We were lucky to catch up with Chrissy Crawford Corredor recently and have shared our conversation below.

Chrissy, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today What’s the backstory behind how you came up with the idea for your business?

When I launched ArtStar in 2010, the art world was still feeling the aftershocks of the global recession. Artists were struggling to find steady income, and the market for contemporary art had contracted. I saw an opportunity to help both artists and collectors by creating a platform that could provide artists with a reliable income stream while making original art more accessible to a new generation of collectors.

The original idea behind ArtStar was simple: to create an online gallery offering limited edition prints and photography to young collectors. These were people who wanted something more original than mass-produced posters but couldn’t yet afford the high prices of traditional galleries. Back then, the online art market was still relatively underdeveloped. Outside of big players like Art.com and AllPosters.com, there were very few options. Meanwhile, physical galleries could feel intimidating and were often geographically limited.

ArtStar was born out of the desire to bridge that gap. I wanted to provide young buyers — many of whom were furnishing their first apartment or home — with a curated selection of high-quality, affordable contemporary art. We took the extra step of offering framing services, removing the hassle for customers and delivering fully finished pieces right to their door.

However, the market quickly evolved, and so did we. While we initially focused on individual collectors, I soon realized there was a significant opportunity to serve the trade, particularly the interior design and hospitality industries. More and more designers and architects were looking for accessible, curated art to use in their projects. We pivoted to focus on this growing demand, and today, nearly 70% of ArtStar’s sales come from the trade. This shift helped solidify our reputation as a trusted source of original art for the design world.

Chrissy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I like to joke that my Art History degree makes me basically unemployable outside of the art world, which is why I had to create ArtStar. I needed to invent my own career path. My career began in the museum world and then with private galleries, before I went on to study Art Business at Sotheby’s Institute in London. After working as an art advisor in New York and London, the 2008 recession got me thinking: How could I create a curated platform to make collecting art fun?

In 2010, the art market was one of the last to embrace e-commerce. Websites were expensive to build, and running an online business was tough. We started with Magento, but in 2014 we switched to Shopify, which allowed us to easily manage the site and make improvements quickly without a huge investment of capital. That’s when things really took off. We became profitable that year, and we’ve remained profitable ever since.

What makes ArtStar unique is our curated selection of art that we genuinely love. Our aesthetic is all about color, joy, and humor — we’re drawn to work that feels fun and unexpected. Customers come to us for something different. Our brand is playful too. We want to be chic and smart, but not intimidating or take ourselves too seriously.

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

Being a business owner is hard work. In the beginning, I made the mistake of raising a small round of funding and over-hiring. I also invested a great deal into building the website. I had to take on debt and let go of my entire team (except one person who still works with me today). We got rid of our office and moved ArtStar HQ to my tiny apartment for 3 years before getting another office space. I never want to go through that again and have focused on profitability and agility ever since. We still do small tests with our marketing, but always ones we can financially sustain.

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

ArtStar has never lowered our quality. We print with fine art printers on the best papers on the market, everything is limited edition and signed and numbered, and our framing is archival and hand made per order in New York.

ArtStar also prides itself on our customer service. We will create curated art packages for designers to save their time searching through the website. Collectors can reach us by phone, text, email, and chat with any questions. We have a fast response time and work quickly to solve any issues.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.artstar.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artstar/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtStarGalleryNYC/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/artstar/
• Other: Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/ArtStarOfficialGallery/