In the heart of London’s Mayfair, where heritage, finance, and art frequently intersect, a new kind of art enterprise has emerged, one designed not simply to showcase beauty, but to smartly navigate and capitalize on the complexities of the contemporary art market. Bruton + Co, the brainchild of seasoned art entrepreneur Olyvia Kwok, is not a gallery, not a dealership, but a new hybrid altogether. Described by its founder as a “strategic advisory art business,” it offers something rare: a sophisticated, investment-oriented partner for collectors in a rapidly shifting global landscape.
Bruton + Co Opens in Mayfair
Images courtesy of Bruton + Co.
Launching on June 12, Bruton + Co opens with a museum-quality exhibition featuring the masters of Abstract Expressionism, Joan Mitchell, Sam Francis, and Robert Motherwell, alongside pioneering Asian artists Kazuo Shiraga and Zao Wou-Ki. The space, a by-appointment showroom at 23 Bruton Street, offers more than aesthetic encounters; it creates curated investment opportunities, grounded in market data, emotional intelligence, and decades of experience.
“What really matters in today’s art market is quality,” says Kwok. “Blue-chip artworks with historical significance will often enjoy a better rate of return than blue-chip stocks, particularly given the current volatility of stock markets. With gold reaching new highs, and the US dollar growing vulnerable, there has never been a better time to invest in significant cultural artifacts.”
“What really matters in today’s art market is quality,”
—Olyvia Kwok
Bruton + Co as a Bespoke Partner
Images courtesy of Bruton + Co.
Images courtesy of Bruton + Co.
Bruton + Co is built on this belief that fine art is not only an emotional asset class, but a viable strategy for wealth preservation and growth. Unlike galleries, which are tied to fixed programs and rotating rosters of artists, or auction houses with market pressures of their own, Bruton + Co acts as a bespoke partner. It offers estate planning, auction structuring, portfolio management, and access to rare opportunities such as receiverships and distressed asset sales. Thanks to Kwok’s network of legal and financial advisors, the firm’s clients are given privileged access to artworks that rarely reach the open market.
“Our clients are often not traditional art buyers,” explains Kwok. “Some are high-net-worth individuals looking for tangible, transferable assets that hedge against inflation and currency risk. Others are younger, digitally native collectors who are inheriting vast portfolios and seeking a way to shape them meaningfully. We work with both because this moment of intergenerational wealth transfer is also a moment of reinvention for the art market.”
“This moment of intergenerational wealth transfer is also a moment of reinvention for the art market,”
—Olyvia Kwok
That market, Kwok notes, is no longer the domain of insiders alone. Tech billionaires, crypto investors, and finance executives are now major players. “Crypto and tech billionaires were newcomers, but are now driving the market,” she says. “I see a huge market opportunity, particularly given our global reach. Buying art is an excellent way to mitigate financial risk, such as the vast geopolitical and currency-based risks that we are seeing in the US and Asia.”
The current exhibition at Bruton + Co makes this argument in visual form. Shiraga’s performative gestures, Zao Wou-Ki’s lyrical abstraction, and the bold color-fields of Mitchell and Francis are more than canonical highlights they are undervalued chapters of postwar art history, with enormous upside. “Abstract Expressionism has seen a downturn over the past three to four years,” says Kwok, “but historically, this is the point where market trends make their comeback, putting our buyers in the best position to see returns.”
Kwok is no stranger to anticipating such turns. At just 23, she opened Olyvia Oriental in St. James’s, spotlighting Chinese contemporary art long before the boom. Later, as the 2008 financial crisis reshaped the market, she pivoted to Modern Masters and Pop Art, acquiring Warhols and other blue-chip works ahead of the curve. In 2009, she founded Willstone Management, advising American and Latin American collectors on portfolio building, and in 2014, she launched Live Auction Art, a pioneering price comparison app for auction buyers. She was also among the first to launch an art lending fund and to popularize the use of auction guarantees as financial instruments.
“There isn’t a single aspect of the art world I haven’t touched,” she says, without bravado but with palpable confidence. “I’ve always had a ‘go big or go home’ mentality, and now I feel it’s time to double down.”
Looking to the Future of the Market
Images courtesy of Bruton + Co.
Bruton + Co is indeed a doubling down on experience, on access, and on a future-facing model. Rather than catering to fleeting trends, the company looks beyond the surface. “At art fairs, you’ll notice many works follow the same trends; but at this point, it’s often too late to maximize their value,” says Kwok. “Auction houses have always been my favorite playground. You can buy well and sell with strong results, but only if you know the how, when, and what.”
In a world where more than 11,000 millionaires left the UK in 2024 due to tax changes, Kwok is planting her flag firmly in London. “While others are leaving, I intend to remain and double down,” she says. “I believe that the UK will follow the European political trend and focus on contributing to economic growth. Those who left will soon be back.”
Images courtesy of Bruton + Co.
Future plans for Bruton + Co are global in ambition, with forthcoming locations in Asia and the U.S. launching under a franchise model. “This is not just a business, it’s part of me,” says Kwok. “I’m ready to create a bridge between what went before and what is yet to come.”
“This is not just a business, it’s part of me,”
—Olyvia Kwok
That bridge is built not just on market savvy, but on an understanding that art is more than a commodity. It is culture, legacy, and power. And under Olyvia Kwok’s vision, Bruton + Co aims to make that power both visible and actionable for collectors who are ready to see art not only as something to hang, but something to hold.
Images courtesy of Bruton + Co.
