ICEFAT: WHAT’S IN A NAME?
- Company News
ICEFAT
With an acronymic name like ours, you would be forgiven for thinking that our work involved operating solely in cold-weather climates, or in nutrition, or in thinking up less-than appealing acronyms for things.
But simply put, we are the International Convention of Exhibition and Fine Art Transporters, a collection of over 70 of the finest art transportation companies in 33 countries around the world. Our members across the globe are the engine room of the art world. They offer the best services for art shipping, storage and installation for institutions, galleries, auction houses and private individuals.
We exist to ensure that our members remain at the absolute peak of the industry, encouraging the pooling of knowledge and cooperation between members around the world.
We’ve been around for four decades, growing and learning with our members to be the body of great operators that we are today.
But what else could ICEFAT mean for our members? How would they describe themselves and ICEFAT? Using the letters of our name as inspiration, we put the question to our global members and had the following responses:
I
IMPROVING
In the last 42 years we have been constantly at the forefront of improvements to our industry, in professional standards and technical practices.
IMPROVISATIONAL
Our members offer service solutions to clients who often have unique and everchanging requirements that require a quick solution
IMPARTIAL
ICEFAT is democratic. We are led by an elected steering committee and all members have an equal say in ICEFAT-wide initiatives and votes.
INSTRUCTIVE
We operate to facilitate the learning of our members from other more established members, creating an effective international working body that helps each other.
C
CAPABLE
To become a member of ICEFAT, an operator must have a proven track record of delivering quality services in their region.
CAREFUL
The techniques and practices that we promote in our members may have been updated over the years, but one bit of advice has remained the same: BE CAREFUL!
CHARITABLE
Our members are committed to not only fuelling the global art scene but also passing on their time, talent and technology to assist initiative around the world. More on that in a futurepost.
COOPERATIVE
Our global members work together to make an operation as successful as possible, sharing resources, knowledge and manpower to satisfy clients’ needs. We’ll be going into some of these partnerships in a future post.
E
EXPERT
Combined, ICEFAT’s membership has thousands of experts in the art transport industry all around the world. We exist to promote the sharing of that expanse of expertise.
EQUIPPED
Our members operate at the absolute peak of the industry, supported by the latest in art shipping hardware and technology available, whether it be the latest environmentally-controlled storage facilities or state-of-the-art packing crates.
EFFICIENT
Through promoting best practices and international cooperation, we make the processes involved in transporting an artwork from A to B as streamlined and efficient as possible.
EGALITARIAN
Some members have much larger operations than others but we believe that operators of all sizes should be equally represented.
F
FAR-REACHING
ICEFAT brings together companies from all over the world to share knowledge and work together, from Mexico to Malaysia, Germany to Japan.
FAMILIAL
Our annual convention brings together representatives from all 73 of our member-agents to discuss industry developments and global cooperation and helps create more personal ties between our members, strengthening our global family. A number of our members themselves are family-run businesses too.
FULL-SERVICE
Our global presence allows our members to move pretty much anything, anywhere, anytime. The network that ICEFAT represents gives local knowledge in all global regions, giving the client satisfaction from a project’s beginning to end.
FORESIGHTED
The pooling of knowledge that ICEFAT encourages gives our members the best foresight in the art shipping industry. We see ourselves as prepared the major global developments coming up in 2019.
A
ASSISTING
The ICEFAT Constitution invites all members to cooperate with each other, therefore creating a continuous band of art shipping around the world.
ACCOMPLISHED
Our members have completed projects for many of the top operators in the arts and cultural sectors. With this strong pedigree, we move forward and grow together.
ASPIRING
We aspire to offer the highest standards of shipping so continually update our best practice guidelines for our members to reflect the high standards that we expect to remain at the top.
APPROACHABLE
As an organisation representing the top operators in the sector, we are always looking to hear thoughts, opinions and suggestions regarding our industry from other operators and members of the public. Have something to say? Contact our Secretariat here.
T
TRUSTWORTHY
ICEFAT members have a reputation for being the most discreet operators in the sector, working with some of the world’s top cultural institutions. ICEFAT promotes and encourages this practice.
THOROUGH
Our members are known for going the extra mile for their clients, not satisfied until they have thoroughly completed a project.
TRAILBLAZING
There is no organisation in the high-end shipping centre like ICEFAT. For forty years, we have led the way in the codifying of high industry standards and maintaining the best practices in the sector. If you use an ICEFAT member, you can expect a certain level of quality.
TOGETHER
Our organisation is made strong by our members, represented on committees throughout the year and by themselves during our annual conference. We promote the highest standards, decided and agreed upon by the membership.
Interested in utilising the services of an ICEFAT member in your region? Head to our Members page to learn more!
