Can a Designer Find the Right Painter on Instagram?
Last updated: October 9, 2026
In short: Yes. Designers on the record in Business of Home name Instagram as a real sourcing channel, and a Hilton manager told a 2023 hospitality panel that designers could be "searching for someone through social media who is local or has a story to tell." The find is where the work starts, not where it ends. A painter who states her timeline, shows two options and ships with video turns a good find into a project a designer can plan around.
Do working designers really find art on Instagram?
They say so on the record. In Business of Home's "What are your favorite sources for art?" (Aidan Taylor, 6 June 2025), Lauren Sullivan of the Nashville firm Well by Design lists her channels: "I often source vintage art on Etsy, discover emerging independent artists through Instagram, and pick up one-of-a-kind finds at flea markets when I travel through Europe."
San Francisco designer Maria Khouri of Maria Khouri Interiors answers in the same register: "I source from everywhere: Paris flea markets, Beirut galleries, the occasional Instagram deep dive, and a tight-knit circle of Bay Area artists I've gotten to know over the years."
Neither presents Instagram as a shortcut. It sits in a list with flea markets and galleries, and it earns its place the way the others do, by putting a designer in front of work her client has not already seen.
Is hospitality design looking for artists through social media too?
It was saying so in 2023. Hotel Business, reporting on the InspireDesign "Art of the Matter" panel in "Art trends that inspire" (Abby Elyssa, 19 October 2023), quotes Ashley Michaels, a senior manager at Hilton: "We could be searching for someone through social media who is local or has a story to tell."
On the same panel, Monika Nessbach, CEO of Designbar, said: "Art has become way more accessible than it used to be." She added: "If we look at social media, it has given us access to artists and art expressions that we haven't seen before."
Art advisors noticed earlier. Daniel Turriani of the advisory JT Art Asset told The Art Newspaper in February 2021 (Aimee Dawson, 15 February 2021): "I've got in touch with great people through Instagram—artists, collectors and people from different walks of life."
Is a painter found on Instagram a weaker sourcing story than a gallery purchase?
It is a different story, and many designers would call it the better one. Khouri says what she wants from a piece: "I want the art to spark conversation, or at the very least a second glance." A painting from a painter the designer found, spoke with and watched work on comes with the first sentence of that conversation already written: how it was found, who made it, what the room asked of her. Sullivan describes the same pull in her own words: "I'm drawn to pieces that feel storied, a little imperfect, and full of soul."
The feed itself is only a catalogue of what exists. Henry David Thoreau drew the line that matters in his journal on 5 August 1851: "The question is not what you look at, but what you see." A designer who finds a painter through a feed has done the seeing, and that is the credential she carries into the client meeting.
Rainer Maria Rilke wrote in his first Letter to a Young Poet (1903) that "Works of art are of an infinite solitude, and with nothing so little to be reached as with criticism. Only love can touch and hold and be fair toward them." An image on a screen is a first contact with that solitude. A conversation with the maker is what moves a designer from looking to holding.
What does a direct relationship with the painter add after the find?
A sequence she can schedule. A commission here starts with a conversation about the room, and a deposit secures the slot in the studio calendar. I paint two options at the same time, so the first reveal is a real choice. There is a first revision round and a second and final one. Deposit to delivery is about four weeks, depending on the studio schedule, and the studio sends several videos of each finished painting before it ships.
For a designer, that turns "I found a painter" into a line on a project plan, with a start, a decision point and a delivery.
How should a designer vet a painter she finds on Instagram?
Ask what a procurement process would ask of any vendor. Is there a body of work, or one good image? Are there photographs of the paintings in real rooms? Does the painter state a timeline, a number of options and a number of revision rounds before work begins? Will she show the finished painting on video before it ships? A painter who answers those four questions in a first reply has told you most of what you need to know.
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Frequently asked questions
Do interior designers find artists on Instagram?
Yes. In Business of Home (6 June 2025), Nashville designer Lauren Sullivan of Well by Design says she discovers emerging independent artists through Instagram, and San Francisco designer Maria Khouri names "the occasional Instagram deep dive" among her sources. Hilton's Ashley Michaels told a 2023 hospitality panel that designers could be searching for local artists through social media.
Is it professional to commission a painter you found on social media?
It can be, when the painter works to a stated process. A timeline, a fixed number of options and revision rounds, and video of the finished painting before it ships give a designer the same checkpoints she would expect from any vendor.
How does a designer commission a painter she found online?
At this studio the sequence is a conversation about the room, a deposit that secures the slot, two options painted at the same time, a first reveal and two revision rounds. Deposit to delivery is about four weeks, depending on the studio schedule.
What should a designer ask a painter before commissioning?
Ask for a body of work and photographs of paintings in real rooms, then ask for the timeline, the number of options and revision rounds, and whether the finished painting is shown on video before it ships.