SKM TEAM

Erich Reich

Co-founder and Managing Director of Studierenden Kunstmarkt

Erich grew up near Greifswald in a family of artists – his father was a stone sculptor, his mother and grandmother were painters, and his grandfather ran an art gallery in Bern. Nevertheless, he originally had quite different plans of his own – having studied sports science and completed a Master’s in competitive sport and diagnostics, he wanted to turn his passion for handball into a career and become a coach. But as is so often the case in life, things turn out quite differently from what one expects, and an idea became a new vision, for which he first gave up competitive sport and then also his secure job as a PE teacher. Today, he devotes all his time and experience with passion to the vision of SKM.

Favourite

artist: Joan Miró

Luzy Naumann

Founder

associate

Luzy was born in Leipzig and has a background in design. Following her training as a bespoke tailor and in fashion design, she has been supporting the Studierenden Kunstmarkt team since July 2025. At SKM, she is primarily responsible for communicating with customers and is on hand to advise on any queries regarding the purchasing process or the artworks. She also supports the team in planning and organising events. Furthermore, she takes the pressure off Erich and helps with a wide range of tasks relating to the further development of SKM.

Favourite

artist: “can’t decide”

Anna Mischel

Social

media, marketing, projects, hobby designer

Anna was born in Munich but has now been living in Leipzig for over seven years. Just like Erich, she has a background in the world of movement and, alongside everything she does here for SKM, works as a yoga teacher and trainer. Anna has known SKM since day one and has been taking on a wide variety of tasks ever since. From organising exhibitions, designing flyers, managing social media and video editing to putting together the SKM community calendar – she does it all.

Favourite artist: Mary Bauermeister

Sophia Berlin

Artist Communications, Gallery Assistant

Sophia is studying art history in Berlin and has been part of the Studierenden-Kunstmarkt team since December 2022. At SKM, she is responsible for liaising with the artists and answering any questions that arise regarding registration, pricing and the dispatch of artworks; she also helps with profile design and many other matters relating to SKM. In doing so, Sophia supports art students throughout their studies and is the first point of contact should any issues arise.

Our history

Here

you can read about how SKM came into being.

The Student Art Market was launched in August 2019, based on an idea by the brothers – and later co-founders – Sigmar and Erich Reich. Initially, it was Erich’s idea to set up a platform where creative artists could exhibit their art and other ideas and offer them for sale. Ultimately, it was Sigmar who, thanks to his friendship with an art student – who, incidentally, is still part of the SKM community today – came up with the idea of making the platform available exclusively to art students. The idea for ‘Studierenden-Kunstmarkt’ was born! With the help of Manuel Rülke, who programmed our ‘Studierenden-Kunstmarkt’ marketplace, we were able to turn our idea into reality. Many thanks to him once again!

We then began by looking for art students who were keen to use and try out our platform. We attended art exhibitions and reached out to artists on social media. The exhibitions in particular reinforced our conviction – there is so much art that simply has to be seen! Over the last few years, SKM has attracted more and more artists – we now receive new enquiries every day, all of their own accord.

At the start of 2021, Sigmar decided to step down from SKM due to his own business ventures. Since then, Erich has been running the student art market on his own, based on their shared vision.

A lot has happened over the last two years – the first exhibitions were organised, newspaper articles were written, podcast interviews were given and collaborations took place with various influencers, so that this small idea has now grown into a large community. SKM is now so much more than just an idea; it is a vision to support art students on their journey towards an independent life as artists, whilst at the same time offering high-quality art to all those who enjoy and are interested in it. Looking back over the past few years, we can say with pride that an incredible number of artworks have found new homes, and that we’re receiving messages from students who are able to give up their part-time jobs and start making a living from their art. This makes us very happy and, at the same time, spurs us on to carry on doing exactly the same – and even better.

Thank you to everyone who believes in our vision, who is, has been or will be part of it – from our team, to our students, right through to everyone who buys art here. Thank you!