This year he has downsized his business and moved from St James’s to the coach house next to his home in Richmond.
“I am still enjoying work. We are very busy. I am even busier than when I was in the gallery,” he says. Even now in what he describes as “semi-retirement” he will be showing at Maastricht this year.
But he has stepped down from the venerable art and antiques fair’s executive committee: “I decided it was time to give young talent a chance.”
This may be his last show as an exhibitor: “I am still in discussions with my wife about whether we do it next year. We have not quite decided.”
He remains on the board of trustees at TEFAF.
Despite concerns that the fair is losing its buzz in its 30th year in its current incarnation, Van Haeften says: “People bring new and fresh things every year. There will always be innovations at the fair, always tweaking and changing.
Opening in New York was a successful innovation.”
