The venture is separate from his existing website which focuses on the main part of his business trading in Indian and south-east Asian art, particularly sculpture. He has long planned to launch this other side of the business (“I bought the domain years ago,” he says), but has been able to give the project more attention recently thanks, in part, to Covid-19.
“For the past 16 or 17 years I’ve been travelling to Japan twice a year and I’ve been buying things for myself there,” van den Bergh says. “During lockdown I had the time to go through it and have it photographed, so the website will be around that.”
The majority of the pieces are set to be bronze jars and vases featuring abstract inlay. Highlights include a copper hammered vase by the Tsubame company Gyokusendô for £1500.
Meanwhile the physical side of the business continues to be vital for him, as he sends out paper copies for his AAL show. “I’m hoping that for the customer receiving something in the post still has a bigger impact than seeing it online,” he says.
