"The joy of a great fair is the unanticipated masterpieces you get to see."
With the second iteration of The Treasure House Fair - the successor to Masterpiece - just days away, we’re delighted to share an interview with the art fair’s co-founder and director Thomas Woodham-Smith, in which he discusses its origins, plans for the future, and his favourite-ever piece of art…
You are known as the co-founder of Masterpiece with Harry van der Hoorn; how did you become involved with The Treasure House Fair?
When Masterpiece was cancelled many of the dealers rang me to see if I could in some way step in to save it. Harry got the same calls and we felt we had no choice but to do something.
Harry made an appointment to see the Royal Hospital and by the end of that meeting we had the tenancy.
How did your partnership with Harry come about?
Harry and I first met when my old firm Mallett was exhibiting at TEFAF. But we first worked together in 2009 when we founded Masterpiece.
What are you most looking forward to at this year's iteration of the Fair?
The joy of a great fair is the unanticipated masterpieces you get to see. I am really looking forward to the art arriving.
Looking to the future, how would you like to see the Fair evolve?
We need to focus on quality not growth. But we would like to grow. Gently and prudently. I would like to see the fair as a stalwart of the summer season in London.
As well as The Treasure House Fair's co-founder and director, you are also an art dealer and advisor in your own right. Can you tell us a little about your specialisms?
For many years I was the managing director of Mallett at Bourdon House. This was the continental furniture side of the Mallett business. I love anything well made, well designed and using fine materials. Though the late 17th century and early 18th is a particularly favourite era.
If you weren't an art dealer and art fair founder, you'd be...?
I love starting things. Who knows what?
Other than a phone and keys, what's the one item you always have on you?
It varies. Pen and paper or a pocket knife.
How do you relax when you're not working?
I love wine and cocktails.
What's your favourite-ever piece of art [either that you own or wished you owned]?
I love hard stone inlay. Pietra Dura. I once sold a vase by Giacomo Raffaelli. I would love to own that. But I have a campagna-shaped vase of Alps Jade. A stone that is heroically hard to mine, high up in the mountains. It was used for ceremonial hand axes in Neolithic times, and it has a magical almost mystical quality. I will be sad when it sells.
