We are delighted to announce that we are enlarging our Palm Beach facility. The new structure will expand our site on Mercer Avenue by a third – from 20,000 ft2 to 30,000 ft2. The six-month project has been initiated due to increasing demand for our services in South Florida, where we have had a presence since the early 2000s. The extension is expected to be operational by summer 2019.

Today Gander & White in Florida boasts over 45 employees, 9 fine art vehicles, 50,000 ft2 of operational and climate control storage for fine art between West Palm Beach and Miami.

The concrete extension will be 24ft (7.3m) high, designed to facilitate the secure storage of objects of all sizes. 7,000 ft2 will be dedicated to mixed use climate-controlled storage as well an expansive viewing room. This 600 ft2 space will allow clients to view their artworks either held in storage or brought specially to the facility for viewing purposes. The remaining space will be administrative.

The Palm Beach extension adds to our significant operations and fine art storage facilities in Florida, creating a total of 60,000 ft2 between its locations in Miami and Palm Beach. Gilles de Greling, our Palm Beach director of operations, says: ‘I opened the first office for Gander & White in Florida in 2002 and moved to our current facility in July 2004. That summer we experienced three consecutive hurricanes: Charley, Frances and Jeanne. Six months later we were at capacity. We then looked to expand and chose to open in Miami in 2006.’

This expansion will allow us to offer an enhanced service to the Gulf Coast of the US and the Caribbean. Already employing some of the finest art technicians in Florida, our greatest strength lies in our ability to offer the widest range of art logistical services.

De Greling adds: ‘Expansion is long overdue with a constantly growing demand for our services. Our philosophy is to be a resource center, a one-stop-shop for our clients. We can handle their storage needs, estate relocation, hang their artworks, install a 64-arm 3-tier Venini chandelier, rig their outdoor monumental sculptures and ship their collection to and from most destinations in the world. We can also recommend a variety of local craftsmen, framers and conservators.’

We at Gander & White Palm Beach look forward to opening the new extension and continuing to offer an expert service to an ever-growing client base.

Watts Gallery is a beautiful and historically important Arts & Crafts gallery set in the Surrey countryside, south of London. We were delighted to be appointed to work on the Christina Rossetti: Vision & Verse exhibition there, installing a range of pieces either relating to or by the renowned London-born Victorian poet who greatly influenced the Pre-Raphaelite movement of the mid 19th century.

After a competitive tender process, we were chosen to undertake the full transportation and installation of the exhibition, involving loan items from all over the UK. Given our regular operations UK-wide, we were able to offer a ‘part load’ service where we could collect works, including paintings, photographs and drawings, from lenders while carrying out other operations, decreasing the overall cost of transporting objects. We packed, transported, stored, then installed over 30 pieces, some collated in our state-of-the-art fine art facilities in London and others transported directly from their lender on installation day.

Four art technicians from our London facility – Boris, Marc, John and Michael – were responsible for installing the entirety of the exhibition at Watts Gallery in a single day. As they had visited the rural gallery recently, they were aware of any challenges that may have arisen for access.

One of the exhibition’s highlights was the altarpiece painted by Edward Burne-Jones that was lent by All Saints Margaret Street church, London. A two metre-long and one-metre-high work from the Pre-Raphaelite painter, it was also one of the most complex items to transport and install. As with any organic matter, the altarpiece had to be kept at a particular humidity and temperature, so we utilised one of our environmentally-controlled vehicles to transport the object. Importantly, all of our fine art transports meet UK Government Indemnity Scheme standards meaning that all museums can trust us to transport objects for them.

The Watts Gallery curators intended the Burne-Jones altarpiece to be installed at the same height at which it is usually displayed in the church, two metres from the ground. Having ensured beforehand that the right equipment would be on-site, our art technicians used ladders and a teletower to raise the altarpiece and hang it securely.

From the largest object of the installation, to some of the smallest pieces, we installed a number of manuscript sheets and books that contained Christina Rossetti’s poems. These smaller items presented their own challenges, and we liaised closely with specialists to ensure that these items were transported safely and securely to their destination at Watts Gallery.

Following a successful installation, we moved the packing crates to the museum’s art store for later use in de-installing the exhibition. A successful full-service operation for a gallery exhibition.

We wanted to share some of our highlights from the past year that we shared on social media so we have picked a top post from each month to look back on. Head to our social media platforms on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter to stay up to date with our operations around the world!

Please click here to see some highlights of our work from 2018

LEEDS CASTLE
UNITED KINGDOM / MUSEUMS DIVISION

Leeds Castle in Kent, UK, is steeped in English history. One of the most important items to be found on the castle’s estate is a 15th century altarpiece, the Battel Hall Retable, which we were appointed to transport and install in the castle following restoration works.

