In this episode of UnBoxed presented by Pitney Bowes, host Deb Menter talks with artist and entrepreneur Elena Gatti, founder of Fiorenza Art. Elena reveals how she turned her lifelong love of art into a thriving business — from sketching as a child to managing international shipping for her growing product line.

She shares how she built a devoted online following, landed a dream partnership with Harry Styles, and scaled her business using Shopify, print-on-demand, and trusted fulfillment partners.

Learn how Elena balances creativity with commerce, overcomes the challenges of shipping everything from original art to museum-quality prints to t-shirts worldwide, and creates a loyal community that keeps customers coming back.

Key Takeaways:

• Turning passion projects into full-time creative careers
• How social media consistency leads to brand growth
• Managing e-commerce logistics and shipping solutions
• Building a cohesive brand and community through authenticity
  
• How working with the right partners and vendors helps scale your business

Guest speaker: Elena Gatti, Owner & Founder, Fiorenza Art
Elena Fiorenza Gatti is an independent artist from Chicago, IL. She is passionate about bringing her world of words, animals, color, and people to others. Her work surrounds deep thoughts and insights on her own, as well as others’ experiences with the world. Elena has explored her own mental health, well-being, and dreams within her art and hopes to make others feel less alone, seen, and happy through her pieces.

Host: Deb Menter, Pitney Bowes
Deb is on the Client Lifecycle Team at Pitney Bowes, where she helps clients navigate complex rate changes, mailing system migrations, and greater shipping savings and value. You’ll also find her moderating Pitney Bowes webinars, where she addresses common client concerns and provides actionable solutions.

The material, opinions, and information presented in the podcast are for general information purposes only and is not professional advice. Listeners should consult appropriate professionals for specific advice tailored to your situation. The podcast and its content is provided as-is and any use is at the listener’s own risk. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by guests or hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of any company.

The material, opinions, and information presented in the podcast are for general information purposes only and is not professional advice. Listeners should consult appropriate professionals for specific advice tailored to your situation. The podcast and its content is provided as-is and any use is at the listener’s own risk. The views, thoughts, and opinions expressed by guests or hosts are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of any company.

Deb Menter
Hi everyone and welcome to UnBoxed presented by Pitney Bowes, your source for all things shipping. I'm your host, Deb Menter, and I'm excited to be joined today by Elena Gatti, founder of Fiorenza Art. Elena has been creative her entire life and decided a few years back to turn her passion into a full-time job.
Now with a full line of prints and merchandise available and unique partnerships ranging from Harry Styles to Flux, her thoughtful and whimsical art has created a true community. So Elena, welcome to Unboxed.

Elena Gatti
Thank you so much for the intro. I'm excited.

Deb Menter
I'm excited to have you. So first question, we'll keep it nice and easy. Can you share a bit about your background and how you got started with this business?

Elena Gatti
Totally. So art has always been ah core part of my identity, even before I knew what an artist was, which I think is cool because truly found me in such a natural and it's just like such a part of who I am. i didn't really have this big goal of being an artist from a young It was just always what I did So I'm lucky in the sense that I kind of knew what my purpose was when I was just a kid.
But yeah, I've been drawing ever since I was little. It followed me all throughout high school.

And it truly never left me in college, even though I was kind of under this understanding that are isn't like a viable career. So, I always just kind of kept it on the side. It was more of my passion project, I would say, and kind of like my little hidden talent that people knew me as, like the girl who could draw, the girl who could draw whatever you wanted.

But it didn't really become a serious career option, I think, for me until once I graduated college and I entered the nine to five and I felt kind of lost in corporate America, honestly, kind of depressed and sad and something was truly missing. And I think it was the act of making art.

And then I kind of started sharing my art with the world 2019 and It really kind of grew from there. And I made it a mission to post something every single day, no matter what it was, if I liked it or not. It was just my goal to share something every day and it worked out, which I'm really grateful for.

