Sugarlift constantly adapts to meet the changing needs of the art market

Wright Harvey is not your typical gallerist. Growing up, he had a real passion for art, spending countless hours drawing. But after college, he found himself working in finance at J.P. Morgan.

Back in those days, every night, you’d find Wright in one of New York City’s many art galleries and studios, connecting with artists. By day, he’d return to the bank’s Manhattan office, crunching numbers but also sharing advice with senior bankers on the art they should add to their collection.

One day, gazing from his office across the East River to Brooklyn and Queens, home to tens of thousands of artists, he came to a realization:

“The problem with the art market wasn’t a lack of artists or a lack of demand – it was a lack of infrastructure. I saw it as an economics problem. If we could remove the opaqueness of pricing and inventory and create engagement, we could help everyone discover great art.”

Inspired, Wright launched Sugarlift, first as a traditional art gallery in Brooklyn. But he quickly found that instead of a gallery, Sugarlift was functioning more as a matchmaker—a matchmaker with capacity issues.

“We had to understand the client, what inspired them, and what they were looking for. And then we had to match them with artists and find specific pieces they would like. It was a very manual process.

“We realized we needed to create something that could expand outside of the gallery’s walls and still support the community.”

Wright knew an online marketplace that connected the art community with buyers was the answer. The only problem? Finding the right technology.

"I didn't have the technical know-how to build a marketplace myself or oversee someone else building it. We needed something that we could set up quickly and experiment with at a low cost."

Wright and his team quickly found Sharetribe. They valued not only the sleek, intuitive design of the platform but also the powerful features and capabilities that Sharetribe brought to the table.

In late 2019, Wright started working with Sharetribe, launching Sugarlift’s online marketplace in May 2020, right after the pandemic set in. At the time, the art world was in disarray: COVID-19 had shut everything down, art fairs were canceled, and traditional galleries were struggling to adapt.

In an industry that’s been reluctant to embrace technology, Sugarlift found themselves well-placed to step up and fill the gap. “We initially feared the worst, but the pandemic drove a lot of connections, engagement, and transactions between artists and buyers online,” Wright explains.

The business grew steadily, and Sugarlift’s gallery reopened. Wright saw a major shift: a blurring of the lines between the digital and the physical art world. At Sugarlift, the marketplace and the gallery were closely interlinked. Over 500 artists signed up on Sugarlift’s online marketplace, ten to twenty of whom exhibited in the gallery every year.

Currently, Sugarlift is no longer using Sharetribe. As the market's needs shifted, Wright and his team concluded that a marketplace no longer aligned with their core business. Sugarlift slowly transitioned from a B2C marketplace model to focus on B2B sales, and now consults on complex projects with real estate developers, interior design firms, and architects.

"For six years, Sharetribe gave us a place to experiment and quickly evolve our marketplace, at prices that made sense for our business. We're proud of our journey together and plan to stay involved in the Sharetribe community."

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