The Battel Hall Retable is a vital piece of English ecclesiastical history. Created around 600 years ago, before the English Reformation, it is a large oak altarpiece painted with tempera and gold leaf, depicting a specific collection of saints. The panel, frame, paint, and gold are all completely original. Works of its kind are extremely rare, and this one almost didn’t survive, being defaced numerous times in the ages following the Reformation.

Coming to the attention of art historians in recent years, the Retable was conserved at the Hamilton-Kerr Institute at Cambridge University in 2017. We have a strong relationship with Leeds Castle, having carried out numerous operations with them before, and were chosen again to transport and install the Retable in the chapel of the Castle.

One of the main technical challenges of the operation was the packaging of the object and transporting it safely. The extremely delicate nature of the piece, with its original frame and thin and unstable paint layer, meant that contact points in the packaging had to be kept to a minimum. We worked with conservators and curators to ensure that the travelling crates were designed to keep the rare polychromy intact.

Our team of art technicians safely transported the piece to its new location, ensuring that no harm came to the fabric of the building itself during the install. The last step was to install the piece – two metres from the floor, in reflection of the height at which it would originally have been displayed.

Visitors and researchers alike can today view the restored Retable in the chapel at Leeds Castle, shipped and installed by us.

Gander & White Shipping is delighted to announce that it has been named the Official Shipping Partner of the third (RED) Auction, taking place during Art Basel in Miami Beach and Design Miami on the evening of 5 December 2018. Proceeds from this year’s auction will support community-based programs in Africa through the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, while also providing assistance to the HIV fight through community-strengthening programs in Chicago with the Rebuild Foundation – an organization championed by Theaster Gates.

Gilles de Greling, Director of Gander & White Florida, is excited to lead the logistical operation for The (RED) Auction. He says, “We are thrilled to be an Inner Circle Sponsor of The (RED) Auction, to donate our global resources to make sure that this important event goes ahead without a hitch.” Resources from Gander & White’s global facilities in both the US and Europe will be used for the operation.

In donating resources to the event, Gander & White will be responsible for the transportation, storage and installation of works by leading contemporary artists who are themselves contributing pieces to The (RED) Auction. The third (RED) Auction will include works by Jeff Koons, Ai Weiwei, Christo, Frank Gehry, Guillermo Kuitca, and Wangechi Mutu, among others, will be installed by Gander & White for a public exhibition at the Moore Building in the Miami Design District, which will open on World AIDS Day (1 December).

This announcement aligns with a run of recent moves by Gander & White to assist and donate to philanthropic initiatives, including donating to Alzheimer’s research, providing materials from their facilities to high schools, and providing discounted services to charitable and emerging arts projects.

About (RED)®

(RED) was founded in 2006 to engage businesses and people in the fight against AIDS. (RED) partners with the world’s most iconic brands that contribute proceeds from (RED)-branded goods and services to the Global Fund. (RED) Proud Partners include: Amazon, Apple, Bank of America, Beats by Dr. Dre, Belvedere, Claro, The Coca-Cola Company, Durex, MCM, Salesforce, SAP, Starbucks and Telcel. (RED) Special Edition partners include: aden+anais, Alessi, ALEX AND ANI, Andaz, Baxter of California, Bombas, Calm, Fatboy USA, Girl Skateboards, Montblanc, Mophie, S’well, Wanderlust and Vespa.

To date, (RED) has generated more than $500 million for the Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, to support HIV/AIDS grants in Ghana, Kenya, Lesotho, Rwanda, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania and Zambia. 100 percent of that money goes to work on the ground – no overhead is taken. Global Fund grants that (RED) supports have impacted nearly 110 million people with prevention, treatment, counseling, HIV testing and care services.

Gander & White Los Angeles, one of the leading art shippers and logistics providers in California, is delighted to announce a new environmentally-friendly partnership with two South California high schools. The company is now donating timber off-cuts from its bespoke fine art crate-making workshop to woodworking programs at South Pasadena High School and Bell High School. This ‘green’ initiative means that material that would have once been sent to landfill will now be used in a much more constructive way, in aid of local teenagers’ education.

The partnership was instigated by the Director of Gander & White Los Angeles, George Lacovara, whose son attends the school. After hearing that Eef Vanlersel, teacher at South Pasadena High School, needed supplies for his woodworking program, Lacovara quickly realized that Gander & White LA was perfectly placed to help out by providing the school with wood. After discussing the school’s requirements with Vanlersel, a truck of wood supplies was delivered to the school the next day. Following this, Gander & White reached out to Hugh Creamer at Bell High School to arrange the same deal. It has been agreed that Gander & White LA will provide wood to these schools whenever possible.

Lacovara comments: “We are very excited to set up these connections with two local high schools, to contribute to the local community in this way and also make sure the wood we don’t use is recycled effectively. We’re looking to eliminate wood wastage and we would certainly consider more relationships like these with other schools in the Los Angeles Unified School District”.

This initiative forms part of Gander & White’s broader green strategy being enacted across its global facilities in the USA and Europe.