Deb Menter
I love that. I think, especially as creatives, it's hard to get past posting something that, like you said, whether you liked it or not, you were like, I'm going to post this. And I think that that takes a lot of courage to do.

So that's, and it's, and it's a lot of time, obviously, especially when you're working nine-to-five and you're also doing this like evening shift of five-to-nine, you know, working the day and then following your passions at night. I know a lot of people are doing that and it's a difficult schedule to continue with. So, how did you decide when it was time to leave the corporate world and really make this your full-time job?

Elena Gatti
Yeah. Something I told myself is there will be a sign when it's time for me to leave corporate America and to not rush the process. And I think that's something I'm really proud of, of how I did the transition is I truly stayed patient. And as an inpatient person, by nature, I'm really proud of myself that I did give myself patience with such a big transition. Because I know a lot of artists who do also work nine-to-fives will have like a little spurt of success and then kind of jump ship and be like, Oh, I can do this full time.

But in my instance, even when I had the biggest gig of my entire career. It happened when I was ah nine to five employee. It was when I did my collaboration with Harry Styles. I still stayed at my nine-to-five for two more years. And i really kind of used my ah skills and that extra cushion from my nine to five to really kind of fuel my business forward. I was like learning from my employees, from my clients still. And I just truly waited until every ounce of me was like, okay, you truly cannot work two jobs like this anymore. Now's the time.

Deb Menter
Yeah. A partnership with Harry Styles is so, it's just so cool. How did that come about?

Elena Gatti
It was, as when I mentioned before, I was like sharing art every single day. I decided it was time to make an Instagram dedicated to my artwork in 2019.
And I think with how often I was sharing work and exploring new things, my work was kind of just like circulating. But I truly didn't have a big following when he found me. I think I maybe just hit 10,000 or was about to hit 10,000 followers. And he saw one of my posts, but it was this black Panther that had read words over. It's very similar to what I did for him for the actual tour, but that caught his eye, I guess. And then I got and email from his manager and creative director, but it like went to my spam. So I didn't see the longest time.

It was also very vague emails, just like I have an opportunity with a singer. Are you interested? Basically, that's it. And then this person contacted me again on Instagram. and told me I had to sign an NDA and I should hear the opportunity. I said, oh, great. Sure. I mean this was all just for fun at the time, too. I was working my job. This was purely for fun. And I told my parents, I remember this was also peak pandemic. So we're bored out of our mind.

We're all quarantined together. And I told my mom and dad, I was like, I have this opportunity. i have no clue who it's for. i have to sign an NDA, but I'll find out tomorrow. So I had the phone call and I remember my parents were like listening at the door, like hear who it was for, who this like singer was.

His creative director said it was for Harry Styles. And has just had to act like very cool. I was like, oh, awesome. That's so cool. I could see my parents like in the window being like, what? Like they were so excited.

Deb Menter
That's so funny.

Elena Gatti
Yeah. And I mean, it was from Instagram. That's how it how they found me. 

Deb Menter
That's incredible. What? I mean... Great. I mean, a great story all around. The pandemic really changed your life in a lot of ways, it sounds like.

So between this partnership and then just how did you find, is that when you started to sell your art or did you just have more time to create? how did How did that, how did the pandemic change how you focused on your business?

Elena Gatti
It's I mean, it's so crazy. I'm sure so many other creatives and creators and business owners can relate to this. But truly, like during that time, we were just given the gift of time, like something we're never gonna really have again. And we had to make our own entertainment, our own fun.

And the very unique thing about it being a creator who shares so much of her work online so like an influencer / artist everyone was on their phones so and it was also the rise of tik tok during that time so it was just like the perfect combination.

I’m just really happy I utilized that time well like if you wanted to grow business that's that was the time to do it and I truly think even now it's really hard to grow on platforms but then like that's when my account started kind of taking off that's when i hit the 10,000 followers and like started reaching these different milestones and i truly think it was because people were so desperate for inspiration and connection. And they wanted to feel inspired by how people were using this time to their advantage. That was truly a gift. If you had that gift and you could make the most of this time, what were you going to do with it? Like, how are you going to level up when we come out on the other side? Yeah.

