Openstudio was an online experiment in collaboration, creativity, and capitalism created by the Physical Language Workshop at the MIT Media Lab, led by John Maeda. Members of the community could commission, buy, and sell digital artworks created with a simple online drawing tool. The website launched in 2005 and ran until 2008.

Openstudio team: Burak Arikan, Annie Ding, Brent Fitzgerald, Amber Frid-Jimenez, Kate Hollenbach, Kelly Norton, and more.

Images below are from a presentation about Openstudio at Pecha Kucha Boston in 2008.

The Openstudio homepage, with feed of new artworks and recent financial transactions on the site
The drawing tool in Openstudio, a simple vector paint program with minimal features. Sample drawing: man in a bear suit watering flowers
The 'Buy' feature of Openstudio, a button located below the drawing
A sequence of works generated by four different users, collaborating to fill a progress bar
Dismantled shark drawing destroyed by one user, with the original reappropriated by another user
Profile page of a creator tagged with 'ripoff' and a retaliating drawing they made of some jean short cutoffs
User drawings that are also feature requests: especially for undo
User drawing that advertises an upcoming show