Today marks four years since the launch of PopUp Painting at the Soho Hotel, London.
In that time we have painted with over 12,000 guests across the UK, 20 practicing artists, 40 wonderful venues, and a wide array of fantastic promotional partners. We’ve run team-building events for some absolutely stellar companies, and raised funds for truly inspiring causes. Thank you to all those who have supported us!
When we first started out we were running about 12 events a month – and if we were lucky we would have a whole twelve guests! Now we are the UK’s leading sip ‘n paint company, close to running a whole forty events a month, with more and more sell outs. Just the other month we ran a fundraising event with the Civil Service in aid of FareShare UK where we had over forty guests, and similar numbers on Valentine’s night. We’ve painted countless Banksys, Starry Nights, Water Lilies, London skyline – and we’ve been delighted to run a number of Street Art events in the Banksy Tunnel at Waterloo!
It’s not been a straight forward journey. As all entrepreneurs and anyone involved in a SME will know – it can be hard. Mistakes happen. We’ve been caught in the very worst of London traffic, gone to the wrong venue by accident, or even forgotten vital pieces of kit. Fortunately we’ve had the experience and training to work around these mishaps! But despite all of this, our experience as a team has been rewarding.
What has been amazing to see is the number of people who walk into an event, thinking “I can’t paint”. As you’ll be able to see from all the photos on our Facebook page or gallery – that anxiety soon melts away and is proven untrue. As a guest, Karli, said in a Review last year: “You start off thinking you’ll never be able to paint that, but the fantastic guidance, music and wine leaves you with a great souvenir to take home”. That is definitely the highlight of the PopUp Painting experience – seeing people inspired and proud of what they created.
Last year we launched in Birmingham, and over the next 1-2 years we plan to launch in cities around the UK. We’ve been committed to Unleashing Creativity beyond the confines of classrooms and galleries, bringing our events to the places where people meet on an every day basis – be they bars, restaurants, workplaces or homes! So many people across the UK are hungry for new experiences, and are more creative than they might think. We understand that that creativity is important, both for our professional and our personal lives.
Here’s to (at least) four more years!
Gareth
Co-Founder
PopUp Painting & Events
