Fernis is a platform ecosystem centered around artworks and information related to art. Everything will be handled on one platform where artworks will get a digital ID to which documents, provenance, authenticity stamps and more can be added. Important and verified information can be transferred along with the artwork, when it's sold, so that it follows the journey of the artwork. Workflows among galleries, collectors, artists and other art professionals will be supported and simplified.
On the platform, users can maintain and elaborate their network in the art world as well as contributing with services and knowledge. Several functions will be built on top of the platform in order to suit the needs of galleries, collectors or other actors in the industry.
Fernis is for the art world and all of its stakeholders – professionals as well as private individuals. If you are in the possession of an artwork or work professionally with art and want it to be safe for the future, Fernis is for you.
The first users on Fernis will be gallerists. Hereafter other user types will be integrated, such as: collectors, artists, museums, art fairs, art advisors, experts, educational institutes, logistics, finance, etc.
Fernis was initiated because of our passion for art. We want both to facilitate the everyday business for professionals in the art world and to keep information about art safe. We have met the dilemma of lost art certificates, missing provenance documents, inadequate exhibition registrations, and daily burdenings such as registration work on different platforms.
To solve these problems, we need a system to store all information about an artwork securely in one place, gathering all stakeholders who will use the same, trustworthy information in their daily business.
The vision is to create and evolve a system, where information about artworks will be safe, for now and for the future.
We are well aware that the art world is already plagued by registration work. But with Fernis, data will only have to be registered once in the system. When an artwork is registered by the gallery, the data will be transferred to the buyer, who doesn’t have to enter the data again. When an artist’s CV is updated, it can be shared with the gallery, who will have a continuously updated CV without registration work.
Fernis will provide many kinds of management tools where different functions will interact with the same data protocol. The double-registration dominating the art world will be minimized as one data registry will serve several purposes.
Together, we can improve the status quo in the art world. Thus, we encourage you to adopt our system despite some registration work in the beginning.
Artworks will be verified by professional users on our platform. It is up to the owner of an artwork to get an authenticity signature added to the artwork’s digital ID.
Primary market artworks can be authenticated by verified artists or their representing gallery while artworks already in circulation must be vetted by trusted experts. When professionals verify an artwork’s authenticity, they publicly vouch for its genuineness.
When a user signs up as a professional, the user will go through a manual verification process.
We take your privacy seriously. As insiders of the art world ourselves, we know that privacy and anonymity are essential parameters. An artwork will never be publicly linked to its owner or a collection. For more information about our data policy, click here.
The first user type on Fernis will be Gallerists. As a gallerist user, you and your employees will be able to add and manage your gallery’s inventory, create artist profiles, prepare exhibitions, handle client relations, manage sales status on artworks in real time, and send artwork suggestions to clients. When a client buys an artwork, you will be able to transfer the artwork to the new owner with all important information - when the client creates a user on Fernis, you will be connected, and s/he will be able to manage all artworks here.
In addition to this, you will as a gallerist be the first user type – followed by collectors – on the social platform for the art world. In time, the whole art world will be represented, and a shared platform will be the place to communicate, share knowledge about art and offer relevant services to each other. Just like the real life art world with trust and discretion.