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which means we can do sales on site. This makes us much
more flexible and enables us to expand our business in
Hong Kong.
How will this change the way you run your sales in Hong
Kong?
Before we used to do the sales in a hotel like everybody
else so of course you do them in blocks and tend to do
them at the same time as everybody else’s. To a degree we’ll
still do this because we want to be there when everybody
is in town but the new premises mean we can do sales on
a more regular basis, we can do smaller sales, we can lots of
different things that you just can’t do in a hotel.
What else can you tell us about the Hong Kong premises?
When you walk into Bonhams Hong Kong you will
immediately recognise it as Bonhams. The building is
about the brand and you will feel that when you walk
in. Like the London HQ it’s geared towards using natural
light and high-quality lighting.
What about the New York outpost?
New York will open late 2014 or early 2015 and is much
bigger (over 20,000 sq ft) and even more spectacular
than Hong Kong. We’ll be on the corner of Madison
and 56th Street. There will be more space, more air,
more light. Light is a big thing in New York. I want
all of our salerooms to have all the facilities that the
21st century requires, live internet feeds and wi-fi
everywhere, things that should just be a natural part of
the building.
Has the auction world in general been slow to innovate?
In fairness to the three biggest companies we have all
done some fairly interesting and exciting things over the
years. We were all quick to get on the internet though
Bonhams was the first. Sotheby’s did a joint venture with
Amazon at one stage and we got into bed with Ebay in
America. We’ve all tried to innovate in those areas. We are
still the three leading auctioneers in the world and there’s
still only a handful of trusted brands.
How is the art auctioneering business in Hong Kong?
Even though things have fallen off a bit in China, Hong
Kong’s still bubbling. We’re very excited about the coming
auction season. R
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