Drawdeck - the one-stop hub for all artists and enthusiasts

Dubai continually strives to get more people involved in the art scene and in a way help them embrace art that gives them the ability to express themselves creatively, because art has a way to touch the soul. And that is what led to the creation of Drawdeck, a prime Dubai-based online community that extends a platform for local artists to exhibit their artworks to an extensive audience.

With its rapidly escalating popularity in the region, Drawdeck has launched an interesting new series for selling limited-edition artworks created by prominent local artists and is called, “50/Collection”. So this is a great medium through which you can start your first art collection and explore deeper into the work of budding artistic talent present in the UAE

Drawdeck's new series, "50/Collection"

The series is a well thought out project and has Drawdeck teaming up with a diverse array of exquisite, emerging as well as established artists to provide the audience with limited-edition creations that represent their exclusive work. The theme of the series is such that every other month, an artist’s work will be featured on the website by displaying their piece and making only 50 prints available for the audience to purchase, which is where the concept of ‘limited-edition’ comes into play.

The initiative kicked off at the start of December and the first artist to be featured was renowned Iraqi artist, Marwan “Myneandyours” Shakarchi, popular for his cloud symbol. For the series opening, Shakarchi provided a fine piece titled, ‘We Bleed As One’.

Marwan Shakarchi's piece for Drawdeck, 'We Bleed As One'

David Hammond, the co-founder of Drawdeck expressed, “We met Marwan on several occasions and love the passion he has for his work and the underlying messages in his pieces. He’s an artist who is making a name for himself in this region and we couldn’t be happier with the final piece he has produced for Drawdeck,”

The rapidly emerging on-line website dedicated to art

Further expanding on the conception of Drawdeck, Hammond explained that it was a “passion project” instigated by him and Alex Dunn and was only launched a year back. At the time Hammond had been working as a landscape architect in Abu Dhabi while Dunn worked with an advertising firm in Dubai. When reflecting on the art scene in the Gulf region, the pair realized that the residents were not being offered with sufficient opportunities, especially aspiring artists in the region who were solely devoted to their art.

Hammond admitted, “I was always interested in art and illustration, but there were a lot of artists here who weren’t getting the attention they deserved. There were platforms already, but nothing specifically for drawing. Other than photography, almost all art starts with drawing.”

Artwork by Nikki Farquharson titled, 'Vivid Mixed Media Girls' is one of many illustrations on Drawdeck

The ideology of Drawdeck is pretty basic, to offer a platform for the creativity of budding artists in the region to flow through and get recognized. Artists have the opportunity to reach a larger audience through Drawadeck, which works as a reliable networking platform for even galleries, and organizations. Drawdeck poses as the perfect medium for anyone in the audience, possessing an inclination towards art and is eager to get their hands on exclusive and affordable art. There are options on the website that allow people to “buy”, “share”, “critique” and discover the extensive potential of creativity that persists in the region.

The website that started out as merely a portfolio website and was in its infancy just a year back has been able to attract multitudes of art critics, graphic designers, product designers, painters, illustrators, art students and enthusiasts being a first in the region and for providing an effective medium for artists who want to proliferate their work among other artists. What commenced with a measly 10 users in the first month, the number rocketed to 300 users in the span of just a year.

Artwork by Ali Gulec titled, 'Corporate Wolf' is one of many illustrations on Drawdeck

With the growing popularity of Drawdeck, and the increasing time invested by Hammond and Dunn in the website, the duo decided to quit their jobs this summer to fully commit themselves to the progress of their business. With the current status of comprising more than 400 portfolios and approximately 15,000 hits per month, the pair have turned the website into a sleeker, more professional online marketplace for users and the talent alike, providing the artists with the chance to sell their works more conveniently and securely by giving them complete power to decide the pricing, printing and framing of their artworks.

Hammond states, “This is one of the biggest regions for e-commerce and we have directed our site with that in mind. The art work is categorized under colours, content theme and size and it is really easy to use.” Apart from the online business the duo has also organized several real-time activities to promote their cause. As Dunn expresses, “The offline work we do is also really important. We have held seve­ral pop-up shops and worked hard at promoting our artists at local events. This has been important in terms of building awareness and educating our audiences.”