Standing in front of a wallpaper printed with Van Gogh’s Almond Blossoms, Priscilla Wong said art licensing requires practitioners to explore different channels of cooperation.

Long Wise has developed a series of products using Van Gogh’s licensed properties, spanning food and beverage, stationery, home décor and other categories, to bring art to different aspects of daily life.

Licensing agents can bring outstanding brands all over the world. For Priscilla Wong, founder of Long Wise Inc. Ltd., she has always been at the forefront of the licensing industry—no matter when she was representing top fashion labels or when she is heading a company that specialises in art licensing. Through collaborations with different platforms and crossovers with other sectors, Wong aims to expand the types and ways that art licensing is done.

Long Wise is an expert in luxury goods. It was GUCCI’s sole agent in China in the company’s early days and later represented also other top fashion brands such as Giovanni Valentino and Fiorucci. More than a decade ago, Wong observed a shift in consumer taste in the Chinese mainland, and she pivoted her business towards art licensing. In 2004, with the authorisation of the Van Gogh Museum in the Netherlands, Long Wise became the sole agent of Vincent van Gogh’s works in Asia.

Making Van Gogh’s works approachable

“In the past, mainland consumers loved luxury brands as they wanted show off their social status with fashion and accessories. Now, they value virtuousness and choose brands for their cultural values.” Wong explained that Van Gogh’s reputation as a world-class painter, an icon of post-impressionism who led a colourful, legendary life and who created works with a strong personal style makes his works perfect for a variety of products. “We developed tableware, home decorations, phone accessories, stationery, watches and other products to bring Van Gogh’s art to different aspects of daily life.”

Long Wise also collaborates with brands from other sectors, organising interactive multimedia exhibitions and drawing competitions. “Art is an experience, it should be more than a product.”

Developing the mainland licensing market

Long Wise has been participating in the Hong Kong Trade Development Council’s Hong Kong International Licensing Show since 2002. But Wong admitted that she did not hold high expectations for the early fairs. She just wanted to use the international platform to tell the industry that Hong Kong had an established art licensing company. “After all, art licensing was new and its ‘hotness’ could not be compared to cartoon licensing.”

Fortunately, Wong met mainland e-commerce company JD.com at the fair and the two companies explored the possibility of cooperation. The company also worked with Tmall to look into launching an online art licensing platform. Apart from Van Gogh, Long Wise holds the license for Bliss Art from the US. Wong said the company will develop more art licensing properties, including attempting to introduce Chinese art licensing properties, to uncover more business opportunities.