🎨 Francesca Casiraghi's London Trade Art Bridges the Financial and Art Markets

FemWealth Springboard

Meet Francesca Casiraghi, Co-founder and CEO of London Trade Art, a company on a mission to bridge the gap between art and finance, rendering art ownership as accessible as possible through the application of innovative technologies.

Francesca Casiraghi, Co-founder and CEO of London Trade Art ©

What determined you to found London Trade Art?

FC: I co-founded London Trade Art in 2016 with the ambitious goal to create a bridge between art and finance through the creation of an Art Exchange: a digital platform to allow for the trading of Art Shares of high-value artworks, as per any other financial stock. The idea came from my Master’s dissertation which was the theoretical project of London Trade Art. At that time, I had moved to London to start an internship at a hedge fund which allowed me to deeply understand and compare the two industries. The result was that the financial and art markets actually evolved in a very similar way, with the difference being that the art market has always been very reluctant to adopt technological advancements. Together with Andrea Seminara, a hedge fund manager and the co-founder of London Trade Art, we came up with the idea of applying innovative technologies and some characteristics of the financial trading system to the art market, in order to revolutionise and modernise art collecting, finally making this industry, which is only recently facing a necessary digital revolution, more accessible. That’s what really determined me to found London Trade Art, as it very often happens with any startup, was a real passion for the art market and a strong, yet humble, desire to try to make it a more democratic place.

What are the company’s mission and core offerings?

FC: Our ultimate mission is to democratise art investments, thanks to the fractional ownership of art. More specifically, we offer our users the opportunity to become co-owners of high-value artworks split into multiple shares. Currently, it is possible for users to buy one or more shares of high-value pieces (such as Boetti or Chagall) in the primary market, thanks to a user-friendly platform allowing everyone to easily become an art co-owner. The purchase is safely guaranteed by blockchain technology and tailored smart contracts. Soon, it will also be possible to trade these shares within the secondary market. In fact, we are finalising the development of our Art Exchange, which will be launched in the next few months. It will allow users to continuously buy and sell shares in a transparent, frictionless, and efficient market.

Our vision is to make art investment affordable and accessible to everyone. We also aim to expand the art audience, getting new targets closer to this market, such as finance people, attracted by the investment side of our model, and art lovers, who can get access to high-value pieces with a small investment. Also, through fractional ownership, we specifically aim to meet the needs of a new generation of high-tech collectors. Due to Covid-19 and the ongoing digitalisation of the art system, online art sales doubled to a record high of $13.3 billion in 2021, accounting for an all-time high of 25% of the market’s overall value (Deloitte 2022). Thus, we are investing in the most innovative technologies to develop a user-friendly platform able to also finally modernise the art trading system, meeting an increasing demand for online art collecting models. 

How is LTA different from other fractional ownership startups?

FC: Among our most significant strengths, there is our team, composed of a unique combination of experts in both art and finance, allowing us to deeply understand the needs of both industries. Through this, we are developing an art exchange platform on the basis of the most sophisticated technological solutions, which will be familiar to financial professionals, who want to diversify their investment portfolio, but also user-friendly and intuitive to art lovers, who will finally be able to afford the pieces they love the most.

Also, we guarantee the highest level of traceability and safety for each trade, thanks to the use of the most cutting-edge technologies. For instance, the Art Shares are linked to the Polygon Blockchain and their purchase is guaranteed by associated and unique smart contracts. 

Above all, we think that our competitive uniqueness is represented by our secondary market (Art Exchange), which we strongly believe will be a game-changer for art collecting. In fact, our business model does not assume to sell the artworks in a relatively short timeframe (as our competitors do), but to give perpetual life to the Art shares, as with any other financial stock. In this sense, we aim to provide as much visibility as possible to our high-value pieces. Our objective is to develop a foundation with a physical exhibition space, where everyone will be able to enjoy the pieces in person, and to circulate them in the market, thanks to options, such as temporary holdings for co-owners, rental services for private individuals and corporates, as well as events, so to potentially increase the fruition and visibility, hence the value, of the artworks over time.

Why should investors, especially women, consider art as an alternative asset worth investing in?

FC: Market performances demonstrate the strength of art as an investment, especially thanks to the artworks’ intrinsic value as safe-haven assets and alternative asset classes in times of economic turmoil and inflation. Contemporary art, in fact, has historically demonstrated stronger real appreciation in negative economic periods compared to financial assets. According to market data, contemporary art has offered an annual return of 13.8% over the last 25 years, versus a 10.2% annual return from the S&P 500. Also, the positive connection between high inflation and art market performance has been clearly demonstrated by the latest impressive art market results.

