The online auction house, Paddle8, is moving to a central London office at 24 Maddox Street (around the corner from Sotheby’s). Its team has grown from one to 15 people in the capital since September 2014 with hires including its managing director for Europe and the Middle East, Aino-Leena Grapin. The accelerated growth in London matches its strategy in New York, where Paddle8 was founded in 2011 and where it has made its presence felt in the $1,000-$100,000 online market.
Grapin says that while the business is still focused on keeping down the cumbersome overheads taken on by the more traditional bricks and mortar auction houses, “being in the heart of Mayfair helps us be closer to our clients and interact with them face to face—this is still a relationship business, even if we sell art online.” She adds that the auction house will also occasionally have drop-in valuation days for the public (the first one will be on 4 July, as part of Brown’s London Art Weekend, 3-5 July).
Paddle8 is taking on one floor in Maddox Street immediately and another—which will have space for private viewings and client entertainment—will be leased from September. The plan is for its London team to grow to 30 people by the end of this year.
The firm, which to date has specialised in contemporary art auctions, is expanding into areas including design and jewellery, as well as Modern art. It is also developing its private sales business, as are the more traditional auction houses, and has recently hired Sibylle Rochat, who previously ran the Saks gallery in Geneva, to head up its private sales effort from London (Saks closed in April).
Rochat has invested in the firm, whose other financial supporters from the art world include the artist Damien Hirst, his dealer Jay Jopling and the curator Hikari Yokoyama.