A Golden Decade

This summer,Saffronart sold Jehangir Sabavala’s The Casuarina Line I for Rs 1.7 crores (USD 374,900),a personal record for the artist. In addition,Saffronart’s mobile bidding technology saw an eager participation. MF Husain’s work was sold for Rs 1.06 crores (USD 235,750) through this first-of-its-kind mobile bidding application in India. Its Autumn Online Art Auction,to be held on September 8 and 9,promises bigger sales,since the auction pieces have not only been carefully chosen,but also include the works of top artists. “Our auctions in March and June saw a strong demand for rare and exceptional works which are unique to the market. Since we are focusing on the best work,we have cut down our lots to 90. But there is a broad selection of works by 43 modern contemporary artist,which comprises paintings,drawings,installations and sculptures,” says Dinesh Vazirani,CEO and co-founder of Saffronart. The auction includes Sabavala’s The Wayfarers – II,S.H. Raza’s Bhartiya Samaroh,N.S. Harsha’s Conversing Cleansers,Jogen Chowdhury,Subodh Gupta,Ravinder Reddy and Manjit Bawa’s works.

Dinesh traces his journey with Saffronart and shares,“My wife,Minal and I are very fond of art and technology. So we thought of coming up with an online forum where we could sell art. No one was in favour of it. Selling art itself was not easy and selling it online meant multiplying the risk. But we persisted. The first three years were the toughest,and we spent a lot of money to participate in international fairs to increase our visibility,” he says. But once the collectors recognised them as a transparent company,things fell in place. And,it was during the 2003 auction that they realised that the whole idea is making sense.” While Saffronart grew as a company it also catapulted the Indian contemporary art into an item of profitable investment. A painting by Tyeb Mehta sold through Saffronart’s auction in December 2001 for $36,000 (Rs 17 Lakhs),came up for sale at Christie’s in March 2004,where it sold for over $101,000(Rs 48 Lakhs). Similarly Raza’s Bindu Bija-Mantra sold at Saffronart’s May 2004 auction fetched almost $170,000 (Rs 79 lakhs).

In October 2008,Saffronart extended its online auction platform to host its inaugural sale of fine jewels and watches,adding a new dimension to its online presence. In April 2010,they introduced a new product—Prime Properties. This includes the sale of luxury city apartments and holiday homes,through print and online catalogues. “When it comes to jewellery and real estate,the Indian markets are still very localised. People do not know how to reach such hole-in-the-wall places to get the best deals. So we decided to do that for them,” says Minal Vazirani,president and co-founder,Saffronart.

The couple believes that the strength of the company lies in it’s transparent operations. It was recently chosen as the subject of a case study at Harvard Business School. Mukti Khaire,assistant professor of Business Administration,HBS shares,“I believe that Saffronart views its ability to create market structures in previously unstructured contexts,as its competitive advantage. They have therefore picked markets like luxury home and jewellery,which in India,have traditionally been less structured than elsewhere,” Dinesh points out. “Market operations are not very transparent in India. Buyers do not know how much art,a piece of jewellery or real estate really costs. We provide people with a reference price point,” shares Dinesh.

As the registration for the upcoming auction nears,they are busy verifying the registers. “We need to know where the money is coming in,it is a long process. Since transactions are done online we have to be more careful,”says Dinesh. Besides ironing out financial and managerial knots,the company is also careful in selecting its work to avoid protests. “Censorship in art has affected us too. We have had angry protests outside our gallery so many times. But now we are more careful,” says Dinesh,as he hopes that like the booming art market,Indian art industry will soon be received by a more tolerant civil society.