Today we’d like to introduce you to Jonathan Schwartz.
Hi Jonathan, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for sharing your story with us – to start, maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers.
With a Bachelor’s in Anthropology, I soon found myself supporting my studio and music practice by driving a truckload of art from NYC to Los Angeles and back. Within three years, I caught the entrepreneurial bug and started my own business focusing on logistics for the contemporary art market in Manhattan. Thirty-five years later, we opened in Miami, Los Angeles, and most recently, Charlotte, where I now live with my wife. We went from a step van and two employees to a fleet of climate control trucks, 100+ employees, 4 climate control, high-security warehouses with carpentry shops building bespoke cases for the masterpieces we handle and a fully licensed freight forwarding operation importing and exporting for artists, collectors, galleries, museums, and auction houses in over 150 countries. Along the way, I have collected a fantastic group of friends and colleagues worldwide and volunteered to expand my industry’s only professional trade association with 80 members representing 37 countries.
Please talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned. Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Heck No. You start an enterprise without a business degree, the intricacies of interstate commerce, heavy equipment, and high-value products, and all of a sudden find out you don’t know what you’re doing. 10 years in, we had a solid reputation, but struggled to make payroll. Luckily, one of my older sisters, an employee of a global consultancy, analyzed my books and practices. She asked me about my understanding of cost accounting. I said, “huh?” She told me the unforeseen expenses I mentioned could be mitigated by adhering to this philosophy. I also found out some beneficial basics. Good, fast, cheap, pick two. You’re either price point or premium service. And discovering the market price for your services is meaningless if you sell them for more than it costs. The result was, we had to raise our prices. When we announced the tariffs to our clients, I held my breath, and then, just like magic, we converted more estimates than ever before. We picked good and fast and priced it accordingly.
I appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about Atelier 4?
We are part of the supply chain for the “A” in STEAM. When the arts were added to the education policy in the US, it connected the analytical with the emotional because without cross-training your mind, you can understand something but not feel it, and vice versa. So, when a one-of-a-kind work of art made by an individual or team on one side of the planet, travels across land and sea, hangs on the wall or sits on a pedestal in a home or a museum, and inspires one or more viewers, perhaps setting off a chain of events that will transform and elevate them, you can thank a company like mine for making sure that nothing goes wrong during a potentially risk-filled journey. And before you think to yourself, “I can look at it on my tablet or phone.”, just remember, that’s like listening to music as an MP3 rather than vinyl, and even more so, a live performance.
You might think I have a niche business, but in NYC, there are at least 100 companies like mine, all different sizes. In Miami and LA, 20 – 30 companies are probably just handling artwork! Okay, we’re the only ones in Charlotte, so we regularly drive to Charleston, Asheville, and Greenville, but that won’t last much longer. The Queen City keeps growing. What keeps my firm relevant is the organic growth, not just of our service offerings, but of our brand, which is highly original, much copied, yet still distinctive. Careful advertising, a personal touch, not just from me but from many on the team, broadcasts our message and vibe, cutting through the din of social media and adspeak, lifting us above the shoulders of the giant competition. We’re the David to their Goliath. We are different in our relationships with our correspondents in other countries. We treat them with great respect, and they reciprocate by protecting our client’s interests on all five continents. And back home in the lower 48, our trucks and trained art handler drivers are in every state, every month. There is rarely any outsourcing and no anonymous fulfillment centers. Our over-the-road department is staffed by teams who have been with me for 25 years. Some of our clients like them so much that they have been invited to their weddings.
Who else deserves credit for your story?
I want to thank my mom, who took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Natural History in Manhattan every Saturday from ages 6 – 11. Louise is a fiber artist, one of the hottest trends in art this year, and at 90, still a maker!
My high school art teacher, Nanette Carter, and I are still friends. In that class, we worked with litho stones and hand-cranked presses. It was her tip about the master printmaker, Ansei Uchima, that informed her decision about where to pursue a college degree. At Sarah Lawrence College, painter Frances Barth introduced me to the Amsterdam-based artist Eli Content. Eli introduced me to my Dutch family and inspired the naming of my company. My association with these people has certainly given my company street cred. At SLC, I also met Andrew Faintych, my freshman roommate and the COO of Atelier 4, who has been with me since the company’s founding in 1989. His analytical mind and precision of detail have kept mainly us out of trouble. He’s also augmented our social position, as evidenced by our support of charities such as the Equal Justice Initiative and the National Forest Foundation (we rip a lot of lumber to make those crates).
My dear friend and client, Jack Shainman, encouraged me to start my own company. His gallery is synonymous with diversity and vision. Jack taught me that your best relationship with your clients and your vendors is, in fact, a partnership. You have to look out for each other’s interests to weather the storms of unpredictability and avoid the pitfalls of avarice.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.atelier4.com/
- Instagram: @atelier4inc
- Facebook: @atelier4inc
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/atelier4inc/
- Twitter: @atelier4inc
- Other: https://linktr.ee/atelier4inc
Image Credits
Vanessa Barragão, n. 1992 Materials: Wool, lyocell, natural rubber latex (backing), wire (structure), brass (signature badge). Techniques: Hand tufting, Carving & other fiber manipulations courtesy Portuguese Mission to the United Nations Eli Content Untitled 1981-83 oil on canvas courtesy private collection Ben Long Psalm 23 fresco courtesy Rumple Memorial Presbyterian Church
