Art consulting for Japanese gallery art, now open: a free proposal for any space

Choosing art for a particular wall is harder than choosing art you like. The picture has to suit the room's proportions, its light, the people who will pass it every day and the story the space is meant to tell. From today the studio that looks after Ikki Mitsuhashi's work offers to do that choosing with you, for free: art consulting for any space, in Japan or abroad.

What art consulting is

An art consultant helps a client choose, size, arrange and buy art for a specific space — a home, a hotel, an office, a public building. Most consultants are agencies that source from many artists and galleries and charge a fee or a commission. Ours is simpler: the proposal comes from the artist's own studio, draws only on his collection, and costs nothing. You pay only for prints you decide to buy.

Why a Japanese photographer's studio

Ikki Mitsuhashi (三橋一樹, b. 1943) trained as a designer at the Nippon Design Center, art-directed for Lufthansa and Kanebo, and has photographed since 1972 — with solo shows at Tokyo's Pentax Gallery and three photobooks. His Tropical Garden still lifes, begun in Ubud, Bali in 2003, were sold for twenty years through Art Gallery Closet in Tokyo, a gallery that places art in residences, model rooms and building lobbies.

That history is why the work consults well. The pictures were made by a designer, so they behave like design: one subject, one vessel, a pale ground; calm across cultures; consistent enough to hang as a set. And because we know every picture — how it prints at each size, which paper suits it, how it looks under a spot at night — the advice is specific rather than generic.

How it works

1. Send the space. A phone photograph of the wall taken straight on, or a plan with dimensions, through the art consulting form. You can drag in up to six photographs or PDFs. 2. Receive a proposal within about five working days: a shortlist of works, with sizes, paper and arrangement, and the reasoning for each. 3. See it on your wall. Where your photograph allows, we place the chosen works on it at their true proportions, the way our Art in use pictures are made. 4. Decide in your own time. Ask for changes as often as you like. Nothing is printed until you confirm; then each print is made to order in Tokyo, numbered and certified.

Three A2 sheets across a reception wall, and a pair above a meeting table (visualisations).

Who it is for

Collectors and private homes

The most common question is not *which picture* but *which size, for this wall*. Send the wall and the sofa or table beneath it; we will suggest the sheet, the paper and the height to hang it, and a framing that suits your joinery. See the residence example.

Interior designers and architects

A proposal you can put in front of a client — works, dimensions, arrangement and a visualisation — with Ikki Club trade terms on every project. Our notes for designers include a downloadable PDF of twelve spaces.

Hotels, ryokan and restaurants

A single visual language for a lobby, a floor of rooms and a restaurant counter, from one series. We plan programmes for hotel lobbies, suites, ryokan and minpaku and restaurants, and can rotate works with the season.

Developers, model rooms and residential buildings

Art that lifts a model room from furnished to aspirational, and monochrome sets that keep a residential lobby dignified for fifteen years. Works staged in a showroom can be offered to buyers afterwards.

Corporate offices, coworking and serviced offices

Reception walls, boardrooms and coworking lounges, on one site or across many, with a certificate for every print for your asset register. More in our note on art for coworking and serviced offices.

Clinics, spas and wellness spaces

The quietest works for waiting rooms and treatment rooms, where art should lower the pulse. See the clinic example.

Embassies, consulates and cultural centres

Contemporary Japan, presented with dignity by a living artist with a documented career, with titles, texts and certificates in Japanese and English. More in Japanese art for embassies and cultural centres.

Galleries and art consultancies

If you consult for your own clients, we offer the collection on trade and wholesale terms, with visualisations for your proposals. See for galleries and art consultancies.

A clinic waiting room and a ryokan tokonoma (visualisations).

What a proposal includes

• A shortlist of works chosen for the space and its purpose, with the reason for each.
• Sizes from 297 × 420 mm to 18 × 24 in, the paper for each, and how they should be arranged and lit.
• A visualisation on your own wall, where the photograph allows.
• A quotation, with trade terms for designers and companies, and shipping to wherever the work will hang.

Questions

Is it really free? Yes. There is no fee for the proposal and no obligation to buy.

Do you work outside Japan? Yes. Prints are shipped rolled from Tokyo worldwide and framed locally.

Can you work to a brief or a brand? Yes — tell us the colours, materials and message of the space, and we will choose accordingly.

Can we use our own framer? We recommend it. Prints travel unframed so they can be framed to match the interior.

How is it different from buying online? You can still buy any print directly from the collection. Consulting is for when the wall matters as much as the picture.

Begin

Send your space through the art consulting page, or write to info@ikkimitsuhashi.com. Every request is read by the studio, and every proposal is made by hand.