Deb Menter
Yeah, it's so true. it's so interesting because so many people I've spoken with you know through this podcast, but also just in general, how you know people who have businesses that were utilizing social media, utilizing e-commerce, it really changed the way people sold.

And it changed selling behavior and buying behavior both. So, you worked your nine-to-five, you decided to leave and focus solely on this business. How did you decide to scale and how did you decide which paths to scale into? So you have prints, you have merchandise, you have partnerships. How did you make those decisions to go into all those different paths?

Elena Gatti
Yeah, that's a great question. I think it's a very new age for artists right now. Because we have social media, so you can't just be a painter nowadays. Maybe you could a couple of decades ago. Yes, you could a couple decades ago, but you still kind of had that stigma following you of like the starving artist.
But now we have Instagram and TikTok and print on demand and all of these different ways to scale a business and not just be an artist, but be an artist and a content creator and a business and a brand. And I think if you do decide to be an artist of any sort in today's day and age, you are going to be wearing multiple hats.

You're not going to just be the artist. You're going to be the marketer, the business owner, the brand owner, the product developer. And I think that's really how you get to succeed as an artist in today's day and age, especially with like the rise of AI and just prints floating around everywhere. Art is really accessible.

You have to kind of like build a world that your consumers want to be a part of. And that was really when I saw the value of scaling my business through merchandise, through prints, through stickers, key chains, things like that.
Things that I think a lot of artists see as kind of like a downgrade and not as professional or, oh, you just want to sell your original paintings, but it's just not feasible now. You have to build this world that people want to be a part of at all different buying levels too, because I mean, with inflation and everything happening, someone, if they want to be a part of your brand, maybe the only thing they can't afford at the moment is a $5 sticker. But that to them is so important because it's that access point into your brand, into representing someone that they truly love and admire. And you're making that possible with this accessible price range and a variety of products.

So I think scaling in that sense is so important and i think artists are starting to realize it now that we do have this power of being ah whole brand identity that people want to resonate with so prints and stickers and merchandise is something that I don't think I can, it will never leave my brand. It will always be part of Fiorenza art.

Deb Menter
Yeah. I love that. And you make such a good point about the different access points and different price points because historically, I agree with you. There's so much art that was just so inaccessible or you could only see it in museums or you could only see it at these like big fancy shows and you'd have to spend hundreds of dollars on big pieces.

And that's no longer the case and what a gift it is to bring that art into our homes and into our lives in the form of a sticker or a small print and, or a postcard or whatever. And it's really, it's a nice change, I think, for all of us getting to you know take part in in that community that you've been talking about. With all the different pieces that you have, you know your prints, your merchandise, the you know and you talked to you have t-shirts and keychains, and I think you have a vase, and you know there are so many different pieces that you are shipping out to people.

So let's you know dig into the shipping aspects of what you do a little bit. How are you managing the shipments of all those different pieces, where they're coming from, and how they're getting delivered?

Elena Gatti
Yeah, it's definitely a challenge, but a fun challenge to have like such a variety of products. I think how I'm managing all of it is reminding myself that I'm a small business and I'm not a target or an H&M or whatever it is. like I don't need to mass produce right now. I can focus on small collections and small capsule collections. And that's kind of what makes it special and more manageable for me.

So in terms of like my candlesticks, I have it like right here. This is what I think you were talking about these.

Deb Menter
Oh, yes. Yeah.

Elena Gatti
So these, I think I made like 500 of them. And that was like a really special and thoughtful collection. But like, this is a pain to ship and it's like super fragile. It comes with napkins and then like a matching matchbox. So there's so many like different elements.

So I think what helps me is just really thoroughly taking my time and then planning meticulously. Like, how am I going to package that? How am I going to ship it? Focus on that. And then once it's had its time in the spotlight, then I can start kind of figuring out the next drop, which would probably be something a bit more simple like t-shirts or hoodies or sweatshirts, you know, just something that's easier ship. So I'll do like one daunting project a year and then we always kind of go back to what works and what's most reliable and easy. And I know the community really loves, which is truly the merchandise.

