Jonathan Crockett still remembers the very first time he walked into an auction. It was an evening sale in the autumn of 2003 at the infamous Christie’s on King Street in London, the global headquarters of the world’s oldest fine art auctioneer. The room was, of course, packed with people, potential bidders vying for a chance to own one of the impressionist and modern art masterpieces that were hung around the room. Crockett, then a technical assistant in his mid-20s for the storied auction house and a fresh face to the industry, was absolutely enthralled by the energy. 

“The auctioneer was up there on his rostrum, commanding the presence of the entire room, and I just found it so captivating,” he says. “Something must have clicked inside me at that moment, and inspired me to follow the path and become an auctioneer.”

This serendipitous moment would eventually lead to Crockett overseeing his own auctions and, eventually, becoming the chairman of Phillips Asia, a prestigious British auction house. But he didn’t get there overnight. His impressive resumé is proof that expertise is built on experience—and Crockett has it in spades. After that first defining moment at Christie’s, he joined Sotheby’s in Hong Kong as a cataloguer in the Chinese Art Department and a specialist in Contemporary Asian Art, roles he held from 2004 to 2009. He returned to London four years later in a top position as the director and senior specialist of Contemporary Asian Art. In between, he founded and ran his own Hong Kong–based independent art advisory business, Jonathan Crockett Fine Art.

When Phillips sought to establish its presence in Asia in 2015, it landed on Hong Kong as a home base due to its geographic proximity to Greater China and reputation as a dynamic art and luxury hub—and, a few months later, in May 2016, tapped Crockett to lay down a robust foundation as the deputy chairman. Under his guidance, the team built a strong network, including in vibrant cultural centres like Seoul, Shanghai and Tokyo. In this role, he’s orchestrated the sales of artwork worth millions of dollars, all with a flick of a gavel. These works have included Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1982 piece “Native Carrying Some Guns, Bibles, Amorites on Safari,” which fetched HK$98,735,000 (US$12,628,207), and Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara’s rare 1995 painting “Lookin’ for a Treasure,” which sold for HK$285 million (US$36.3 million). Today, as the chairman of Phillips Asia, Crockett continues to shape the art and auction world, leading the regional operations and expansion of the auction house. In 2023, under Crockett, Phillips Asia unveiled its new headquarters in Hong Kong’s West Kowloon Cultural District, a spacious 50,000-square-foot space that spreads across six floors, right next to the world-class contemporary visual art museum M+. With this new hub, they are the first auction house in Hong Kong to have a permanent dedicated exhibition space and salesroom, allowing for year-round events and auctions.

Crockett’s is a storied career, in an industry that can often be challenging. As a junior employee at other auction houses, he recalls frequently pitching new ideas or processes, only to get pushback from a manager who was adverse to change. But that’s what made it the perfect industry for Crockett to venture into. Taking the unconventional path is nothing new to the London-born auctioneer. The eldest of five children in an Irish–Chinese family, he grew up around medicine, with a “long line of doctors in the family,” but found his calling in history instead. At 18 years old, on a trip to Beijing during his gap year to learn Mandarin and connect with his cultural heritage, he “could feel the potential for the country to prosper economically over the coming years,” he says. The trip would end up changing the trajectory of his life, convincing him that the future—and his future—rested in that region. Feeling invigorated from visits to the city’s cultural sites and museums, he changed his major from economics to art history with a focus on Chinese art. 

Crockett’s experience as a mixed-heritage person growing up in the United Kingdom—where he often struggled to fit in—not only influenced his decision to focus on Chinese art as a means to explore his culture and heritage, but it also informed his approach to leadership; he prioritizes being open-minded, listening and considering all angles. 

Now, as the one at the head of the table, he’s making sure that everyone on his team, no matter their seniority, gets a seat.

“The realization that people generally have a preconception or an assumption about the way things are, and aren’t able to see beyond that, is something [that] I’ve had to deal with all my life,” he says. “When it
comes to doing what I do, it’s never my way or the highway. I always listen to my team and get input from the younger generation. The world moves at such a fast pace that it’s very difficult to keep up-to-date. It’s really important to listen to them and what they have to say, and take their opinions into account because they are the future.” 

That ability to be open has lent itself, in many ways, to the success of Phillips Asia, which is marking its 10th anniversary this year and has become known for its willingness to defy traditional conventions and challenge the status quo. “From the very beginning, I wanted us to retain our own identity and to own it, as opposed to trying to emulate success in others,” Crockett says. Starting from his inaugural auction with the company, his goal was to have all collecting categories represented in the sale, rather than siloed. The result was a mix of the company’s specialty in modern and contemporary art, photographs and design pieces, presented together in a way that no one else was doing at the time. By departing from convention, the team was able to develop its authority in the region as one of the leading destinations for sellers, buyers and collectors. “We were doing something different that resonated with people, and that’s something that we’ll continue to do,” he says. ”Something interesting that raises the curiosity of people, brings them in and keeps them engaged with us.” 

And looking to the future means innovating. The auction house model, built on a British 18th-century concept, has remained largely the same since they were used to sell the estates of noble people. But Crockett believes it’s inevitable that the business model will undergo a profound transformation to address the needs of the global market. “The auction market and the auction business model [are] very much due for a revamp with the rise of AI technology developing at such a fast pace and with the international lifestyles that people live,” he says. An example of this innovation is Dropshop, a digital platform where Phillips partners with artists and brands to offer exclusive, limited-edition releases directly to buyers. 

Another shift Crockett predicts taking place is the increasing appetite of collectors in Asia for homegrown talent. He notes that for a long time, people have been looking to the West to fill their collections with established names, ultimately overlooking artists from the region. “You’ve got a lot of really talented artists from Asia trained in some of the best art schools in the world, who are now producing really interesting art,” he says. “That’s something [that] people will start to notice more and we’ll see a resurgence of demand for Asian contemporary names in the future.”

This trend is especially important as changes to the market—and its popularity—face hardships. “The Asian market finds itself in a situation that it hasn’t really been in for a long time,” he says. Threats of an upcoming recession have led to people taking a more cautious approach to growing their art collection. Buyers looking for safer bets in more established artists has led to a significant contraction in the last few years—the first time this has happened since the 2008 global financial crisis. “This generation of collectors has never experienced a downturn. All they’ve known, when it comes to art, is that it’s a great investment and it goes up in value,” he says. “This is the first time they’ve ever experienced the possibility that [their pieces] are maybe now worth less than what they bought it for.” But he is hopeful that when more certainty comes back to the market, collectors will show stronger support for young, emerging artists. 

For now, the superstitious Crockett is cautious of tempting fate by committing to a single vision for the future of Phillips Asia. “If you asked me 10 years ago whether we’d be where we are today, I would have said that’s a dream that’s impossible to make come true,” he says. But the formula for success, one he’s spent the past decade perfecting, is a foolproof blend of understanding their customers well and embracing precisely what sets the auction house apart from others. “I want us to continue to focus on what we’re good at and to provide the market with what it needs and wants, and to do it in a very Phillips way of operating.”

Reflecting back on his career, one of the most valuable lessons Crockett has learned is the power of believing in yourself. “If you can believe that you can do it, then you might be able to make it happen, but you need to first have that self-belief,” he says. It’s an undeniable trait that can inspire leadership in others, win over the support of colleagues and clients alike, and break through any barrier. “With self-confidence, unwavering in that conviction and just working relentlessly to make it happen,” he says, “sometimes the impossible can be made possible.” For more thought-provoking stories and exclusive content, subscribe to 3 magazine’s print and digital editions today!