An interior is never truly finished when the furniture is in place. Art often brings personality, narrative and emotion, creating spaces that feel lived in rather than designed.

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For the sixth edition of Ward & Co's Makers Series, we feature Austin + Checker, the London-based art advisory founded by Polly Checker and Pia Austin-Little. Combining gallery-level expertise with a highly personal approach, the pair work with private collectors and interior designers to build thoughtful collections that reflect a home's character and the people who live in it.

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Recently, Austin + Checker collaborated with Ward & Co to curate artwork for its Marylebone studio. Rather than simply selecting pieces to complement the interiors, the collection was designed to create a dialogue between art and design, introducing colour, personality and a sense of discovery throughout the space.

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The following Q&A is with Polly Checker and Pia Austin-Little, founders of Austin + