Justin and Christine are founders of Wants For Sale and Needs For Sale where they both paint things that they want and sell the painting at the price of the real item; later they buy the item that they've earned. It could be a shoe, a pizza, monthly rent or a flight ticket.
The difference between both the projects is that Wants For Sale if for things that they want, where as Needs For Sale is for what others want. The latter project is created for the purpose of helping others where they donate the money earned to a specific charity.
Justin also handles another project that he started in during his college days called New York City Garbage, where he handpicks trash and packages them in glass cubes and sells them.
Fascinated?... Read further to learn what Justin has to say about all the projects that he handles with Christine:
We are truly intrigued with your NYC Garbage idea and would love to learn more about it in your words. How did the idea occur to you?
I came up with this idea back in 2000, when I was a poor, 20-year-old college student. One day at my summer internship we were having a discussion about the importance of package design. One of my coworkers claimed package design wasn't important and I thought that was ridiculous. I figured the only way to prove them wrong would be to package something that absolutely nobody would ever want to buy. If I could convince someone to buy it, I'd know my package design was successful. So I stared down into Times Square for a few minutes, then it hit me...garbage!
Selling garbage is no easy task but you have managed to receive much deserved recognition for it, is there a marketing secret behind it?
The originality of the idea is the main reason why selling garbage has been so successful. The idea alone surprises people and grabs their attention which has been the key to promoting the project. I haven’t advertised at all. I rely on blogs, press and people sending the site around to their friends. Thankfully, it’s an idea people have been compelled to share.
Wants For Sale is a smart idea, how did it all begin?
My wife, Christine, and I are both advertising art directors and wanted to come up with a creative side project that we could work on together. We were walking around MoMA, checking out the Dada exhibit, when we had the idea.
We were trying to come up with an idea that would sell and were talking about all the fun things we could buy with the extra money. Then we realized, we should just paint all these things we want, sell the paintings for the price of those things and then use the money to go buy them.
We launched wantsforsale.com in the summer of 2007, with a variety of paintings. From a painting of buffalo wings for $12.70 to a painting of a Nintendo Wii for $270.92. Within two weeks of launching the site we had over 40,000 visitors and sold out of our initial 14 paintings. Now, over 70 paintings later, our paintings usually sell out in under 20 minutes.
Need For Sale is truly a noble project, could you share some fond memories related to it?
One thing we consistently wanted was to help others, which sparked the idea for Needs for Sale (needsforsale.com). It's the same concept as Wants for Sale, but every painting is for charity. Habitat for Humanity says a kitchen sink costs $100, so we painted a sink, sold it for $100 and donated all of the money to them. People love it because they get a work of art for their home and get to help others at the same time. So far, the site has raised over $7000 for a variety of causes.
What has been your favorite buy from Wants For Sale?
Our favorite buy so far is our Vegas Vacation. We did an entire batch dedicated to every aspect of a trip to Las Vegas. The flights, hotel room, all-you-can-eat buffet, showgirls, gamblin’ money and even more gamblin’ money.
You guys make a lovely couple, tell us a bit about yourselves.
Both of us are creatives at heart. And the mutual creative respect we have for each other really helps push us further and create more projects.
It’s great having a spouse with the same creative spirit and a mutual respect for one another’s talent. It keeps things exciting and you always have an extra mind to throw in something you never thought of before. We have a lot of fun together, on our projects and in life.
Before launching NYC Garbage, Needs For Sale and Wants For Sale, what line of work were you in? What motivated and convinced you to start your own business?
I went to school for advertising here in New York City. After 5 years working full time as an art director, I left agency life to freelance and pursue my art.
NYC Garbage is sold in 29 countries, apart from New York do you plan to turn any other city's garbage into art?
In 2007, I expanded the garbage empire beyond NYC for the first time. The Dublin City Council commissioned me to collect trash and make 100 cubes from the St. Patrick’s Day Parade in downtown Dublin, Ireland. I’d love to travel to the biggest events around the world and do special editions. The Olympics, World Cup, Mardi Gras, Oktoberfest, etc. Every time I do a limited edition you can almost immediately tell which event it was from. It’s intriguing to see the difference in garbage from one event to another.
What advice would you give to novice entrepreneurs?
The old saying “Success is 1% inspiration, 99% perspiration” is very true. Everyone has great ideas but most don’t follow through on them. The internet makes it much easier to try an idea out and see if it’s gonna work. All of my projects have started with just making a few items, putting up a website and sending it to my friends. If you’re friends and family don’t get excited enough about your idea to want to share it with everyone they know, that might be a sign. The internet will quickly let you know if you have a hit on your hands or not. If not, just move onto the next idea.
Thank you Justin for taking the time for us, we wish you and Christine all the success in the future.
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