Deb Menter
That's amazing. I love that. And I i think, you know, testing out some of those different packaging materials and what what's going to work for something like the candlesticks or any of these more fragile items, because that's always difficult to make those decisions.

Elena Gatti
And it's like trial and error. It's like sometimes I'll ship out it and it comes destroyed. And then I kind of figure out, OK, well, then I need to invest in this sort of insert and we need to like create a custom box for it. So it truly is like learning as I go as well. Yeah.

Deb Menter
Yeah. Learning as you go is think for all small business owners, like you said, is the name of the game. So when it comes to taking orders, are you using something like a Shopify site or something else that helps you organize in a really easy way?

Elena Gatti
Yeah, I've realized through, try I've like tried so many different website platforms and I've come to realize that Shopify is the best for e-commerce. Squarespace was great for like portfolio work, but Shopify truly, it works for me to kind of also showcase a portfolio, but most importantly, be that platform for shoppers and customers.

Deb Menter
Got it. And then how did you start out shipping again with all of the different types of items you have, sizes of items? And being that you started doing this while you were working full time, how did how did you find ways to make shipping easier for yourself?

Elena Gatti
Yes, it was, again, as I mentioned, trial and error. I had no clue what I was doing transparently. It was me dropping off packages that I was handwriting all the labels on at UPS during my lunch break or USPS during my lunch break. And that was not efficient and that was not the right way to do it. I'm happy to say I've graduated from that.

But yeah, I kind of like figured it out through trial and error, a lot of error, what works and what doesn't.

Deb Menter
So now I presume you're using some kind of shipping platform to make help make it easy. You can print labels instead of writing them out thing and organize and choose the best way to ship, I presume for each of the packages as well.

Elena Gatti
Yes, that was big thing for me is there's so many different carriers. So with that comes like all different prices. And that's something I had no clue that I was like paying double for some things with the shipping software I use.

I think the most important thing for me was seeing the variety of prices and what different carrier rates are, because when you do get to save 50 cents on a UPS versus a USPS service, that truly makes a difference in the grand scheme of things with the business. So I think that has been the most important thing for me as small business.

Deb Menter
That's awesome. Yeah, I was talking to somebody else and I remember hearing them say like, there are so many people who don't realize all of these hidden costs and fees that go into your shipping and no one's, like small business owners don't think about budgeting for it, but it's a huge piece of what you're spending. It's so expensive.

Elena Gatti
Yeah, it is. It's expensive.

Deb Menter
And the rates just keep going up. So, yeah, having access to that is really just so, so critical. So we were talking about some of the things that you're shipping out yourself.

But if I'm not mistaken, you're not sending everything yourself, right? Your prints come from a different place. Some of your merchandise is warehoused. So can you talk a little bit about how you manage those different ah those different locations for everything.

Elena Gatti
Totally. I have stuff everywhere. I have different people for different things. and I think that's like really helped me as a business owner. Cause I truly can't do it alone.

But for instance, my prints, a company that's owned by Meta reached out to me saying that they could produce my prints. make them source the paper, frame them and ship them for me.

And they're based in London and they do beautiful museum quality work. And it was kind of a no brainer for me in my business. I was like, of course. And the one con I would say about that though, is your price point increases. Like I'm right. Cheapest print I have then is $75 because the quality of the paper, the frames, everything, the printers is so high end. But I think it was worth it for me to use them and have that higher value for museum quality prints, because it's also how my art is then reflected and represented in someone's home. Yeah, yeah, so we that made sense.

And the fact that they are based in London was great because I do have a really big audience worldwide in Australia and London for some reason. Like that's where a lot of people are that enjoy my work. So that made the most sense for my business yeah in terms of prints.

Deb Menter
That's great. I think I yeah, if you're a solo enterprise than having that piece that's sort of an extension of your business and an extension of your team makes so much sense to do.

