Company aims to become first of its type to be publicly traded in China
Â
While some paint for fun, others paint for the market.
Â
For Putian Jiyou Group, one of the largest commercial painting producers in China, its business is art - art for the masses.
Â
The company, based in Putian, Fujian province, started to mass-produce commercial oil paintings, or decorative paintings, in 1983. Since then, it has gone from being a small workshop to being a group that offers a diverse array of products.
Â
It aims to be publicly listed in China by 2014, and is preparing to do so now, said Zhong Zhizhong, vice-president of administration at the company. The step may make Putian Jiyou Group the first company of its type to go public.
Â
Most Chinese oil paintings now come from small studios and family workshops. Putian Jiyou Group has managed to differentiate itself from those centers of production in a couple of ways.
Â
In 1983, Liu Guotai, company founder, brought more than 100 painters together and acted as a wholesaler for them. That was in the early years of China's oil painting industry, when it enjoyed very high profits.
Â
"You could then sell paintings for four times or five times their cost," said Zhong. "It was very normal."
Â
After having initial success in the business, Liu, a soldier-turned painter and entrepreneur, ventured into frame making in 1997. That decision was followed by similar changes in 2003, when Putian Jiyou Group began offering a series of artistic goods, including furniture, iron and copper goods, and canvases.
Â
Last year, the company's products had a total value of 1.5 billion yuan ($236 million), up about 30 percent from a year earlier.
Â
About 70 percent of the company's oil paintings go to overseas markets, and its main customers include Wal-Mart Stores Inc and Home Depot Inc, Zhong said.
Â
Although the current global economic downturn has affected a variety of manufacturers in China, Putian Jiyou Group hasn't completely felt the pinch. Zhong said it is still one of the few companies that can "respond to big orders and produce oil paintings that meet international quality requirements".
Â
The company is now doing more to explore the domestic market, which Zhong expects to be the source of more demand than overseas market in the following one to two years.
Â
"China is home to one- fifth of the world's population, and the Chinese home market is what companies must respond to," he said.
Â
The company is now opening Jiyou family art galleries, which put a variety of its products on display and constitute a part of its sales network across the country.
Â
At the same time, it has set up an e-commerce team composed of more than 10 members to expand its online business, both in exports and domestic sales. The company aims to sell 100 million yuan worth of goods online this year.
Â
The company has more than 3,000 employees, in addition to 2,000 painters who work for the company by taking orders from it.
Â
