Who really chooses the art in a high-end home — and who pays for that choice

Three distinct professionals select art for private homes, each compensated differently: the independent advisor, paid solely by the buyer; the private bank's advisory team, bundled into wealth management; and the architect or interior designer, whose art picks are often folded into a design fee. Who pays shapes what gets shown to you.

Schematic diagram of the chain connecting a collector, an advisor or architect, a gallery or studio, and an artist — Schematic illustration — Perfeito Studio.

The independent advisor: paid by you, answerable to no one else

An independent art advisor is defined less by what they do than by what they are barred from doing. The Association of Professional Art Advisors' code of ethics states that members "may not maintain inventory for sale, accept artwork on consignment, act as private dealers in any transaction or maintain a leadership role in an art fund." Members also "do not solicit or accept compensation from service providers or vendors," and the code requires them to be paid by only one source per transaction — the client.

How that single fee is structured varies by advisor. A breakdown of the field from advisory firm Mason Lane lists retainers, hourly billing (increasingly rare, the firm notes, calling it something that is "dying within the industry"), commissions calculated on the negotiated price, and markups on inventory the advisor sources directly — the firm gives an example around 20%. In its own words, "there is no standard way to do this within the industry," which is exactly why the single-source rule matters: without it, an advisor collecting from a gallery on one side of a sale and a collector on the other would be negotiating against a conflict built into their own paycheck.

Private-bank art advisory: curation folded into wealth management

A number of private banks run in-house art advisory teams for their wealthiest clients, treating a collection as part of the same lifecycle they already manage for a portfolio. At UBS, the team spans roles from Global Head of Family Advisory, Art & Collecting Eric Landolt to Head of Art Advisory Americas Matthew Newton, who notes that many collectors focus on acquiring and displaying works and only later discover how much documentation matters — for insurance, for a loan against the collection, or for inheritance.

Senior Art Advisory Specialist Carola Wiese frames the actual selection work in relational terms rather than financial ones: a well-built collection has works that are "communicating with one another," held together by "technique, timeline, or a narrative theme" — pieces that, in her description, end up feeling "like best friends — or like relatives speaking around a big table." That advisory work typically sits inside the broader private-banking relationship rather than as a separately negotiated fee, which is the structural difference from an independent advisor's single, disclosed charge.

The architect or interior designer: art as part of the design brief

A third path into art selection runs through the design side rather than the art-market side. As reported by Forbes Brasil, architect Roberta Bussab worked primarily as an interior designer before training further in the art market — coursework at Sotheby's and in contemporary art at M.Inq, in São Paulo — and today her main activity is as an art consultant, curating pieces for the kind of private residences she once furnished as a designer.

Her trajectory shows a boundary that is often less fixed than the advisor / private bank / gallerist distinction suggests. Architects and interior designers routinely select art as one element of a larger design brief — a piece chosen for its scale, its palette, and the specific wall it will occupy, alongside the sofa and the lighting plan. Where an independent advisor's brief starts with the art, a designer's brief usually starts with the room, and the art arrives as one more decision built to fit it — priced, in many projects, inside the design fee rather than billed as its own line item.

What the payment model means for what you're shown

None of these three roles is inherently more trustworthy than the others — the APAA's rules exist precisely because independence has to be structurally enforced, not assumed. What differs is what each role is built to optimize. An independent advisor is built to solve for the art itself, across any source, with a fee disclosed upfront. A private-bank team is built to solve for a collection inside a larger financial relationship, where a curatorial criterion like coherence of theme sits next to estate and insurance planning. An architect or designer is built to solve for the room, where a work has to answer to scale and light before it answers to provenance. Knowing which of these three briefs someone is actually working from is the most useful question a buyer can ask before acting on a recommendation.

From the studio

None of these three roles stands between a buyer and Perfeito Studio — there is no advisor, no bank team, and no designer's markup in the conversation. When someone writes to ask about a piece, they are talking to me, and the price they see is the price the work is offered at. I don't say that to suggest the other paths are wrong — an advisor's due diligence and a designer's eye for a room are real skills, and collectors building complex holdings often need exactly that. I say it because it changes what I owe you: there is no commission structure to disclose, because there isn't one. What I do owe, and what comes with every acquisition here, is the same category of documentation any of the three roles above would insist on before recommending a purchase — a signed Certificate of Authenticity, an internal Archive ID, and a written acquisition agreement. Going direct changes who you're talking to and removes a layer of fee; it doesn't remove a layer of paperwork.

Frequently asked

What is the difference between an independent art advisor and a private-bank art advisory team?

An independent advisor is paid only by the buyer, holds no inventory, and under the Association of Professional Art Advisors' code of ethics cannot take compensation from a gallery or dealer on the same deal. A private-bank advisory team, like the one at UBS, is built into a client's broader wealth-management relationship — the art guidance is one service among estate planning, insurance, and portfolio management, rather than a standalone, separately billed engagement.

How does an architect or interior designer get paid for choosing art?

There is no single answer, and it depends on the professional. Some, like architect-turned-art-consultant Roberta Bussab, formalize art selection as its own consulting service with its own fee. In many other design projects, art recommendations are simply part of the broader interior-design brief, priced inside the design fee rather than billed separately — different from both the independent advisor's disclosed, single-source fee and the private bank's bundled wealth-management fee.

Are art advisors allowed to earn a commission from the gallery selling the work?

Under the Association of Professional Art Advisors' code of ethics, no. Members are barred from soliciting or accepting compensation from vendors or service providers and must be paid by only one source per transaction — the client. That rule exists specifically to prevent an advisor from being paid twice on the same sale, once by the buyer and once by the seller, which would compromise the independence the role is meant to provide.

What criteria does a private-bank art advisor use to select works for a collection?

At UBS, Senior Art Advisory Specialist Carola Wiese describes the goal as building a collection where pieces are communicating with one another — connected by an underlying thread such as technique, timeline, or narrative theme, rather than accumulated one at a time with no relationship between them. That curatorial framing sits alongside more practical services the team provides, including documentation and inventory management for insurance, loans, and inheritance.

Can I buy a piece from Perfeito Studio without going through an advisor, bank, or designer?

Yes. Every work is sold directly by the studio — there is no advisor, bank team, or design intermediary in the process, and no markup added for one. You write to Alyne directly on WhatsApp, and every acquisition still includes a signed Certificate of Authenticity, an Archive ID, and a written acquisition agreement, the same category of documentation any of the three professional roles above would expect on a serious purchase.

Does hiring an advisor or working through a designer change the price of the artwork?

It can, depending on the fee model. A commission-based advisor's fee rises with the purchase price, and a designer who bundles art into a project fee is pricing the art alongside their design services rather than as a separate line item. Buying directly from the artist, as with Perfeito Studio, removes that intermediary fee structure — the price quoted is the price for the work itself.

Buying direct? No advisor, no bank team, no design markup — just the artist.

Ask Alyne directly about a specific piece — availability, materials, and what documentation comes with it. No intermediary fee in the conversation.

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