[00:00] Introduction
I’ve spent more than 20 years turning other people’s art into beautiful, sellable products — and I want to be honest with you: it is one of the most rewarding things you can do in this industry, and one of the most technically demanding. When I first started producing scarves and merchandise for the V&A Museum, I had no idea how precise the process would need to be. You are not just printing an image onto fabric. You are honouring someone’s creative vision, and if you get it wrong, you damage the art, the relationship, and your reputation in one go.
In this episode I want to walk you through everything I’ve learned about working with artists and licensed artwork — from the agreement stage through to production and quality sign-off. I’ve worked with Iconic Images, who license the estates of David Bowie, Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Monroe and Brigitte Bardot. I’ve produced eight continuous years of collections for the V&A, and I’ve worked with independent artists like Clare Cowley, whose Hummingbird paintings became silk scarves with bespoke packaging. Each of those relationships taught me something different about how to do this well.
“You are not just printing an image onto fabric. You are honouring someone’s creative vision — and if you get it wrong, you damage the art, the relationship, and your reputation in one go.”
[04:00] How Licensing Actually Works
Let me start at the beginning, because most people come to me confused about what licensing actually means. When you license artwork, you are not buying the image. You are buying the right to use it in a specific way, in a specific territory, for a specific period of time. The licensor — whether that is a museum, an estate, or an individual artist — retains ownership of the underlying copyright at all times.
With Iconic Images, for example, every licence agreement specifies which images I can use, on which product categories, in which markets, and for how long. There are royalty rates attached — typically between 10 and 20 per cent of net sales — and there are approval stages built in, where the licensor signs off on artwork files, samples, and final production before anything goes to market. This is not bureaucracy for its own sake. It is protection for the artist’s work, and it should be welcomed rather than resented.
The V&A has its own licensing team, and they are rigorous. Every design I produced went through multiple approval rounds. Pantone colour references had to match the original pieces within a very narrow tolerance. Certain artworks could not be cropped. Others required specific colourways to be used in specific combinations. Working within those constraints made me a far better designer, because I had to solve problems creatively rather than just do whatever was easiest.
“Licensing is not bureaucracy for its own sake. It is protection for the artist’s work, and when you work within those constraints, you become a better designer — not a more restricted one.”
[10:00] The Technical Reality of Translating Art to Product
Here is where most people underestimate the challenge. Reproducing artwork accurately on a physical product is a specialist skill, and it involves three separate problems that all have to be solved at the same time: colour, scale, and material behaviour.
Colour is the most visible problem. A painting photographed under gallery lighting looks entirely different to that same image printed onto silk, or onto a cotton canvas tote, or onto a ceramic mug. Every material absorbs ink differently. Silk has a natural lustre that shifts the perception of colour. Printed onto a matte cotton, the same file looks flat and dull. I always create physical test prints on the actual production fabric before I commit to a design — never on paper, never on a screen proof alone. When I was producing the Clare Cowley Hummingbird scarves, we went through six rounds of colour tests to get the greens exactly right. Six rounds. And it was worth every one of them, because the final product was extraordinary.
Scale is the second problem. An artwork that looks balanced as a painting on a wall can fall apart completely when it is reproduced on a 90cm square scarf. You have to make decisions about cropping, repeat patterns, and border placement that require both technical knowledge and artistic judgement. I always work with the artist on this stage — not just present them with a finished layout — because they can see immediately when something is wrong with their own work in a way that I cannot.
Material behaviour is the third. Some fabrics stretch during printing and distort the image. Some dye processes bleed at the edges and soften fine detail. Knowing which technique to use for which type of artwork is knowledge that only comes from making expensive mistakes and learning from them.
[18:00] Approaching Artists and Building the Relationship
If you want to work with an independent artist, the way you approach them matters enormously. Artists are protective of their work — as they should be — and a clumsy approach can close a door permanently. I never lead with a product idea. I lead with genuine admiration for their work, a specific reference to what I love about it and why, and an honest explanation of what I do and who I have worked with previously. That context — V&A, British Museum, Iconic Images — does a lot of the heavy lifting in establishing credibility.
The conversation about commercialisation comes second. And when it does, I am always clear that the artist retains approval rights over every single production stage. Nothing goes to a manufacturer without their sign-off. Nothing goes to market without a final sample review. That reassurance is not just good practice — it is the foundation of a productive long-term relationship. Clare Cowley and I worked together on multiple projects because she trusted that her Hummingbird paintings would arrive in a customer’s hands looking exactly the way she intended.
Royalty structures for independent artists are negotiable, but I always aim for something that feels genuinely fair, not the minimum I can get away with. When an artist feels well-treated, they advocate for your products, share them on their own platforms, and come back to you for the next project. That word-of-mouth and credibility is worth far more than the percentage points you might save by squeezing the deal.
“I never lead with a product idea when approaching an artist. I lead with genuine admiration, a specific reference, and an honest explanation of what I do. The commercial conversation comes second — always.”
[26:00] Quality Control and Protecting the Work
The final stage, and the one most founders skip, is rigorous quality control at the production end. I inspect every production run against the approved sample. I check colour accuracy under the same lighting conditions. I check construction — stitching, hemming, finishing. I check packaging, because the unboxing experience is part of the artwork’s presentation, particularly for premium products.
When something is not right, I send it back. Every time. The short-term cost of a rejected production run is far less than the long-term cost of delivering a product that disappoints a museum buyer, an artist, or a customer who paid a premium price because they trusted the work was exceptional.
Key Takeaways
Licensing agreements must specify territory, product category, duration and approval stages — get this in writing from day one. Colour accuracy requires physical test prints on the actual production material, not screen proofs. Scale decisions should always involve the artist directly, not just the designer. Approaching artists with credibility and a genuine respect for their work is what opens doors that stay open. Quality control at the production stage is not optional — it is the final act of respect for the artwork and everyone who worked to bring it to market.
Action Step
If you are interested in working with an artist’s work, identify one artist whose work genuinely excites you. Write them a message that says nothing about products — just what you love about their work and why. Start the relationship there.
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