How Did Soho House Build a 10,000-Piece Collection? Meet the Woman Behind Its Art Barter System

Kate Bryan currently oversees the collection, built over the years through a system of trading artworks for memberships.

Artist Typoe, left, and Kate Bryan, right, at Soho Beach House in Miami. Photo: Courtesy Soho House.

At Cecconi’s, the leafy Italian courtyard restaurant tucked inside Soho Beach House, Kate Bryan sips tea and picks at a blueberry muffin, a picture of calm within the chaotic energy of Art Basel Miami Beach. As head of Soho House’s expansive art collection—10,000 works spread across its international outposts—Bryan leverages her sharp curatorial eye and personable demeanor to forge deep connections with the artists she welcomes into the exclusive private members’ club.

The collection itself has been years in the making, originally founded by artist Jonathan Yeo and steered by Francesca Gavin, from whom Bryan took over in 2016. Each artwork, from Lynette Yiadom-Boakye’s little grenades on the wall in London to Damien Hirst’s graffiti shark in Berlin, is acquired through an unconventional barter system: artists trade works for club membership and credits. The strategy not only populates the walls with original artworks, but has the added benefit of ensuring the clubs are always bustling with creatives.

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In Miami, the collection includes pieces by leading artists such as Rashid Johnson, Elizabeth Peyton, and KAWS, alongside local artists such as Rose Marie Cromwell and Liene Bosquê—a testament to the club’s commitment to championing regional art scenes around the club’s outposts.