We were lucky to catch up with Philippe Horowicz recently and have shared our conversation below.

Philippe, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. To kick things off, we’d love to hear about things you or your brand do that diverge from the industry standard

“It’s a pleasure to be a part of CanvasRebel! Thanks for having me. Carousel Art Group’s core business model is the fine art staging of multi million dollar properties for sale. Every gallery has a storage / warehouse where they keep art to use for fairs, exhibitions and rotation within the gallery. At Carousel, we utilise not only our own inventory, but also other galleries’ inventory and stage them all around the country in luxury homes for sale. ”

Philippe, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

“It would be my pleasure. It’s a long story but I’ll do my best to keep it short. I am the son of a Dutch artist and Swiss pilot, my life has been be greatly influenced by two specific principles: creativity and discipline. The Dutch side of me made me curious and creative, whereas the Swiss side kept me organised and disciplined.

Growing up surrounded by beautiful artworks and nature gave me an early understanding of the impact art brings to people’s lives. As a young adolescent, my business knowledge and appreciation for my mother’s work grew as I helped in her gallery.

Since then, I knew that one day I would use that same energy to market hundreds of artists from all over the world and sell their body of work.

After pursuing a career in sport where I played as an elite athlete while studying in an American university, I shifted my focus to business. In 2018 I started my first company, Dechamby Design which was founded on the principle of the licensing, production and distribution of my mother’s earlier career works. Dechamby Design now works has a wholesaler for large corporations like The Neiman Marcus Group and hotels.

In January 2020 marked the founding of Carousel Art Group Inc and the launch of one of the most unique business model within the art industry. I knew that art galleries’ highest monthly expenses are the overhead and employees. I decided to utilise the empty luxury homes for sale and market artists’ work within theirs walls. The company grew exponentially and became one of the leading art staging company on the East Coast.

In 2021 Carousel Art Group branched out and we opened Carousel Fine Art along side my wife Laura. CFA is a boutique gallery representing emerging as well as established artists from all over the world. Our gallery manages over 50 fine artists and has three physical locations in Miami, Palm Beach and Saint-Tropez, France.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

“Well, I have a couple indeed but let me focus on the begging of this venture. As you read earlier in the article, I implemented quite a unique business model of marketing and selling art through luxury real estate. Wasn’t that easy though… When I founded the company, I barley had any working capital, no artists under my management and my office was my bedroom. I knew one thing, all art galleries have a warehouse/storage full of art that they rotate throughout their physical location. These rotations generally happen either after a sale or a few months after a certain piece has been shown in the gallery. For a few months, starting in January 2020, I went door to door to some of the best galleries in Miami and pitch the staging model. I told them to let me utilise the works they are not exhibiting and market them in multi-million dollar homes. The pieces will be seen by the a very targeted audience which more likely than not, are already collectors. In addition, they will get amazing pictures, all that at no cost to them… A no brainer in my opinion… Most if not all turned me down. “We tried and it doesn’t work” — “It’s a logistical nightmare” All fair statements, they just hadn’t work with someone like me before.

April 2020 came along and all physical businesses had to shut down including art galleries. One of the most terrifying moment in our lifetime became my opportunity to re-pitch my model to those galleries and change the narrative. Let’s all work together to help artists sell more art during this unprecedented times.

June 2020 : my first staging, a 15 million dollar home in Palm Beach which ended up being acquired by Tiger Woods ex wife Elin Nordegren. I curated a dozen fine art pieces adding approximately $250k to the home’s value. Since it wasn’t a proven concept as of yet, I couldn’t charge for my services which ended up costing me $5,000 out of pocket. I sold nothing and had to pay to remove all the works. Never give up! I took the images from the staging and this time pitch the concept to real estate developers, realtors, etc. It took a few properties until I figured out a good system where all the up front cost would be cover and I would have a much higher chance to sell.

Now, one property can generate over $100k in sales with no upfront costs on our end.”

How’d you build such a strong reputation within your market?

“This is very important to me! Our reputation was mainly built on how we present ourselves. When you are a high net worth individual, you have the possibility to acquire artworks from any galleries in the world. Why choose us? Yes, the art we market has a big part of it, but one of the key components is the team. Any requests you have, we’ll make happen. You need to get on a call at 1am, I’ll personally be available. We need to bring the gallery to your home, not a problem. Our customer service is one of our top priorities and our advisors are trained to assess any situations.

In addition to it, we love what we do and our collectors can feel it. We sell emotion through art.”

Contact Info:

• Website: http://carouselartgroup.com AND https://nyc.carouselartgroup.com/artist-page/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/carouselfineart/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/carouselfineart/