And then talk to me also a bit about the warehouse you have in, I think, North Carolina. Is that right?

Elena Gatti
Yeah. In terms of my merchandise, again, like I work in a tiny, this is literally my second bedroom in my apartment. I have no room to store merchandise, but I don't want that to like limit my business. So I found a great source to help store my merchandise.

They will store it, they'll ship it and everything. They also have a database of suppliers so that's where i get my merch made is through this database that you get access to once you join it's like a membership almost.

Deb Menter
That's very cool

Elena Gatti
Yeah it is, it's i mean again it's like scaling the business and something that was really important to me was finding like reputable suppliers that are vetted out already for me and then having access to them.

And yeah, they're based in North Carolina. They have another warehouse, I think, in New York, but they handle all of my shirts, my hoodies. They were doing the candlesticks I mentioned before. Tell them how I want things packaged and then they handle it. And again, something I think that's important for businesses to consider is there's costs and fees associated with this and like storage fees.

But on the off side, which I think is greater than that cost is you get to share your art with thousands of people across the world. The sky's the limit. And I think if you price your work, then accordingly to kind of offset those costs, it does really make it worth it because I wouldn't be able to do this in my studio, but with them, I'm able to really explore different facets of my brand that I truly didn't think were possible. And I think that's been really beneficial and important to me with like creating this world as an artist.

Deb Menter
That's really, it's such a it's such a great way of viewing how you scale because I feel like so many people think about, ah you know, what you were saying is like, I don't have the space for that in my home. How am I supposed to do it?

But if you really take into account working with the right partner. And you talked about finding the right partners that were already vetted. So you could be very confident in what was being ah printed and sold and the quality of everything that was going out to continue building the brand quality that you're looking to build is so it's just such an important part of building that business.

Elena Gatti
I agree. And I think like people get nervous about that, but like that's why print on demand is also so great because then there's no you don't have to buy 500 pieces. There's no minimum you have to meet and you don't pour all of this money and it ensures it's not wasteful. So, I always recommend to artists and business owners who want to explore scaling, like start with print on demand. It's the smartest way to like kind of dip your toes in with scaling your business.

Deb Menter
Yeah. Yeah. It's so it's such a cool thing. Like all of these new tools and opportunities like you've been talking about. It's really incredible to watch people with these passions, this you know a little side hustle that can grow into something of this scale.

So all of your orders come in through your website, but you're going to different places to get fulfilled. So how do you manage? Do you have software integrations that manage those processes? does Do your partners have the software integrations that come into Shopify? How does that work?

Elena Gatti
Yeah, I Shopify, I think, does a really great job of like being on the side of the business owner. So they have so many integrations that your suppliers can just have access to So my warehouse I was talking about based in North Carolina, who does all of my merchandise. whenever I get an order in on Shopify, it by the SKU number, that's how it's connected. so it automatically computes with their system that I got an order and it's automatic fulfillment and they will send to my customer like the tracking information and everything.

So it's truly an automated system now, which is just incredible because before then I was having to copy and paste every tracking label and I would sometimes lose it on the receipt. So it was just a mess, but now I don't even need to think of it. And the same thing goes with my print shop based in London.

It's all by SKU number and it's all computed automatically. So whenever an order comes in, they know they print it within two to three days and it's automated with my Shopify and then my customer gets uh, their email confirmation from me, which is through Shopify.

Deb Menter
That's great. Uh, that makes it so easy and it helps maintain, you know, again, that brand consistency and brand quality throughout all of the communications, as well as what's being delivered.

Which actually is sort of a nice segue into my next question is with all of these different locations that you're, ah sending from, how do you maintain the brand consistency and the unboxing experience?

Elena Gatti
Yeah, that's ah something I truly want to get better at is maintaining my brand image, like when you're opening your packages and when you get those deliveries. And like, that's a big goal I have for 2026 is to really hone in on that professionally.

