Today we’d like to introduce you to Laura Raiffe.
Laura, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
It all started in Rome, where I was studying art history during a semester abroad. I was completely immersed in arts and culture, and never felt so passionately and excited about anything in my life. Though I was enrolled in my university’s business school, I knew I found my calling and immediately switched my major to art history, never looking back. After college, I decided to come back to my hometown of Miami, and interned for Locust Projects before landing a position with an international art investment fund, and then on to assistant director at Fredric Snitzer gallery in Wynwood. A few years later, I remained intrigued by the intersection of art and business, and I joined Christie’s auction house as their regional account manager and head of the Trusts, Estates and Wealth Management division for the Southeast. There, I had the pleasure of working with leading collectors, advisors, and institutions throughout the region while developing an expertise for navigating the sale process. Recognizing that there was a need for independent, comprehensive, and strategic art advisory on the secondary art market, I launched Art Market Liaison to help art collectors sell their work at auction.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
No arrow goes straight up, and the art world is full of twists and turns. You can spend months developing a sale plan for your client, only to have the leading bidder’s phone die on the day of the sale (yes that actually happened!) Torrential downpours the night of your opening, Art Basel traffic nightmares, and competition, competition, competition can make the art world seem quite treacherous at times. Learning how to navigate challenges and find a silver lining not only helps you become a more effective arts entrepreneur but also gives you the tools to find critical solutions for your clients.
What doesn’t kill you make you stronger, and these downfalls were tremendous learning experiences that helped me up my game and motivated me to keep moving forward.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about Art Market Liaison – what should we know?
Specializing in selling works of art from private collections, Art Market Liaison provides a unique, strategic, and comprehensive solution for art collectors and their advisors. Our customized sales strategies unlock the value of our client’s prized art collections and significantly reduce seller’s fees, so our clients can simply enjoy the excitement of watching bids climb for their beloved pieces.
Art collections are often diverse in style and price point, and comprehensive, unbiased expertise affords collectors more opportunities to assess all of their options and increase their collection’s value. Rather than going direct to any one major auction house, who are often cherry-picking only the best pieces from each collection, Art Market Liaison researches the market and obtains critical insights for every single piece in a client’s collection. By objectively analyzing and splitting up our client’s collections, we’re able to get them significantly enhanced returns – sometimes triple the pre-sale estimate – while handling all of the logistics of getting their work up to auction.
I’m thrilled to be able to shine a light on an opaque market and assist collectors who have spent a lifetime building their collections see their works of art go on to their new homes. I’m proud to be able to offer a solution to clients who have collected a broad range of artists, from emerging and mid-career to incredible blue-chip works of art. We cover it all!
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
It most certainly takes a village, and I would have never gotten here without the support, encouragement, and countless phone calls and coffee dates with family, friends and former colleagues! The attorneys in my life have helped me with my contracts, my business advisors helped me strategize my financial planning, and my creatives help me make sure my marketing is on point. I’m an art professional, not Houdini!
Contact Info:
- Website: www.artmarketliaison.com
- Phone: 305-772-4585
- Email: laura@artmarketliaison.com
- Instagram: @artmarketliaison
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ArtMarketLiaison/
Image Credit:
Some images courtesy of Gesi Schilling.
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