Artuyt: The love for art and bringing it to the market in new ways

The accessory label Artuyt focuses on fusing art with its products and creating high-quality design by collaborating with smaller and bigger Armenian artists. They want to highlight the beauty and richness of Armenian art by connecting it to the finest materials such as wool, cashmere and silk, resulting in a high-quality accessory piece. Scarves are their main product, but they also offer ties and pocket squares.

How did Artuyt start? How did Armenian art become the inspiration for the products?

While traveling, our founder and CEO Arevik Arakelyan was visiting several museum shops in Europe, and during her travel, she thought that Armenian art is not very well represented in Armenia, nor outside of the country. However, she did not want to produce products for museum shops, she was in love with fashion, so she wanted to create her fashion brand. She approached Hovhannes Petrosyan, today's co-founder and CMO of Artuyt and shared her ideas with him. After, they started to turn the business idea into reality.

What has been your proudest moment so far since starting your business?

The proudest moment for our label was when two of our silk scarf collections, for which we collaborated with Armenian graphic designer Gayane Yerkanyan and Armenian collagist Vazgen Bazhbeuk-Melikyan, appeared in the Milan Fashion Week Spring 2022/2023. We were also extremely proud when we were mentioned by Harper's Bazaar Spain and Elle Italy.

Who do you design for and what are the key trends that you see within your target group?

We create scarves for people who value art and the quality of the products and who tend to explore new, unusual and meaningful items. Our customers mainly live in the urban areas, they are art lovers, travel a lot and love wearing accessories.

What do you offer that other brands don't and how do you differentiate yourself from the competition?

Transforming the national Armenian art pieces and making them wearable high-end quality items are the main unique selling points of Artuyt. The designs are new and fresh for the public, as Armenian art is not that widely represented worldwide, making us competitive in the marketplace. We don't limit ourselves to working only with famous artists, we also cooperate with young artists, which enable the designs to always have a new look and be contemporary. With this, it is important to preserve copyrights while working with the artist and the museums.

How many retailers does Artuyt work with nowadays?

Currently, we are working with ten retailers across the United States, Italy and Kazakhstan and present as well in our own showroom. We will be adding two new retailers within the coming months.

What will be the focus for Artuyt in the second half of 2023?

Our focus will be expanding to other markets. The main market is the USA, but we also consider starting some further operations in the United Arabian Emirates, Asia, specifically Kazakhstan and Japan, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Georgian markets. Moreover, we are also planning to introduce new products – scarves with the new designs for the upcoming Milan Fashion Week in September, jewellery accessories and porcelain sets for kids.