MORE changes, or rather additions, to the
senior management structure at London’s luxury art and antiques fair
Masterpiece as Nazy Vassegh (pictured) moves into the newly-created position of
chief executive.
It is about a year go that founder director
Thomas Woodham-Smith stepped down as chairman of the fair to adopt the new role
of creative director and Philip Hewat-Jaboor was brought in as (non-executive)
chairman.
This is in addition to a board of six, the five
founder directors plus fair director Nicola Winwood. Quite a sizeable
management team for a single fair launched in 2010.
With the appointment of Nazy Vassegh one can
speculate again whether Masterpiece is planning expansion. She is charged with
developing and consolidating the Masterpiece brand, both locally and globally,
and when one talks about branding generally it implies more than one event –
witness the success of the Frieze brand.
Nazy spent 20 years with Sotheby’s in a number
of senior positions but perhaps the one most relevant to Masterpiece is her time
with VIP Client Relations where she launched and ran ‘Sotheby’s Preferred’ to
cater to top tier clients.
Her contemporary art knowledge should also
neatly complement the decorative arts background of dealer members of the
board.
Masterpiece are certainly prepared to spend
money on their venture and we will see if latest developments are paying off at
the fourth airing in Chelsea from the glam preview on June 26 to July 3. Expect
a turnover of exhibitors but some big names have already signed up.
I
am sure we will hear a lot more from Masterpiece before then.