sotheby’s former international chairman patti wong announced on thursday that she and a former colleague daryl wickstrom are opening an art advisory business in hong kong catering to clients throughout asiapacific who are interested in all types of luxury collecting from contemporary art to chinese paintings jewelry and fine wine wong a more than 30year veteran of sotheby’s known for her role in expanding the range and influence of hong kong as a collecting hub will join with wickstrom a 20year sotheby’s veteran who left in 2016 when he was international managing director of jewelry and watches the launch of wong’s firm comes as major global auction houses including sotheby’s expand their footprints to allow for yearround exhibitions and auctions in their own hong kong facilities which typically have been held in other venues in the city the expansion comes even as other asian cities such as singapore and south korea are gaining traction as expanding centers of art but as asia has grown into a key player in the global art market—with greater china ranked second overall according to the latest annual art basel and ubs art market report—art advisory services haven’t kept up clients “now require the sophisticated advisory services that have been prevalent in the united states and europe for a number of years” wong said in a news release announcing the formation of patti wong  associates “at the same time a new generation of collectors are entering the market at a very high level and looking for guidance as they explore international art centers” according to wong the needs of art collectors in asia are similar to those in europe and america “the art world has become an increasingly complicated place to navigate and as an advisor with a wealth of industry contacts and decades of experience we are best placed to partner with collectors—whether in connection with buying or selling art lending works to major museum collections or addressing family planning or legacy issues” she said in response to questions younger collectors are well informed and digitally savvy she added “they often enter the market at a relatively high level and form cross categories collections rather than solely focusing on a single one” these socalled “second generation” clients are also active collectors of ultracontemporary works she said arttactic noted in its year end report however that buying of young contemporary artists in asia appeared to cool last year as sales at the top three auction houses fell to us638 million from us1423 million in 2021 patti wong  associates also announced it was partnering with the londonbased fine art group a 60person team of advisors and art finance experts that already work in six countries including singapore and china the fine art group will bring art financing valuation and appraisal expertise in addition to sourcing artworks and luxury items and providing advice says philip hoffman ceo “she’s fun she’s very smart she knows her way around and she gets things done” hoffman says she’s also highly experienced professional consistent and loyal he says “that was the reason i wanted to team up with her i wasn’t going to go into asia unless i could completely trust someone who has the same ethics” hoffman says the fine art group currently lends to hong kong families while investing and advising on behalf of some but at a level hoffman says only represents 5 of what it will be able to accomplish by partnering with wong last year the fine art group announced a collaboration with another sotheby’s alumni allan schwartzman principal of the new yorkbased schwartzman “i see 90 of our business coming from america and asia” hoffman says to hoffman hong kong will remain the center of asian art buying because it has the infrastructure including several international galleries in addition to the expanding presence of the top global auction houses sotheby’s will open a 24000squarefoot location at the landmark chater in hong kong’s central neighborhood in 2024 while christie’s is planning a move to 50000 square feet over four floors in the henderson also in central phillips meanwhile will move this year into 50000 square feet in the wkcda tower in hong kong’s west kowloon cultural district wong began working at sotheby’s in new york in the early 1990s eventually moving to london to head private client services for 15 years she was appointed chairman of sotheby’s asia in 2004 and chairman of sotheby’s diamonds a retail venture she helped to create in december 2005 with wickstrom although based in hong kong her advisory firm will serve all of asiapacific wong and wickstrom will be joined by sotheby’s alumna lisa chow also a 30year veteran who will serve as a managing director chow was deputy chairman of jewelry for sotheby’s in asia and general manager and sales director of sotheby’s diamonds she also has expertise in chinese paintings where she began her career at sotheby’s wong said other specialists will be added both fulltime and on a consulting basis