We recently met up with Jessika Klingspor to talk about The Muro Lab, a project that is turning art into decoration via original handmade paintings sold at affordable prices. Jessika told us about the project in its past, present and future plans. We love the idea and we can’t wait to see it continue to grow! Watch and help us share it with the world.
Website: www.themurolab.com
Instagram: @themurolab
Twitter: @Themurolab
Facebook: The Muro Lab
Katrina: Today on People On The Grid we are talking with Jessika Klingspor. Who is a Swedish entrepreneur living in Barcelona for 16 years and is the co-founder of The Muro Lab. Tell me about The Muro Lab and what it is.
Jessika: Well The Muro Lab is a decoration concept that was born in 2010. We were speculating whether people were choosing the art on their walls only because of a signature or because they really loved it. We wanted to play with that. So the formula became, we invited artists to paint, not with their own signature but under our brand instead. Transforming it into decorations and putting the aesthetic value in focus. And also make affordable for most people, in a way democratizing art.
Katrina: Where do you find your artists? Or do they find you?
Jessika: We started out that we knew some artists living in Barcelona. And then over the years since Barcelona is a city that attracts talent. People come here and they call us because The Muro Lab has become known. We have no problem finding new artists here.
Katrina: What kind artists are they?
Jessika: They are very urban artists. Graffiti, Street Art, Contemporary art is abstract. Very Modern art style that we work with.
Katrina: Are you bringing Graffiti into the living room?
Jessika: We do, we actually legalized the platform for them a little bit. We got called up from several graffiti artists in Italy. They were in the news, about they had decorated and put graffiti on a palace in Venice. They read about The Muro Lab, and the called us immediately, but we said we wanted to put the graffiti in the living room.
Katrina: Who’s your perfect ideal client?
Jessika: Those perfect clients, we find through collaborations with interior design studios like here, in Zentrum, where we are sitting. With one of your fabulous paintings. Yes, the unicolour collection. One colour, with a lot of texture. Making it look different. They are unique pieces all of them. They are never copies, if they are in the same style, they are similar to each other, but it is all original. The perfect clients are the ones who are having projects; hotels, restaurants, big homes. That they need to fill spaces and walls. With art, but then can choose our decoration concept instead.
Katrina: Zentrum, they provide a one-stop shop for decoration?
Jessika: They do interior design. So, they work with high prestigious brands, and in their projects, they need to decorate their walls, and that is where we come in as a collaboration partner. It is also a service not only product. We offer that we can adapt to space. Usually, the expression is the artist comes first, but in our case, that’s why art turns into decoration because the artist adapts to space, with the colours, with the size and wishes of the client.
Katrina: They can also buy from your collection on your website.
Jessika: Yes, we do have existing collection online, and in our studio here in Barcelona that you can come and see and touch. Usually, it arises ideas from that collection. They see one piece. Like this yellow one and they say I love this style but can I have it in blue instead or green? And we do it.
Katrina: You came up with the idea in 2010, just because you saw that there wasn’t this service?
Jessika: There wasn’t this service. We were speculating whether people were choosing the art on their walls only because of a signature or because they loved it. We created these pieces because we wanted to put the aesthetic value in focus. So people buy something because they want to put it on their wall. Not because it’s correct thinking.
Katrina: Where do you see Muro Lab going in the future?
Jessika: I see Muro Lab going Globally into the prime cities for prime people.
Katrina: The prime cities are New York, London?
Jessika: We start with Europe. Berlin, Istanbul, London, Madrid. All these capitals. Because it is very urban, it is the city people that pick it up first.
Katrina: You want to collaborate with other designers and architects?
Jessika: Yes. Absolutely.
Katrina: If people want to find out more about the Muro Lab. Where can they go to?
Jessika: They can enter in themurolab.com. You can see the Muro Collection, and see what pieces are in stock. Also how to contact us and how we work. And if they want to visit our studio here in Barcelona they can contact me on my phone. Or, they can come here to Zentrum, to admire the pieces in a contested ambience, it is a win-win. Our painting comes to life here in this kind of ambience with the right kind of interior design.
Katrina: We look forward seeing more in the future and seeing Muro Lab decorating other spaces.
Jessika: Yes, the whole world
