Marketplace · Art & collectibles · 2026

Curio

A gallery in your pocket. Bid before it closes.

  • Marketplace
  • Product design
  • Brand identity

The concept

Curio is a curated marketplace for art and design collectibles — prints, ceramics, vintage design, small sculpture — that runs weekly themed sales with timed auctions and buy-now pieces. Every lot is vetted and authenticated by a curator, solving the trust problem that plagues open collectibles platforms. It sits between a chaotic auction site and an intimidating gallery. Revenue: seller commission plus buyer's premium and a premium collector membership.

Who it’s for

Emerging art collectors and design lovers who want vetted pieces without gallery gatekeeping.

Weekly
Curated timed sales
100%
Lots vetted + authenticated
Members
Recurring bidder base

Brand direction

CuratedRefinedTrustworthyIntriguing

Digital auction house. A plum-dark gallery lit like a museum vitrine, gold used as label brass, and a refined display serif. Each lot is presented as a spotlit object with a wall-label typography system. The identity borrows the confidence of a great auction catalogue but strips out the intimidation — refined, warm, and legible on a phone.

Visual identity

Gallery Plum

#140f18

Canvas

Label Gold

#c9a24a

Accent

Amethyst

#8b6fae

Secondary

Ivory

#efe7dd

Type

Display type

Curio

DM Serif Display — auction-catalogue elegance

Text + system

General Sans — lot details and bidding UI

Lot numbers and estimates set like wall labels; gold marks live bids and 'winning' states only.

Voice

A warm gallery director: knowledgeable, unstuffy, tells you why a piece matters before its price.

REF · Digital auction house — plum-dark gallery, gold labels, museum lighting, refined serif; Sotheby's × Artsy.

Homepage & product interface

Screen 01 · Weekly curated sale
Weekly curated sale. A themed weekly sale presented like a gallery hang — every lot vetted, spotlit, with a live timer and estimate.

Product detail

Screen 02 · Lot & live bidding
Lot & live bidding. The lot page reads like a wall label with a live auction: provenance, authentication, estimate and a closing timer.

Marketing angle

Trust is the differentiator: open collectibles sites are full of fakes and noise. Curio sells curation and authentication — 'every lot vetted' — plus the theatre of a weekly timed sale.

The campaign

"The Sunday Sale" — a weekly ritual: a themed curated drop every week with a Sunday-8PM close, teased through the week with curator picks and provenance stories. A collector membership (lower premium, early access) turns browsers into a recurring bidding audience.

Instagram curator picks & lot storiesWeekly 'Sunday Sale' emailArt & design newslettersSeller/consignor outreach

Headline directions

“Every lot, vetted. Every Sunday, a new sale.”

“The confidence of an auction house. The ease of a phone.”

“Collecting, without the gatekeeping.”

What Limited Labs built

  • 01Curated marketplace with weekly themed sales and timed auctions
  • 02Vetting/authentication workflow and wall-label lot pages
  • 03Live bidding experience and collector membership
  • 04Auction-house brand identity adapted for mobile
  • 05'The Sunday Sale' weekly ritual campaign and consignor pipeline

Service demonstrated

Software

Marketplace & product design — a trust-first transaction platform where curation, authentication and auction theatre are designed into the core experience.

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Work 25 of 25

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