Opening bid

The increase in regional art exhibitions over the last few years, from the growth of the ever-popular Sharjah Biennale to Dubai's own art fair, coupled with the perceived instability of local stock exchanges has led to a change in perceptions. "Invest in art", market observers advise, "it's the new real estate.

While the Gulf property boom currently shows no sign of slowing down there may still be some sense in the advice. Christie's also recently opened an office in the UAE and the company's inaugural auction in May 2007 raised US$11.8 million. Now another of the ‘Big Three' international houses has joined the club, with Bonhams opening its latest representative office in Dubai.

Matthew Girling, Bonhams CEO Europe, has been planning the move for a while already: The art scene in the Gulf is growing, but it's something I was talking about years ago - I'd love to remember when I first went in with my report. It was probably seven or eight years ago that I first identified Dubai as somewhere that would have potential, certainly in the jewellery markets.

Girling began his career working with jewellery in 1977, on a journey that has seen him working for Garrard & Co, the British Crown Jewellers; diamond prospecting in Western Australia; becoming an associate director at Christie's before finally returning to Bonhams in the mid-1990s. He was appointed deputy Chairman of the group in 2004 and, finally, CEO Europe in October 2007.

Bonhams itself has also recently undergone a sea-change of its own. In 1999 the company merged with Brooks, 2000 saw it merge again with Philips UK while 2001 saw its acquisition of California-based Butterfields. The resulting, much enlarged, company, has expanded its geographical presence (the Hong Kong office opened last year, along with a representative office in Moscow) in tandem with these changes and sales valued in multi-millions of dollars are now undertaken by each of the specialist departments on a regular basis.

Girling is careful to highlight what he believes sets Bonhams apart from its two main competitors: "Although all three of us are 200-year-old auction houses we remained family-owned until 1999. The modern day Sothebys and Christie's are a result of investment that happened in the 1970s and 1980s, we missed out on that round of investment but now we have very, very strong financial backing by someone who is really passionate about the market.

It means that we can move much quicker to take advantage of opportunities that come up. The management are all from the auction business too, they're not accountants or lawyers, so they're turned on by it and people want to be a part of that.

Through all the statistics what shines through most as Girling talks about the company's history is his obvious passion for the auction trade. The Michael Palin-esque Englishman is clearly excited as he goes through the company's future plans, and feels that the timing of the company's new office is spot on.

Opportunities come when you don't necessarily expect them," he smiles. "You can say ‘I wish we'd done that then' and we'd have been the first in the market - but if we had we'd have been coming in on our own, which would have been much more difficult. Now all the art fairs have happened and people have seen that there is interest here.

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