Q&A – Emily Norton

What are your plans for the weekend?

So looking forward to being at a physical art fair! And in another country. Will feel totally exotic after the last year…. CHART has always been a great way to start up again after summer, but will be really good to catch up with gallerist and artists from outside Sweden. We have been in touch of course, but it is completely different and valuable IRL. Good also to visit with clients and look at work together, helps me learn more about what they like/are interested in. Plus several “new” galleries in the fair this year which is interesting. Looking forward to the talk with Tal R and Karin Mamma Andersson. Visiting Louisiana, SMK and Ny Carlsberg Glypotek. Palace Enterprise. Ragna Braase, who I don’t know. Restaurants… just stumbling in to someplace new or ending up someplace with a group you meet up with is always genius in Copenhagen.

Who are you?

Emily Norton, Partner at Norton Cederström.

What’s your job?

I work as an art advisor, with both private and corporate clients.

What does that mean? What do you do?

I think most people think of an art advisor as a kind of personal shopper, and sometimes it is as simple as finding the right work for a client. More often we have long-term relationships with our clients where we work together on building and managing their collections. I work with clients on everything from acquisition, installation, exhibition loans, sales, insurance, shipping to storage. We also work with a couple of property companies and help them commission site specific works for their projects.

Did you plan to be in your specific role / profession or did life happen?

Haha, life happened. When I was younger, my goal was to work in museums. And I did, for several years in both the US and UK. The role I found myself in was working with external relationships and private donors. I loved it! I got to work across the institutions, all departments, deepen relationships with external partners and see how working together could make exciting things happen. What I do today grew out of my experience of working with these kinds of relationships and my personal interest in art. I met my business partner, Charlotte Cederström, just over 10 years ago after talking about the potential impact of corporate art collections. We decided to work together, focusing first on activating and developing corporate collections. Our idea was that they could be more than simply decorative or financially driven. Today we work with a varied client base, each one unique, which makes our job fun and exciting.

Who’s side are you? (Client / collector / artist / gallery / state / public / other)

Our first responsibility is of course to our client. But that doesn’t mean that it is at the expense of anyone else. The best result is one that benefits everyone - happy client, happy artist and happy gallerist.

Are you winning?

Everyday, haha

What’s the best thing in the art world?

Outside of the art? The interesting, driven and creative people you meet. And how I am always getting the chance to learn and discover new things.

What’s the worst?

Pretention.

What are you doing about it?

Doing my best to not be pretentious… and focusing on long term projects and relationships with interesting, driven and creative people in the art world.