Despite economic turmoils, in general, art has demonstrated its strength as an investment asset over the years. For instance, the Artprice100© index has grown by +405% since 2000, while the art market has outperformed the S&P 500 by 240% since 1986 (Live Art). These outstanding performances are attracting more and more people to invest in art assets: 67% of new art buyers are, in fact, driven by collecting purposes but with an investment view (Hiscox 2021).

Recently, we are also detecting a growth in female interest in art collecting and investing. According to Art Basel, female collectors made up a significant portion of the UHNW segment sample, with their aggregated share (47%) almost on par with male collectors. Also, female collectors saw a greater advance in spending than male collectors in both 2020 and 2021, as 29% of the female collectors surveyed by Art Basel spent over $1 million in H12022, and 35% planned to spend at that level in H2.

We are also very happy to see that the majority of our active users are women, who are therefore demonstrating to be open-minded towards fractional ownership and keen to be part of a strong community of art co-owners. 

Who would be some of the top artists you would love to include in LTA’s collection? And why?

FC: Our focus is on Blue-Chip artists, who represent artists with a solid worldwide reputation. The value of art has had consistent years of sales and has been validated at auction. These kinds of artists are low-risk: it is quite unlikely that they will lose value, and they are usually subject to growth trends, especially in times of economic crisis. They can be defined as safe-haven assets par excellence. 

We monitor auction results and market trends on a daily basis in order to accurately select the artists for our project. Among the most appealing for us are artists, such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, who is among the ones registering the best performances at auctions and is particularly interesting due to the rarity of his work and the related significant probability that it will increase in value, or Picasso, whose work has been at the top of auction results for years, proving his outstanding ability to retain, and even outpass, its value. We would also love to actively participate in reducing the gender gap in the arts by including pieces by outstanding female artists who have demonstrated their artistic and economic value over the years, such as Frida Khalo or Georgia O'Keeffe, in our portfolio.

For centuries, the art world has been male-dominated. How do women fare in today’s art ecosystem - as artists, gallerists, collectors, and curators? 

FC: Unarguably, the path to increase women’s presence in top positions, particularly in the art industry, is still long. Despite recent gains, women make up a majority of professional art museum staff, but they remain underrepresented in leadership positions, as demonstrated in a 2018 study by Mellon Foundation. However, since I founded London Trade Art in 2016, I witnessed an increasing sensibility toward women’s empowerment and the reduction of the gender gap. This is also demonstrated by the Art Review Art Power 100 list, which provides us with a thermometer reading of the most influential people in the art world globally each year. On 2022’s list, even if the system still appeared to be male-dominated, 43% were female (the percentage was 40% in 2018 and 32% in 2016). 

Finally, we are also witnessing increasing attention towards the rediscovery and appreciation of women artists, which is testified by the curatorial selection of some of the most important art galleries as well as new projects, such as Aunt Joy Gallery (an online art gallery from London), which only supports female artists and gives 10% of every sale to charities supporting females.

So, I believe that we are definitely moving in the right direction in every respect!

How can female collectors help redefine art creation and promotion?

FC: Women have always been among the greatest art collectors and philanthropists, as proven by legendary figures such as Peggy Guggenheim or Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney. Also, today, the collecting scenario includes outstanding and forward-looking women, such as Patrizia Sandretto Re Rebaudengo or Catherine Petitgas, who, thanks to their unique attitude to sustain and incentivise art creation, have proven to play a key role in expanding a community of art passionates and supporting innovative art projects.

Today, there are many ways through which female collectors can help to redefine the way art is created and promoted. First of all, they can support female artists by spreading the word about them in their communities and building strong portfolios of their work. In this sense, another good way to help could be getting involved in organisations, charities, and members clubs that support female art and female leadership. One of them is the Society of Women Artists, a British charity dedicated to promoting art created by women, or the Association of Women in the Arts, a London-based non-profit networking group that aims to advance the careers of women in the visual arts.

The Internet also provides multiple opportunities to support the art system. Thanks to the use of the new media, female collectors and the brand new category of art influencers, can now help to make the art market more mainstream and less elitist, which is something really revolutionary for this industry. 

Lastly, female collectors can engage in new ways to enjoy and purchase art, such as through the fractional ownership model we propose, contributing to our mission to democratise the art market as much as possible. At the same time, if they have artworks they want to sell, they can do that through fractional ownership, maybe retaining a percentage of ownership, which can increase the value over time, while enhancing the visibility and fruition of the artworks through our promotional activities. 

London Trade Art is currently in the process of raising funds. Get in touch with them by emailing info@londontradeart.co.uk, if you would be interested in learning more. 

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