The Art Newspaper

Lesters sign deal to co-manage summer Olympia fair

Floridian fair organisers will "serve as directors" in new joint venture; London fair will be rebranded

By Brook S. Mason. Web only
Published online: 13 July 2009

NEW YORK. Husband-and-wife Floridian fair owners David and Lee Ann Lester have entered into a partnership with UK-based Clarion Events to co-organise London’s 37-year-old summer Olympia International Art & Antiques Fair. A joint statement said that "David and Lee Ann Lester will serve as directors for the Olympia June event with the existing Clarion team providing support to the partnership."

Mr Lester is trumpeting his new fair at the West London site, which will be rebranded as the London International Fine Art Fair, as a major contender. "Next to the Grand Palais in Paris, the Olympia exhibition hall is the best venue in all of Europe," he says. He plans to target collectors in Russia, India and the Middle East as well as continental Europe and the US.

“We are pleased to join with the Lesters to create the type of international fine art event that London deserves and build on the international strategy we started three years ago,” says Simon Kimble, CEO of Clarion Events.

The new venture was nurtured at last year's Olympia when Mr Lester, owner of the International Fine Art Expositions company, manned a stand to recruit dealers for his own fairs including SeaFair, the first art event to be held on a yacht.

“I can take Olympia to reach new heights when positioned as a Maastricht type event,” says Mr Lester, who may change the dates of the June fair to avoid competing with Art Basel. "Our overall goal is to include a New York event as well," he adds.

The Lesters repurchased the Palm Beach International Art and Antiques Fair in 2008, which the couple sold to the London-based Daily Mail group in 2001.