Christie's to Open New Hong Kong HQ, Sees Growing Asian Gen Z Interest

People watch the sunset over Victoria Harbour from a mountaintop in Hong Kong, China March 12, 2024. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
People watch the sunset over Victoria Harbour from a mountaintop in Hong Kong, China March 12, 2024. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
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Christie's to Open New Hong Kong HQ, Sees Growing Asian Gen Z Interest

People watch the sunset over Victoria Harbour from a mountaintop in Hong Kong, China March 12, 2024. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo
People watch the sunset over Victoria Harbour from a mountaintop in Hong Kong, China March 12, 2024. REUTERS/Tyrone Siu/File Photo

Auction house Christie's hopes its new 50,000-sq-ft Asia headquarters that opens in Hong Kong in September will boost sales in 2024 amid increased interest across the region from a new generation of culturally astute millennials and younger.
Francis Belin, Christie's Asia-Pacific president, said he is "cautiously optimistic" about sales in the region as they try to engage with clients with the right products, right price and "exciting" events, Reuters said.
"We think we'll continue to see a market in 2024 which is not as booming as in 2021, but it's one that we can navigate if we do the right thing like we did in 2023," Belin told Reuters on Monday.
Total auction sales in the Asia-Pacific region eased 4% to $805 million last year from 2022, contributing 28% to the group's total. The sales decline compared to 43% and 9% drops in Americas and EMEA (Europe, Middle East, Africa), respectively.
Greater China accounted for 80% of Asia-Pacific sales.
Christie's also saw a surge in new buyers among millennials, born between 1981 to 1996, and Gen Z, born since 1997. It said Asia-Pacific accounted for 66% of its global millennial buyers last year, and more than half of them were from mainland China. Gen Z buyers from Asia-Pacific also more than doubled.
Belin said the auction house had started to see a surge in buying from young Chinese collectors for Chinese works of art and paintings over the past three years, rising from a few percentage points to up to 20% now, thanks to the company's increasingly use of Chinese social media apps such as Wechat and Xiaohongshu.
"So you find collectors at the depth of collecting, not just the hip, new artist, but that goes back to their cultural roots. That's meaningful for them and their culture," Belin said.
The market was slower last year because collectors were not convinced it was the best time to sell, he added.
The auction house will open its new Asia-Pacific headquarters at The Henderson, a new office tower in Hong Kong's prime Central district, in September. Christie's four floors in the building, which is being designed by Zaha Hadid Architects and developed by Henderson Land, will launch a three-month program of sales, exhibitions and events until November.
Belin shrugged off the impact of new national security laws that the Hong Kong government has imposed on the city, saying the financial hub still has a free flow of capital and rule of law.
He said he recognised the Hong Kong government's efforts in developing the city's arts and culture by hosting international events and building the West Kowloon Cultural District, which overlooks Victoria Harbour.
"Hong Kong will be able to rebuild itself; art and culture is part of it."
The Knight Frank Luxury Investment Index (KFLII), which tracks the performance of 10 popular investments of passion, showed that art was the best-performing luxury asset class in 2023, followed by jewelry, with prices rising 11% and 8%, respectively.
Knight Frank said in a report last week clients in Hong Kong allocate 19% of their investment portfolio to luxury investments, in line with the global average.



Queen Camilla Celebrates Anniversary with Italian Pizza and Ice Cream

Britain's Queen Camilla receives an ice cream as she leaves the Italian Lower House, where King Charles III addressed a joint session of the Italian Parliament during a special ceremony in front of both Chambers of the Italian Parliament, during their state visit to Italy, in Rome, Italy, 09 April 2025. (EPA)
Britain's Queen Camilla receives an ice cream as she leaves the Italian Lower House, where King Charles III addressed a joint session of the Italian Parliament during a special ceremony in front of both Chambers of the Italian Parliament, during their state visit to Italy, in Rome, Italy, 09 April 2025. (EPA)
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Queen Camilla Celebrates Anniversary with Italian Pizza and Ice Cream

Britain's Queen Camilla receives an ice cream as she leaves the Italian Lower House, where King Charles III addressed a joint session of the Italian Parliament during a special ceremony in front of both Chambers of the Italian Parliament, during their state visit to Italy, in Rome, Italy, 09 April 2025. (EPA)
Britain's Queen Camilla receives an ice cream as she leaves the Italian Lower House, where King Charles III addressed a joint session of the Italian Parliament during a special ceremony in front of both Chambers of the Italian Parliament, during their state visit to Italy, in Rome, Italy, 09 April 2025. (EPA)

Italians offered pizza and ice cream to Britain's Queen Camilla to help celebrate the 20th anniversary of her wedding to King Charles during a state visit to Italy on Wednesday.

Camilla and Charles walked to the renowned Giolitti cafe in central Rome where the queen sampled an ice cream from a paper cup after the king had made a historic speech to the nearby Italian parliament.

Camilla had earlier been presented with a boxed pizza after attending an event at a school in Rome.

More formal dining will be on the agenda on Wednesday evening when Italian President Sergio Mattarella hosts a banquet for the royal couple at the Quirinale Palace.

Charles told parliament that Britain had been heavily influenced by Italian cooking. "I can only hope you will forgive us for occasionally corrupting your wonderful cuisine. We do so with the greatest possible affection," he said, to loud laughter.