you:
- It’s highly affordable.
- You support emerging artists and designers who may not otherwise be able to sell their work (the costs of printing in bulk, for example, can be enormous).
- The prints can be framed just as you would any other art.
- Or you can get more creative with the way you display it.
- You can try out new styles and colours without paying hundreds of pounds.
Here are my favourite sources for the coolest printables around:
The Disposable Art Shop
The Disposable Art Shop is an online shop dedicated entirely to printable art. Each and every piece costs less than £2 to download, and if you print onto high quality photo paper, it can last up to 50 years. You’ll find a huge array of art styles with something to suit every taste from contemporary minimalist designs and abstract designs, to classic pieces and more vintage-inspired prints.
The British Library
In 2013 The British Library released over one million images onto Flickr Commons for anyone to use, remix and repurpose. The images have been taken from the pages of 17th, 18th and 19th century books and make for very interesting and unique wall art. Covering a wide range of subjects, from decorative typography to maps, botanical diagrams, landscapes and more, there is huge opportunity here.
The images are free to download, but you do need to sign up to Flickr first. You can find all of the images right here.
Etsy
Etsy is an online vintage and handmade marketplace with thousands of sellers. It’s a wonderful place to go for gifts, home decor, clothes and yep, you guessed it: printable art. There are hundreds of prints to wade through so use the search function wisely and enter a few choice keywords to narrow it down a bit.
