A PHOTO OF her father, Manfred, smiles down on Nicole Schoeni as she sits in the office he used to occupy. 'I love that photo of him,' she says. 'He looks so happy there.'
After Manfred Schoeni's murder in the Philippines in May, his daughter has taken over the running of his businesses, which include galleries on Old Bailey Street and Hollywood Road, an outlet in Bangkok and an office in Beijing.
Only 23 years old, she has big shoes to fill. Manfred Schoeni began his art business in the early 1990s and built a reputation as a charismatic dealer, specialising in neo-realist, postmodern and satirical works, mostly from Chinese artists.
'It's quite a lot to live up to,' Schoeni says, describing her father as her idol. 'But I think I'm a lot like my dad. I'm confident enough to step into his shoes, but I'll do it in my own way.' She says she's developed her own approach over the past 10 years, having accompanied her father on trips to China to meet the artists who constitute the main body of the Schoeni business.
'The artists all know me and knew that I was going to be continuing his work,' she says. 'So, despite what happened to him, it's been very easy for me to step in.' To reassure the artists that she'd be continuing the business, Schoeni and her mother visited Beijing within weeks of Manfred's death.
Her next trip to the mainland will be to scout for new talent to add to her father's already noteworthy list. She plans to develop the gallery's focus on Chinese art. 'For me, that's one of the most important tasks we have: to find new artists and promote them and give them more exposure. Chinese art has always been my passion,' she says. 'Dad started to be much more diverse near the end, but I think I'm going to stick to Chinese art.'
Schoeni has spent the past four years studying Chinese and economics at the University of London, but left just before graduation because of her father's sudden death. She says her ability to speak Putonghua is a distinct advantage she has over her Swiss-born father. 'My dad had translators, of course, and if the translator translated wrong, he would always be able to tell. He just had a feeling. But I think for me, we now have a closer relationship with the artists.'