‘Glitter Boob’ artist Sophie Tea is set to make her first million in revenue from selling art over Instagram.
With a degree in Business Management under her belt, Sophie started her entrepreneurial journey by developing ‘Tinder For Art’ app. Now boasting over 70K Instagram followers, Sophie credits her success to social media, rather than the traditional way of exhibiting art.
Her original animals generated an unprecedented popularity in only the first year of working as a full-time artist and now her latest abstracts pieces sell out within seconds on Instagram.
Sydney Social 101 recently spoke to Sophie about all things art, glitter boobs and her love of Australia!
- What inspired the glitter boobs?
The glitter boobs were created as a stunt to raise awareness for my best friends business ‘Shrine’. We both started our companies at the same time and have always been a part of each other’s growth. We were at Coachella and experimenting with creative ways to use glitter. It was a completely liberating experience and I’m so glad it happened.
- Did you think the trend would take off like it did?
I was in complete shock when I saw the reaction online over the weeks following. I knew that the pictures would create a splash across our existing followers but it was a huge surprise to see the impact globally. I was featured in Playboy, I was spoken about of Ellen, on MTV. I gained 20,000 followers in a week, crazy!
- Australian festival season is about to start. Do you have any festival trend tips?
My tips for Australian festival season is to take a risk. Being at a festival is a great excuse to express yourself fully in a non judgemental environment. Use it! One thing I ALWAYS encourage in life is and not just at a festival is that: if you think someone looks nice, TELL THEM! It’s pretty powerful.
- You have now turned your focus to the canvas. Tell me about your popular animal prints.
The glitter boobs gave me a bigger platform to sell my original art, and I took it! Even before the glitter boobs I was selling canvases but having a larger audience supporting me gave me the confidence to post more about my process and therefore led to more sales. I started by artistic career by painting animals and my most popular piece is ‘The Psychedelic Lion’. Despite transitioning onto abstract work, the sales of my limited edition animal prints are still one of my most sought after products.
- You have just shown your most recent collection Sunset in Sydney. Tell me about this collection, the process and what inspired you? How did they show go?
My most recent collection in Sunset, has to be one of my favourites. As an artist, for me to produce my best work, I have to be in a good mindset. The people, the food, the culture, the light of Sydney make producing work here such a pleasurable experience. The show was an absolute success, with 300 people through the door at 1 weeks notice and a sell-out exhibition, I cannot complain!
- What have been your highlights from your Sydney trip? Favourite cafe, bar, restaurant or thing to do?
I absolutely love Sydney and plan to relocate here. I always stay in Manly and my favourite place to grab coffee is at The Boat House at Shelly Beach. After the rush of my show, I stayed on Scotland Island for the weekend, it was beautiful!
- What is next for Sophie Tea?
I LOVE this question!! SO, right now my entire team are in Bali. I flew them out from our London base to start a new project ‘SEND NUDES’. I have always been fascinated by the human form and focusing on body positivity is one of the ways I would like to use my platform for good. I have started a challenge called ‘100 nudes’. I am sketching 100 pieces on paper to get a feel for the subject matter before I move onto larger canvases. I put an appeal out to my following for muses. I want my followers who have literally MADE my career to be my source of inspiration. So, I simply asked them to #SENDNUDES via dm. I woke up this morning to over 1,000 nude shots and I’m currently sketching from them. I’m not sure how this project will pan out yet as it’s early days, BUT, I’ll be painting naked women for the foreseeable future.
For more info and to check out Sophie’s art head here: https://www.sophieteaart.com/
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