Services to Artists

Beyond selective representation, Charlotte Bowater offers support with export sales, custom-made and bespoke commissions.

Charlotte will happily arrange export shipping and installation if you are not familiar with this, and service extends to handling all aspects of the sale on your behalf. Guilded is a well-tuned model of professional representation that enables you to focus on what you love doing the most: creating your work secure in the knowledge that your interests are being represented and protected to the highest level.

There are a number of reasons that make Guilded distinctive in the area of art agency:

• Guilded, and thereby Charlotte Bowater, is long established and experienced in dealing with demanding private and design trade clients.
• High on the list of priorities is the fostering of professional but also a personal relationship based on mutual understanding and your personal ethos, practice and values.
• You receive ‘end to end’ service that continues until the moment your work is in the hands of the buyer (and thereafter if necessary). Charlotte offers guidance through your project, communicating with the client to remove assumptions and ensure clarity in expectation.
• Even the best-laid plans go awry (a supplier delivers late to you or an accident occurs in your studio that damages the artwork in making) Charlotte is on hand to act on your behalf with the client, to support you and smooth the path to mutual resolution.
• Working to a high level for discerning clients means that the days of accepting commissions without contracts are gone. While a contract may seem too formal, it is ill-advised to undertake any work without one in place. Guilded is positioned to commission you directly, on behalf of the client, so you are relieved of this burden (see below).

Here are some of the reasons why:

• A client places an order with you and you may undertake cost by way of material and time. What if they change their mind?
• What happens if the client feels the result does not match expectations?
• Have you put the onus on them to make sure the specifications provided to you are accurate?
• What happens if a fault develops in your work after a period of time?
• What if the client specified a day for the goods to be delivered by and they have not left you or been deemed to have be shipped with sufficient time available?
• Are you aware of their rights to cancel the order outright, and your rights therein?
• When does title pass, and risk?
• What will happen if your goods are damaged in transit to the client?  Are you aware of the requirements with regard to shipping goods within or out of the EU, specific rules applying to different countries, their tariffs and documentation requirements? Is your Intellectual Property protected – what if the client decided to copy your work without seeking prior approval?

The list goes on……

In most cases, whether your sale is of low or high value is irrelevant, because the aggravation and potential cost to you, if something doesn’t go according to plan, is likely to be high in any event unless you have a contract in place, and personal support to help work through any challenges which arise under your responsibility.

The Guilded model offers you the solution and offers a reassuring professional framework to you, but also to the buyer (with client-facing terms and conditions). The client’s contract is with Guilded. Guilded then commissions and contracts and supports you, the artist, to produce and complete the work to the expected specification, standard and time frame. In addition, Guilded arranges carriage or shipping and sees your work safely to the hands of the buyer.

Charlotte is a great believer that the acid test for any service is how they respond not if, but when, something goes awry. These occasions are rare but an example might be when something happens to a shipment. Guilded only entrusts specialist art packers and shippers who offer an end to end service (even if part of that is delivered through their partners in the destination country). Even they have to rely on a subcontractor such as a courier, to assist a crate through border customs, at some stage of the journey. The reality is that once in a blue moon large data systems make errors and this is where clients and you want to know that Guilded is on hand to resolve a missed delivery or goods misdirected by a subcontractor handling part of the journey. This is where the relationships and experience of Guilded is so valuable. You are able to rest easy knowing Guilded is working hard to communicate with the buyer and resolve the situation with the shipper.

This is just one example of why clients return to Guilded again and again, and artists who may explore other representation through sales and find it lacking, return or have stayed loyal since Charlotte founded Guilded.

Anne Curry MRSS, whom Charlotte Bowater has represented since 2010 says in her interview featured on this website:

“I recall that conversation when you offered help and guidance with the presentation and marketing of my work. Your support has been invaluable, particularly with looking after clients and organising challenging overseas sales to places which require getting to grips with and discreetly sorting out the niggles that can arise along the way.

I appreciate your elegance in serving the requirements of clients and advising them on all matters such as finish, position, display and installation while giving professional and personal service to me. I see us as a partnership – and a jolly efficient one!”  Anne Curry (Sculpture)

Please also note that Guilded partners with luxury brands (including retail and hospitality) and offers a framework of support and facilitation with regard to collaborations. Please enquire for more information.