Giving a unique artwork: the gift that compares to nothing else

A gift is rarely judged by its price; it is judged by what it says. A mass-produced object says I thought of you in a shop. A unique canvas says there is only one, and it is for you. The difference holds in one word: irreplaceable. You can buy a broken lamp again; you cannot buy again a canvas of which only one exists.

It is also a gift that ages well. Most objects lose value from day one; a unique, signed and numbered canvas keeps it. It is passed on, it tells a story: given for that wedding, hung in that first flat. In twenty years it will still be there, and the memory with it.

The classic mistake is choosing the canvas that would look best in the person's living room. It is a mistake because you never really know someone else's wall, and because a gift should resemble the one who receives it, not their decoration. A music lover will recognise a saxophone at once; a motorsport enthusiast will stop in front of a circuit motif; a couple who love hosting will smile at two glasses of wine.

Only then, format and tones. A compact format always finds its place: in a corridor, above a desk, in an entrance. Warm tones, ochres and browns, go with most contemporary interiors, light wood or white. If you hesitate between two canvases, take the one whose subject speaks most to the person, never the one that would look better.

A unique artwork differs from decoration in three ways: it is hand-painted, it is signed, and it is numbered on its collection's total. The IS × SEY Maison canvases are numbered on the six of the first collection: Saxophone is 1, Golden Brown 2, Pics F1 3. Each canvas leaves with its certificate of authenticity, which links the artwork, the artist and the person receiving it.

For a gift, the certificate counts as much as the canvas. It slips into an envelope with a note, and gives the recipient proof that what they hold exists nowhere else. That document is what turns a pretty object into an artwork one keeps.

The six canvases of the collection range from 27×20 to 50×20 cm: formats that wrap easily, travel safely and hang with a single hook. Pics F1, at 50×20, is the panoramic format of the series: it finds its place above a console or in a corridor. Playlist for two, at 27×20, is the most intimate, for a desk or a bedroom.

Prices range from 490 to 890 euros depending on the canvas, with payment in three instalments. Each artwork ships in packaging with protected corners, tracked. For a gift you can have it delivered to you and hand it over, or delivered directly to the person with the certificate inside. One rule: once sold, the canvas no longer exists for anyone else.