Redbubble

Overview

Redbubble (formerly stylized as "RedBubble") operates primarily on the Internet and allows its members to sell their art work as decoration on a variety of products. Products include prints, T-shirts, hoodies, cushions, duvet covers, leggings, skirts and scarfs. An executive described the company as "a community of artists who upload their artwork in digital form." The company offers free membership to artists who maintain the copyrights to their work, regulate their own prices, and decide which products may display their images. The company was founded in 2006 by Martin Hosking, Peter Styles and Paul Vanzella after raising $2 million in investor capital.

In March 2014, it was reported that 51,900 artists have successfully sold their creations on Redbubble generating more than $15 million (AU) in earnings. At the time it was estimated that eight million unique viewers hit the site every month.

In 2015, Redbubble raised $15.5 million (AU) in funding from various investors including Melbourne-based Acorn Capital and London based investor Piton Capital. Since its inception over the past 8 years Redbubble has grown exponentially both in capital growth and artist community alike.

Since February 2015, Redbubble has been running an artist residency program at their Melbourne (Australia) office. The purpose of the program is to enable selected artists with the opportunity to produce artwork at Redbubble artist studio while collaborating with other artists. The program is viewed as an opportunity for artists to develop their artistic talent and gain exposure in a nurturing artist focussed environment.

In January of 2017, CEO Martin Hosking reported 450,000 active artists and 10 million site visits per month. In the last ten years, almost 7 million people have bought products from the site, generating $70 million earned by artists (account users). At this point, Hosking considers the company one of the globe's largest contributors to the arts.

Awards

Since 2008, Redbubble has been nominated and won a series of awards including: May '15, Two Hermes Awards (Platinum for Redbubble Blog, Gold for Redbubble Website), [2] December '13, Pixel Awards, Nominee - Art November '13, SmartCompany, Web Awards 2013 - Best company website (over 20 employees) December '12, Deloitte Technology, Fast 500, Asia Pacific 2012 Winner November '12, Deloitte Technology, Fast 50, 2012 Winner October '12, BRW, BRW FAST 100 September '10, Web Marketing Association, Outstanding Achievement in Web Development August '10, Smart Company Award, Best Website Under 20 Employees March '10, AIMIA, Finalist Cultural or Lifestyle, Social Media February '10, Next Web, Runner Up, Most Likely to Change the World November '09, Deloitte Technology Fast 50, Rising Star Runner Up September '09, Web Marketing Association, Outstanding Achievement in Web Development July '09, Telstra Business Awards, Finalist MYOB Small Business June '09, Interactive Media Association, Finalist Top 10 Sites of 2008 May '09, The Webby Awards, Nominee – Community August '08, Interactive Media Association, Two Best in Class Awards June '08, BRW, 3rd Ranked Australian 2.0 Website

Controversy

In June 2011, The Register and The Age reported that artists on Redbubble were offering T-shirts images taken from the satirical online comic strip "Hipster Hitler". In May 2011 Arnold Bloch Leibler, a law firm with connections to the Australian Jewish community, severed their business relationship with Redbubble. Three weeks later on 5 June 2011, The Age reported that Redbubble's CEO, Martin Hosking, who defended the work as free speech, said the "guidelines would be changed to prohibit parodies of genocide and the Holocaust, as well as other material likely to cause deep offence". Hosking's decision to prevent artists from selling the merchandise was applauded by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as being responsive to both artists and the Jewish community. On 12 and 15 June 2011 articles by digital media company Ninemsn and news web site Stuff.co.nz reported that artists on Redbubble were selling baby clothes "featuring pictures of Hitler, Osama bin Laden and serial killers Ivan Milat, Ted Bundy and Charles Manson".

On 16 June 2011 co-founder, Hoskings left his position at Aconex to focus on his job as CEO of Redbubble. According to a 9 September 2011 article in the Herald Sun "more than 100" children's items remained on sale, some with "four-letter swear words and drug images". In 2012 the LA Times reported that due to a spirit of entrepreneurship and outrage for the controversial death of Trayvon Martin, artists on Redbubble were offering "a hoodie with a version of a 'Neighborhood Watch' sign, which warns, darkly, 'We immediately murder all suspicious persons'."