ACCORDING to an article in US publication Real Estate Weekly<$>, it takes just three minutes for a client to form a first impression about a company’s office space — an impression that no doubt influences what that client thinks about the company as a whole.If an office is disorganised, cluttered, untidy, unimaginative and uninspiring, prospective clients could be attempted to attach such negative adjectives to the way that business operates. It is not surprising therefore, that so many corporations invest thousands of dollars into creating a working environment which reflects their core values.

And a key element in forging any corporate identity is the art that a corporation displays on its walls. Which is why Amanda Temple and Helen Dudley have set up the Eikona Gallery — the island’s first art consulting company.

Identifying a business opportunity is obviously the first step any entrepreneur must take when developing a successful venture, and that’s exactly what Ms Temple and Ms Dudley recognised in Bermuda’s current construction boom. The business partners may not know a great deal about building sites but they spotted a connection between that industry and their own field of expertise — fine art.

“With the enormous amount of commercial construction underway in Bermuda, many companies are looking for new ways of sourcing the volume of artwork required to fill these spaces,” Ms Temple explained.

The two businesswomen first met through Ms Dudley’s husband. Ms Temple, a renowned photographer, was planning on opening an art gallery and believed Ms Dudley, an Art History graduate, would make an excellent curator.

“As we were talking about it we realised it was more feasible to set up the art consultancy business because there was such an obvious need for it,” Ms Dudley said.

The company was set up at the start of this year “to guide clients through every step of the art acquisition process”.

Ironically, the Eikona Gallery doesn’t include a gallery as yet —something that the partners hope to rectify eventually.

“If you are going to open a gallery finding the absolute perfect space is crucial and we haven’t found that yet,” Ms Temple said.

“The space is really important — where it is and the amount — and so we’re not in a hurry to do that. When the perfect space is available we’ll leap on it but until then this is keeping us really busy.”

The operation is currently run from Ms Temple’s home, which gives the new concern another advantage — low overheads. The raw material that the pair are “selling” is their own expertise and experience of the art world. And because the vast majority of their time is spent liaising between corporate clients, interior designers, galleries and artists, an office is not viewed as an essential component of the business.

“Primarily we meet with clients at their offices because that’s where we need to see their needs — they never come to us,” Ms Temple said.

“Lots of research is done from home or at galleries and then I go to openings every Friday night and we meet artists in their galleries, so we don’t really need an office.

“We have done an enormous amount of research and obviously the Internet is a tremendous tool but we have also visited galleries in the States and we’ve been to art fairs and met artists. The art world is huge and resources are enormous so it has required a lot of time to filter through it all and select pieces that are appropriate for our needs. We’ve generated a library of traditional and contemporary images that is integral to our conceptualisation of a space.

“The sheer enormity of the art market can be intimidating, easily overwhelming collectors. In sharing our expertise, we endeavor to make the collecting experience enjoyable.”

Although it has only been running for six months, the Eikona Gallery is already gaining a reputation for its expertise. Much of the company’s client base has been built up through links with interior designers already hired by corporations to create the perfect office environment.

“They have been quite instrumental in making suggestions to both private clients and companies,” Ms Dudley said.

“They’re really the most important link for us I think because they usually have their visions of interior design already in place and they call us because they’re dealing with larger and larger spaces and the volume of work to fill those spaces is increased but they’re having to outsource. My sense is they don’t want to be spending their energy finding art, they want to be doing the design. That’s where we come in. They’ve been really good about giving us references to other people. They do want to be involved in the selection but they don’t necessarily have the contacts here or abroad for the artwork so it’s working out to be a nice partnership between us.”

Working with young, driven, competitive, forward-thinking companies, it is perhaps not surprising that the Eikona Gallery recommends modern art as the genre to best cement a client’s image.

“Art can reflect their corporate values and ideals and how they want to promote themselves, so if they’re looking to promote their innovative nature or dynamism we think that modern is the best way to go,” Ms Dudley said.