But now what I do is, and I think it adds my personal touch, is I'll always do a letter. I write out the customer's name. If they're getting an original painting, I'll write them like a long letter about the importance of the piece, how like how I felt making it during the process and all of that.

So it tells the story a bit more. But I think it's so overlooked by like larger corporations that opening experience, but small businesses do such a good job of making that something that you're also buying into. Yeah, that's how it should be like your goods.

It's expensive to treat yourself to a piece of art or a hoodie or a print like that's an investment. So you want that opening experience to, you know, reflect that and also be special. So, yeah, any marketing and branding materials I have from like tape packaging tape that has my logo stamped all over it. That's really important to me having like color coded mailers and bubble mailers too. And like those little love, I call them love letters, like little inserts I'll put in just kind of of brain dumps and things that hopefully will connect with the buyer and stickers and things like that too. So again, that's something I really want to get better at is making that opening experience just as special as, you know, enjoying the work in your home.

Deb Menter
Yeah, that's that's so meaningful. When we buy you know any kind of artwork, whatever it may be, a photograph, a painting, a drawing, we're buying something we connect with.

So having that extra piece of connection is so meaningful. So I love that. So I know that the original works, the original paintings that you make are are a lot of what you're sending out from your own home. And you know ah making sure those are packaged in the right way and shipped out in the right way is a big piece of what you do. So have you run into any any issues when you've done that ah that you've had to solve for?

Elena Gatti
Totally. Shipping original art is not an easy task. Especially, like I said before, I have like a big base of international customers for some reason.

And for example, an instance in where it didn't go quite as well was customer in France wanted original painting from me and I packed it, I thought, perfectly. Spent a lot of time bubble wrapping it, doing everything perfect as perfect as I possibly could. I thought there was going to be no hiccups at all. like You could throw this thing across a parking lot and it'd be fine.

I was following it nervously as it was like the tracking number as it was making its way to France. and just inevitably it got stuck customs because the client was out of town when it was supposed to be delivered.

It was hot and rainy. Something was happening with the weather, but it was sitting in a warehouse and it melted basically because I do a lot of work in oil pastels.

So got too hot. It squished the pastels smudged everywhere and the client received the painting and obviously not acceptable. It was yeah destroyed. But I made it right with the customer, obviously gave them the refund right then and there, organized shipping pickup like to have it sent back to me ASAP. But yeah, that was like really unfortunate.

But I did learn shipping original paintings internationally is something. Not only, I don't know if I want to necessarily do anymore, but it's, that's like a process that I need to figure out because I do have collectors worldwide and I want to be able to get my art to them. But absolutely.

Deb Menter
Yeah. It's such a tough lesson to learn. And it feels terrible. I mean, when you when you have when anyone that you're working with is let down because and something that was meaningful to you is now also destroyed. Yeah, gosh, on so many levels.

But it's also so interesting that you can take that back and say, like, is this something I want to keep doing? Yes, I do. So how do I do it? And figuring out new ways of making sure that that happens and avoiding some of these you know, challenges.

And so with shipping both domestically and internationally, since you have such a wide base, how do you manage the costs of, especially shipping internationally because it's so expensive, how do you manage all of the costs of that?

Elena Gatti
Yeah, I think what's important for customers just to see as if they want your work, they need to know that there's going to be additional fees associated with that if they are international. So right off the bat, I know I have it listed on my website. I have like a flat shipping fee for my original paintings.

I'm pretty sure it's like 50 to a hundred dollars for domestic paintings to ship. But on my website says, if you are international, we'll have to chat about additional fees to get the painting to you. And of course that $50 or a hundred dollars is baked into that cost, but it is, it's an investment again. So, truly only serious customers and collectors are going to be purchasing those because it is that additional fee.

But that's also kind of the cushion I need to get my work out to these customers because I do have to ensure pieces. And now I know from my mistakes how I can package them even better to you know, hopefully prevent another painting melting, whatever it is. But yeah, now I know better.

