UNDER THE RADAR - Robert Hayes, Cherrylane Fine Arts :EVEN AT the relatively young age of 31, Robert Hayes of Cherrylane Fine Arts knows better than most how a successful family business can sometimes be built on the back of a string of reversals and setbacks.
The first came in 1981 when he was just three years old – hard economic times not unlike today. His father, Michael, an engineer, was laid off by an electronics company retrenching to the US, and was casting around for something to support his family.
“He has always loved art,” recalls Hayes (31), “and so he decided to set up a little framing business, mainly because the equipment was relatively cheap to buy. The aim was to provide a customised service where every frame was individual and different.”
The business was a modest success. The family moved from Dublin to Co Wicklow where Michael Hayes indulged his other passion, fishing. They settled in Killincarrig, near Delgany, on the site of the first cherry orchard in Ireland, from which the business took its name.
“Wicklow has always been a haven for artists. Naturally, we started to frame paintings for some of them. Our reputation spread and by the late Nineties, my father had a ‘school’ of 17 artists working rent-free on our premises on the understanding that we would do their framing work.”
It was an innovative arrangement which appeared to be going from strength to strength in 1999, when Michael Hayes formed a new business partnership and opened a contemporary art gallery on the main street of Greystones to showcase the work of his artists. The location was ideal and it was a huge success – at least initially.
Business partnerships, though, don’t always manage to withstand day- to-day commercial pressures and the Greystones gallery closed its doors after just 18 months.
Worse was to come.
In 2001, the Cherrylane Fine Arts main premises in Killincarrig burned to the ground after a spark from the chimney of the 400-year- old building lodged in the roof.
As he watched it burn, Robert Hayes knew the job of rebuilding the business would fall largely to him. “It was a huge shock to my father who had put so much into it,” he reflects. “I largely took charge of things after that.”
Today, just eight years later, Cherrylane Fine Arts is very much back in business, a well-regarded art gallery with an impressive list of artists such as Andrew Hood, Gerard Cox, Rocco Tullio and Francis Matthews, with whom it has carefully nurtured its working relationships.
Robert Hayes has added a successful fine art printing bureau, which produces the gallery’s exhibition catalogues among other specialised projects. The business has five staff, with a turnover of €560,000 in 2008. You will find it listed on the Saatchi Gallery website alongside some of the best-known dealers and galleries in the world of contemporary art.
“There’s no doubt about it, the fire was a disaster at the time. We got help afterwards from absolutely everybody, family and friends, but in retrospect it was an ideal opportunity to redevelop the entire business, something which would never have been done if the fire hadn’t happened.”
Robert Hayes continues the innovative approach to the art world adopted by his father. He recently collaborated with the Royal Institute of the Architects of Ireland, Arup and Lafferty Design to stage an exhibition by Francis Matthews, an emerging young artist who originally graduated from UCD as an architect.
“We’ve applied for many public grants over the years, but never succeeded in getting any. That experience taught me that private partnerships in the arts can be every bit as productive. It’s a road I’d be happy to go down again in the future.”
petercluskey@ireland.com
On The Record
Name:Robert Hayes
Company:Cherrylane Fine Arts
www.cherrylanefinearts.com
Job:Director
Age:31
Background:Worked with his father, Michael, in the family business, Cherrylane Fine Arts, from the age of seven. Studied conservation framing in Amsterdam and museum framing in San Francisco before returning to Ireland in 1999.
Took over the rebuilding of the business after it was totally destroyed by fire in 2001, achieving a turnover of €560,000 in 2008. Added fine art printing and began the development of a list of emerging young artists, some of whose work can now be seen on the Saatchi Gallery website. Interested in private partnerships as a means of supporting worthwhile exhibitions.
Challenges:"Running an art gallery outside the Pale, building and maintaining its profile, running a respectable stable of artists – and, the most important thing, persuading people to come out here and see their work."
Inspired by:"I am most inspired by the artists I represent. They are all very clever people who choose to throw their lives into their art. I'm also inspired by success when things work out. It's nice when you put effort in, to get something worthwhile out the other side."
Most important thing learned so far:"Be honest in business, put your head down and do what you believe in."
