An eye-mazing gallery is opening in York.
Iris Galerie, a French company that first started in Paris in 2021, is a unique gallery that turns your eyes into artwork.
With stores all over the world, this is the first location in Yorkshire and the fifth location in the UK. It opened today (Saturday), at 62-68 Low Petergate.
That’s the former home of Molly Browns.
YorkMix spoke with Georgia Cullen, the gallery manager, to find out more.
“Our concept is that we create artwork through the eyes in a way that you’ve probably never seen them before,” said Georgia.
“What’s so cool is that it’s a really collaborative process with our guests – we take your photo and go through the experience with you, but there’s no obligation to buy.
“You can experience this service for free and get to see your eyes in a way you probably never have before – that is really special to us.”
The experience is for anyone and everyone (from the ages two and up), and is particularly popular with families, couples and tourists.
The whole process takes around ten minutes – from taking the photo of your eye to creating the finished artwork, with the dedicated team talking you through each step.
The artwork starts from £49.
The team are excited to bring Iris Galerie to York. “We think York’s a really cool city,” said Georgia.
“There’s a lot of people walking by, a lot of foot traffic and it’s a place where it’s a really great community. We love getting to meet new people.”
Though the gallery doesn’t open until tomorrow, there has already been a lot of interest with people knocking on the door and asking what’s going on.
“It’s a really novel concept for a lot of people – a lot of people haven’t heard of it before, and we can’t wait to share it with the people of York.”
Iris Galerie will be open seven days a week. It will be open from 11am to 7pm Monday to Fridays, 10am to 8pm on Saturdays and 10am to 6pm on Sundays.
To find out more about the company, visit the Iris Galerie website.