Deb Menter
You know, you brought up insurance and that's something I don't think I've actually spoken to anybody else about because they're most of, uh, like the small businesses that I've spoken to, their shipments are are fairly small as well and lower costs, but how does it, you know, how does it work with insurance?

Elena Gatti
Yeah, I mean, For any painting I ship, I will always put insurance down on it. And I'm pretty sure if it's over $1,000, the painting's value, insurance is pretty expensive. I think an additional hundred or so dollars, I'm pretty sure. With UPS, it's free up until $1,000. And you have to pay that larger fee to get it insured. But it is so necessary. Because when you have instances like what I ran into, you want you need to protect yourself, but also it protects the customer too. So yeah absolutely yeah, it is really important.

Deb Menter
Yeah, it's so interesting. I saw it. Like I said, I so rarely have spoken about it, but I know it's also a big factor. You know if it is free with UPS up to a thousand dollars of value like that probably makes ups a more ideal candidate for your business for those pieces then then some of the other carriers so that also makes a really big difference in what you're how you're choosing a carrier for that.

Elena Gatti
I actually did the other day just ship out a giant, six foot tall painting right behind me. And I shipped out the sister painting of that. And I like found a small shipper in Chicago that like professionally does paintings and artwork. Like that is all they do is ship artwork. And it's like temperate controlled cars and trucks that they ship in. And it's like top of the line, but like to ship that was amazing.

And like that's something, like again, like a serious customer and a serious buyer will invest in, but it's so worth it. like I've learned I would never use UPS or USPS for something like that like that has to be a level up it's very, very specialized and worth it.

Deb Menter
Yeah that that makes that makes so much sense in some of these especially those really specialized sizes that's a huge piece that you were talking about and to go with a specialized shipper makes a lot of sense in doing that as well and because they can package it correctly and like you said temperature control which is as you found out the hard way, really important.

Yeah. We talked about how you ship out of different locations. Do you also have different experiences aside from e-commerce? Do you have anything in stores? Do you have galleries? Do you go to in-person events that you're selling at?

Elena Gatti
Yeah, I have... I am in a couple of galleries that are in the States and I sell work with them as far as shops in Chicago or, you know, nationwide currently,
Which is odd. I don't think I am in any shops right now in the US. And I would like to be in some more shops. Again, that's something I used to do a lot that I really enjoyed, but just tough with like costs rising and stuff.

They buy at wholesale price. So that can be a little tough to match. But my favorite way to share my art is in in-person events. Any Chicago fair or craft fair, fine art fair, like I will be at. And that's where I'm gonna be debuting like ton of new paintings, but that's my favorite way to share art is at in-person events.

Deb Menter
That's, yeah, it's gotta be so fun to watch people, watch people experience it for the first time at those events. And then you get to, and you get to talk about your work with people, which is really exciting.

Elena Gatti
Yeah, it's the most rewarding experience. Yeah, that's great.

Deb Menter
We've talked about how much you've scaled your business into different types of and you know to different paths, but what does the future hold? If you had a magic wand, what would be the next step in scaling Fiorenza Art?

Elena Gatti
Yeah, if I... In my dream world, and hopefully I can make this a reality soon, I truly would love to scale the size of my physical studio and how I manage orders. I would love to have like my own warehouse or physical space where I can actually house my merchandise instead of relying on my outside company to ship that.

I would love to be more hands on with that process. And that way I can also kind of personalize that opening process like experience that we were talking about before, which is really important to me.

I want to grow my team. I would love to hire a couple of people to be on site with me to help manage orders, customer service, shipping orders for me, making sure that everything is quality checked by me, which is really important, something I would love control over.

So I think like the next step is physically growing the brand. I would love a bigger studio. As I mentioned, this is where I make all my art and it's small.
Yeah I think kind of just having more control over the business side of Firenze art physically is a big goal for me.

Deb Menter
That's awesome. And I think, you know, magic wands, crystal balls, I think that's in your future.

I just, you’ve taken your business and really found ways to explore and expand that are inspiring and are really incredible. So thank you so much for this conversation. I really enjoyed it.

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