About Us
About Outside The Square Canvas
With quality materials, expert craftsmanship and attention to detail, we design, create and hand-build canvases we are proud of for picky artists we can relate to.
Who are we?
Based in the Victorian waterside town of Geelong, we’re a custom canvas company specialising in bespoke round canvases of all sizes.
Founded in 2015 by two mates, The Artist and The Cabinetmaker, Outside the Square was born during many a sleepless night in Art School searching for quality round canvases that stood the test of time and a passionate painter’s hand. Naturally, when we couldn’t find any that measured up, we decided to create it ourselves.
We may not be changing the world, but we are changing the way artists’ materials are crafted; the classic way – hand-built, hand-stretched and with way too much love and devotion.
What makes us different?
Made by artists, for artists.
Being an artist myself and working in the art supplies industry for over 13 years, I understand more than anyone the painstakingly detail and quality-oriented minds of our kind, so I’ve designed canvases worthy of even the most pernickety of artists’ creations.
With a focus on quality, our canvases are made with 25mm MDF stretchers as opposed to the regular market canvases of 18mm, ensuring absolutely no warping.
How do we know? We test every single one the old-fashioned way – by pressing our entire body weight on them.
What we offer
We believe great art starts with an exceptional blank canvas, so all our canvases are made using 380GSM triple-primed cotton that’s gently stretched until smooth and taught. Our signature rounds come in a variety of sizes ranging from 20cm to 120cm to suit any style of painting and artist.
Though we’re partial to the perfectly contoured, uninterrupted shape of the round canvas, we’re certainly not biased, so we also design and handcraft those more linear in nature with a series of square and rectangular canvases in a variety of sizes.
Looking to take your pieces to expert level? Check out our series of custom floating frames. We believe a well-framed piece of art can make even the most novice of painters a regular Van Gogh, so we offer duo frame and canvas packs with our square and rectangles in a range of sizes.
Each frame is made to order using premium Australian-grown oak with a streamlined 5mm float gap finish giving your pieces the impressive presentation they deserve. Fitted with zinc-plated screws, each canvas can be easy removed and reattached for when your piece is dry and ready for its closeup.
Staying true to our round roots, we also custom make floating frames for our circular canvases in a sleek white satin finish. Round frames are sold separately, so if you’ve already got yourself one very tricky-to-frame round piece of art, this one’s for you! Plus, we provide you with all the screws and pre-drilled pilot holes for easy framing.
A little about me
I’m Tom. A Victoria-based Aussie artist working from my Geelong studio alongside my assistant Wally who stares at me incessantly for another walk and insists on bringing his bone to work.
I’m qualified in Fine Art and when I’m not building canvases, painting on them, or teaching others to do so, I work managing an art supplies company.
Art obsessed? Me? Never. To learn more about me, visit my artist page – tomparsonspainting.com