The Guild builds bridges between artists and art buyers. Through its annual sourcebooks for designers and architects and The Artful Home catalogs and website for consumers, The Guild provides vital connections between artists and those who would acquire their work.
Founded as an art publishing company in 1985, The Guild today offers art buyers 10,000 original works of art direct from the studios of 1,200 leading artists, galleries, and art print publishers. All sales are backed by a customer-friendly guarantee. The Guild also offers highly personalized customer service, exclusive artwork, and online content from experts in the field of contemporary fine art and fine craft.
In addition, The Guild’s Design Professional Program offers interior designers, architects, art consultants, and corporate clients a convenient source for finding commissionable artists and exclusive trade discounts.
Our mission is to bring ease and accessibility to the ownership and enjoyment of beautiful things. We want to help people discover and acquire the finest artwork available today.
The Guild uses the power of the Internet to:
- Help artists make a living creating their artwork; and
- Offer consumers easy access to a broad and fine selection of original art.
We believe that when you live with art that you love, and it's made by a gifted artist with skill and care, it adds something rich and sweet to your life, every day.
What is original art? It can be the painting over your couch, but it can also be your coffee cup, your bathroom mirror, or your wedding ring. When any of these objects is made with care by a skilled and talented artist, it surely is a work of art.
Regardless of price or medium, all artwork is reviewed and selected by an advisory panel headed by Michael Monroe, former curator-in-charge of the Smithsonian Institution's Renwick Gallery. The jurying process represents an ironclad commitment to our customers that artwork offered through The Guild is of the highest quality and integrity.
Our selection of more than 10,000 original paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, and works in the fine craft media of glass, ceramics, fiber, metal, and wood are sourced from artists throughout North America. We also provide a wealth of information about the artists and their work, so visitors are informed about how and why the art was created.
In 1985, Toni Sikes launched The Guild, a publishing company with the mission of helping artists market and sell their work. Annual Guild Sourcebooks feature photographs of artists' works and are distributed to designers and architects. Today, Guild Sourcebooks have resulted in thousands of new art commissions for public and private spaces and are recognized by design professionals as "the industry standard" (Art Calendar). To date, more than 350,000 sourcebooks have been printed in multiple languages.
In 1992, The Guild added coffee-table and how-to books to its publishing line, allowing many artists to present their artwork in bookstores throughout North America. By the mid-1990s, The Guild had become a well-known brand in the design trades, forged strong relationships with thousands of artists, and built a reputation of quality and integrity. Sikes wanted to expand The Guild's market reach to consumers and began looking for another medium.
Along came the Internet and the possibility of bringing original artwork to anyone, anywhere, with a computer and a modem. The launch of the guild.com website and catalog in 1999 gave consumers access for the first time to Guild artists, who personally make and ship all items directly to buyers. The Guild renamed the catalog The Artful Home in 2004, and renamed the website shortly thereafter. Today, both catalogs and website offer a variety of original art and fine craft for home and gifts.
Lisa Bayne, CEO
Lisa Bayne drives the vision, strategy, and marketing of Artful Home and The Guild. A former executive vice president and chief marketing officer at J. Jill, Bayne was responsible for direct (both catalog and online), retail, and brand marketing. Prior to J. Jill, Bayne served as senior vice president of brand for the Gymboree Corporation and senior vice president of marketing for Smith & Hawken. She also held numerous executive-level positions at Eddie Bauer, including, most recently, senior vice president of creative services and brand marketing. Bayne holds a bachelor’s degree in textiles and fine arts from the California College of the Arts (CCA) in Oakland, California, and an associate’s degree in fashion design from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles, California.
Bill Lathrop, Vice President of Finance
Terry Nelson, Vice President of Marketing
Terry Nelson is responsible for expanding Artful Home’s presence through its multi-channel marketing efforts and improving the functionality, usability, and design of the artfulhome.com website. Most recently, Nelson was Director of Marketing at Fair Indigo, where he helped start up a new socially-conscious consumer apparel brand. Prior to that, Nelson spent over a decade at Lands’ End, where he held various positions in marketing, most recently as Director of Integrated Marketing, where he oversaw all marketing activities for both consumer and business-to-business, as well as retail integration into the Sears stores. Earlier in his career at Lands’ End, he was part of the team that built landsend.com into an industry-leading e-commerce destination. Nelson holds bachelors degrees in finance and marketing from Minnesota State-Mankato.
Scott Potter, Chairman
Scott Potter is the founding managing partner of San Francisco Equity Partners. In his career as a private equity investor, CEO, and advisor, Potter has been involved in more than 75 private equity financings, 20 public offerings, and 15 merger and acquisitions transactions. He currently serves as chairman of The Guild, and on the boards of directors for MCF Corporation, Method Products, Penguin Computing, Rave Motion Pictures, and Modviz, Inc. Prior to founding SFEP, Potter served as a managing director of LMS Capital, the private equity arm of London Merchant Securities plc, where he oversaw LMS Capital's North American Private Equity and Venture Capital portfolio. Potter holds a juris doctor degree from UC Berkeley's Boalt Hall School of Law and a bachelor's degree in industrial psychology from the University of California at Berkeley.
Richard Brekka
Richard Brekka founded Dolphin Equity Partners in 1998. Brekka is chairman of the board of Gomez, Inc. and a board member of Enpocket, Inc., Epic Cycle Interactive, The Guild, InQ, Island Data Corporation, and SeaPass Solutions Inc., which are Dolphin-portfolio companies. Brekka has specialized in software as a service, mobile content, communication services, and Internet investing for nearly 15 years. Prior to founding Dolphin, Brekka was a managing director of CIBC's private equity investment unit and the president of CIBC's U.S. private equity investment subsidiaries. Brekka holds a bachelor's degree in finance from the University of Southern California and a master's degree in business administration from the University of Chicago.
Cameron Steele
Cameron Steele brings 13 years of investment and operational experience to San Francisco Equity Partners, focusing in the past 8 years on extensive work with expansion-stage technology companies as both an advisor and an investor. Steele serves on the board of directors of The Guild, and works closely with Penguin Computing and ModViz. Before joining SFEP, Steele spent seven years on Wall Street in active portfolio management and advisory roles. Most recently, he was a vice president and technology equity analyst for McMorgan & Company, supporting an actively managed $5 billion equity portfolio and providing analytical guidance for the communications equipment, computer hardware, semiconductor, software, Internet, and business service industries. Steele received a bachelor's degree in political science from Stanford University and holds a master's degree in business administration from the Amos Tuck School of Business Administration at Dartmouth College.
Toni Sikes, Founder and Artistic Advisor
Toni's commitment to helping artists market and sell their work made The Guild the leading U.S. retailer of original artwork. Identifying a need for artists to reach new audiences, she founded The Guild publishing company in 1985 as a way to connect artists with architects and interior designers. Recognized as the industry standard, Guild Sourcebooks have spurred thousands of new art commissions around the world. In 1998, Sikes launched guild.com to market the work of artists to consumers. Today, The Guild presents the work of more than 1,200 artists through its award-winning website and direct-to-consumer catalogs. Sikes received a bachelor's in mathematics from the University of Alabama and a master's in market research from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She frequently lectures on marketing the arts, and has authored several books.
Lisa Bayne, CEO
You may contact specific departments within The Guild by emailing the addresses below.
Customer Care
Public Relations
Guild Sourcebooks
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