Built with the art world. For the art world.
Simon Hornby
Executive Chair and Co-Founder
Simon has spent over 30 years in logistics, risk, and security — from Securicor across Europe, Asia, and Latin America, to Willis advising Lloyd's underwriters on high-value risk transfer, to President at Crozier Fine Arts, where he led growth and commercial strategy. He’s a recognised speaker on art logistics and risk mitigation, lectures on the subject, and Co-Chaired the ICEFAT standards committee. He's seen how things move, how they break, and how they get protected.
He knows art logistics from every angle — operations, risk, insurance, acquisition. And after a decade working alongside Mike, watching the same problems go unsolved, he knew it was time to build something that actually worked for clients.
Mike Lardner
CEO and Co-Founder
Mike has never been good at accepting "that's just how it's done." He looks at problems differently, searches for the angle everyone else missed, and gets impatient when systems don't work as well as they should. That curiosity — and that impatience — fuels everything he does.
He’s spent nearly 20 years in strategy across Europe, working with Oxford University Press, Crown Worldwide, and UEFA. He and Simon have known each other over a decade. They grew Crozier Fine Arts together — Zurich to Geneva, Paris to London — partnered with Christie's, and delivered innovative solutions (wine vault, included!). But they also watched project managers drown in paperwork while millions got poured into technology that changed nothing. They knew this was their problem to solve. Palette is it.