A Labor of Love

Issue 1 2010 > A Labor of Love

One-on-One with Sylvie Fournier, Branch Manager, Crown Fine Arts Paris

Sylvie Fournier

Branch Manager, Crown Fine Arts Paris

In 1999, Crown expanded into fine arts transportation and acquired Lavanchy, a highly-regarded fine art transportation company. Sylvie Fournier has been managing Crown’s Fine Arts division in France and has helped Crown develop its fine arts business throughout Europe and around the world.

Tell us what you remember about the Lavanchy acquisition?
The announcement was made on April 1 (it’s not a joke), but I remember as if it was yesterday. For us it was a very big change and we began a trip towards the "unknown." We employed two people and handled small scale exhibitions. Our major client was "Paris Musées" and back then, we didn’t get business from agents abroad.

What has changed over the past 10 years?
Because we had a different approach than our competitors who imposed their "rules" to the clients instead of listening to their requirements, we won more and more business. We developed the concept of "one single point of contact," improved the quality of our services, invested in new trucks, equipment and facilities and earned the confidence of more and more clients, eventually becoming one of the three major French fine arts handlers.

Tell us about the Fine Arts division today.
We are members of ICEFAT, International Convention of Exhibition of Fine Art Transporters, and approved by IATA, International Air Transport Association. We also have all the authorizations from the Civil Aviation Association to secure air freights by ourselves, and supervise the operations right through to loading the plane.

We are committed to staying current, as rules change very often with more restrictive security measures being put in place. We employ twenty staff and conduct ongoing training relating to everything from security to hanging, using scaffolding and exhibition coordination.

We are very proud of one of our most recent achievements, the exhibition "From Byzantium to Istanbul: One Port for Two Continents," which was shown at the Grand Palais in Paris, which could be considered as the current flagship exhibition. Organized within the framework of the Turkish year in France, this exhibition gathered more than 450 works and involved around 25 couriers.

What do you see in the future of Fine Arts in France and across Europe and the world?
Our next step is to get the environmental ISO certification 14001, (many museums are concerned with environmental policies regarding transport and packing material) and special agreement to become an O.E.A. Agreed Economic Operator.

My vision is the continued evolution of a Crown Fine Arts "global brand" that provides the same quality of service everywhere, same crates, same "packing" and "handling language." I look forward to supporting Crown’s global staff and the fine arts community long into the future.