Issue link: https://www.balharbourdigital.com/i/86796
At left, Empire's Borders II - Western Enterprises Inc. by Chen Chieh-Jen; below, Hold V by Antony Gormley from the recent "Encounter: The Royal Academy in Asia" sale. occasional auctioneer) at Phillips de Pury & Company. The root of the inspiration, he says, was twofold: It came both from meeting frustrated collectors who had the money but not the wherewithal to seek out and acquire great art and from a marked trend Gilkes noticed in the salesroom at Phillips. "I was seeing the auction floor emptying out and more and more bids coming in over the phone, over the Internet," he says. Something similar was happening in commercial galleries too, Gilkes adds, with dealers "making upwards of 70 percent of their sales through JPEG transactions." There had to be a way to streamline and enhance the process. Then Gilkes met co-founder Aditya Julka through a mutual acquaintance. It was the perfect match: Gilkes knew the art world and the luxury market and Julka, a Harvard Business School grad, already had two successful entrepreneurial ventures under his belt (in the realms of biotech and biochemical engineering). Thus, Paddle8 was born. The British-born Gilkes came to Phillips from LVMH, where he spearheaded the brand transformation of Krug Champagne. He worked in banking before that and studied Soviet cultural politics in St. Petersburg, where countless visits to the State Hermitage Museum strengthened his already budding interest in art. At Phillips, Gilkes worked very much under the wing of the company's chairman, co-founder, lead auctioneer and occasional DJ, Simon de Pury. He also became something of a fixture in the art world benefit scene, presiding over several charity auctions. Collecting, Gilkes believes, is more important now than ever before—and he is banking on that theory for Paddle8's long-term success. "Technology has, in many ways, homogenized the population," he says. "So more than ever, we strive to be individuals. The work you collect is your personal archive of your life—sort of the outward demonstration of your individuality." BH 78 BAL HARBOUR