“We’re more specialised in the modern and contemporary, which works in a corporate environment — clean lines and a more subdued palette. We like to promote a minimalist aesthetic and modernism in general works with the office environment. The art we select challenges people to think in dynamic and unexpected ways, and to consider alternate perspectives.”

‘Minimalist’ and ‘subdued’ are not terms that instantly spring to mind to describe the local art scene. Nevertheless, many of Eikona’s clients feel that, by supporting Bermudian art, they are establishing themselves as part of the local community.

“Many companies are interested in supporting the local arts community, and are selecting work either with Bermuda imagery, or by Bermudian artists,” Ms Temple said.

“Historically, companies in Bermuda have selected local landscape photography to adorn their offices. Eikona Gallery hopes to offer a more pluralistic and well-rounded approach, including different media, styles, and themes.

“Our aim is to promote local artists and to encourage them to express themselves in new ways, to move beyond the realist landscape art that typifies the majority of Bermuda’s artistic output. The arts scene in Bermuda is becoming more and more vibrant and local artists are beginning to respond to the need for art that is rooted in Bermuda’s traditions and clearly recognisable as Bermudian, but that explores new aesthetic trends. We firmly believe that when artists begin to express themselves in a new paradigm that corporations will update their approach to collecting art.

“We begin by discussing with a client what their values are as a corporation. For example, people think of insurance companies as very solid and grounded and rooted and established and stable. Those are the qualities they want to promote but that’s not to say that they can’t be progressive and forward thinking at the same time. Progressive Automotive Insurance has one of the most avant garde art collections in the United States. It’s an absolutely amazing collection of contemporary art and their whole idea is they want to force their employees to think differently — to approach something that they would have immediately rejected as beautiful or interesting and then find new ways of understanding it. That filters down through their corporate culture. That’s the way they want their employees to be challenged and to be thinking in diverse ways. That’s one model that we think is quite brilliant.”

“We first develop a preliminary concept, based on specific requests, floor plans, and on-site visits. If there is an existing collection, we review those pieces, advising on ways to rearrange or reframe works in order to incorporate them into an updated collection. After a careful study of the space, we create several different proposals outlining themes, possible combinations of media, pricing options, and focal points. We determine ways of highlighting important areas of the facility with high impact pieces.”

The business partners have discovered that, rather than viewing interior decoration as an afterthought, many business chiefs recognise that art can be a valuable tool in establishing their company’s reputation.

“Very often the CEO is our first contact,” Ms Temple said.

“They really are the decision makers, especially when it comes to a new building and they’re spending a great deal of resources on interior design and that’s when they’re most dedicated to coming up with an innovative art programme to compliment that. They have spent considerable time, energy, money on creating a space that is beautiful and interesting and so they’re enthusiastic.

“If you walk into an office where there’s nothing on the walls that tends to trigger a message immediately and it’s one of impermanence, of being in transition, of not having paid any attention to detail. Those aren’t exactly qualities you want to project as a company. Having no art on the wall is one thing, having very typical, uninspired art on the wall says you’re not particularly creative in your thinking, and they understand that. It’s pretty obvious when you think about it.

“We thought they would let us go and run with it but they haven’t — usually they’ve been very involved and want to select every single piece. It’s nice they are so interested and find it important, although it means that we don’t always have the artistic freedom. Sometimes we do roll our eyes but we advise and come to a compromise. We represent a vast range of artists and media, and are willing to research any type of art that our clients request. Even our most conservative clients, once they’ve seen the range of artists that we represent, have warmed up to some of the more difficult pieces. They haven’t been over the top fanatical about buying inaccessible art but they’ve started coming over to our way of thinking a little bit. And we’ve had clients that have been the exact opposite — that have been so enthusiastic about the more difficult pieces.”

The fact that corporations now recognise the importance of art in their environment suggests that Eikona is already succeeding in its primary obejective.

“We are dedicated to the creation of innovative art programmes and aim to increase awareness of the power of art and its impact on the work environment,” said Ms Temple.

[obox]For further information on the Eikona Gallery visit www.eikonagallery.com