From 1995 to Today: The Statues.com Story Featured by Google

Some businesses are built around a product. Others begin with a question. For Statues.com, both were true.

In 1995, when purchasing products online was still unfamiliar to most people, Vasilios and Victoria Karpos saw the potential of the internet early.

They brought their business selling Greek and Roman figurines online and gave it a remarkably simple name: Statues.com.

Years later, Google would document that story in its Economic Impact Report – United States 2020, featuring Statues.com in the Utah section of the national report.

One Customer Asked for Something Different

A customer wanted to know whether Statues.com could create a custom statue.

The easiest answer would have been no.

Instead, Vasilios and Victoria began exploring how it could be done.

They reached out to local artisans and sculptors. They learned the processes behind sculpture production. Gradually, the business expanded beyond selling existing statuary and into the far more complex world of custom sculpture.

According to Google's account, Statues.com began contracting with sculptors while developing molding and casting capabilities onsite in a 7,000-square-foot studio.

Learning Sculpture by Making Sculpture

Custom sculpture is rarely a single creative act.

It is a sequence of decisions.

A commission can involve reference photographs, scale, anatomy, design development, sculpting, revisions, mold making, casting, surface finishing, transportation and installation.

And every project presents different problems.

Those problems become knowledge.

Google's report records Victoria Karpos explaining that Statues.com became increasingly experienced in the field and even developed its own casting mixture, helping the company build a reputation for durable, beautifully made statues.

A Great Domain Was Not Enough

Being early online created an advantage.

But the internet did not stand still.

By the early 2000s, the online statuary marketplace had become increasingly crowded. Google's profile records Victoria reflecting that the company had a strong product and a strong domain name but had relied too heavily on those advantages.

It was an important realization.

A company cannot survive for decades simply because something worked well in the past.

So Statues.com adapted again.

In 2015, the company began investing more deliberately in Google Ads. Within three years, Google reports that sales had tripled.

The lesson was bigger than advertising.

The same willingness to experiment that had taken the company online in 1995 was still necessary twenty years later.

Then the World Changed Overnight

In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic disrupted businesses everywhere. Statues.com was no exception.

But instead of abandoning its digital strategy, the company continued studying how customers were finding the business.

Vasilios and Victoria examined Google Analytics and advertising data to identify the search terms people were using most often. One unexpected discovery was growing search interest around several historic U.S. presidents.

That information helped influence a redesign of the Statues.com website with a stronger historical focus.

By that period, Vasilios reported that inquiries were increasing again, while Google's profile noted that the company's average order value had doubled compared with the previous year.

The Internet Changed the Business. Sculpture Defined It.

The technology surrounding Statues.com has changed dramatically since 1995.

The early web became search engines. Search became digital advertising. Websites became interactive platforms. Today, search itself is changing again through artificial intelligence.

But the fundamental questions involved in commissioning sculpture have remained surprisingly consistent.

How large should the sculpture be? Which material should be used? How many photographs are needed for a portrait? Should the sculpture be bronze, bonded marble, fiberglass or another material? How long does the process take?

What happens after the sculpting is approved?

How is a monumental sculpture transported?

How is it installed?

How should it be maintained decades later?

These are not questions that can be answered well by specifications alone.

They require experience.

From Creating Sculpture to Sharing What We Have Learned

Today, Statues.com is continuing an evolution that began with that first custom sculpture inquiry.

Creating sculpture remains central to the business.

But another responsibility has become increasingly important:

A major sculpture can represent a significant financial, artistic and emotional commitment.

A city planning a monument needs different guidance from a family creating a memorial.

A university commissioning a historical figure faces different decisions from a church selecting a religious sculpture.

A client ordering a portrait bust needs to understand reference photography, likeness and approvals.

There is no universal solution.

But there is a process.

And understanding that process helps people make better decisions.

That is why Statues.com is increasingly focused not only on creating sculpture, but also on documenting the knowledge accumulated through decades of real projects.

Sculpture Begins With a Story

Every sculpture begins before the clay.

Sometimes it begins with a person.

Sometimes with a photograph.

Sometimes with a historical event.

Sometimes with faith.

Sometimes with grief.

Sometimes with gratitude.

Sometimes simply with an idea that someone believes deserves physical form.

The sculptor's task is to translate that story into three dimensions.

The client's task is to make hundreds of decisions along the way.

Our responsibility is to help guide that process.

Because when a sculpture succeeds, people rarely think first about its mold, armature, casting method or shipping crate.

They experience the finished work.

They recognize the person.

They remember the event.

They understand the symbol.

They feel something.

From 1995 to What Comes Next

Google's profile captures an important moment in Statues.com's history.

In 1995, Vasilios and Victoria Karpos recognized the possibilities of a new technology and brought their statuary business online.

Then a customer asked for something custom.

That request opened an entirely different path.

Sculptors entered the picture.

Molds were made.

Casting moved onsite.

Knowledge accumulated project by project.

The internet changed.

The company changed with it.

And sculpture remained at the center.

Today, the tools are different again.

Digital sculpting, advanced fabrication, global communication and artificial intelligence are changing how ideas can be visualized and developed.

But the essential purpose of sculpture has not changed.

That was true when Statues.com went online in 1995.

It remains true today.

And it will continue to guide what comes next.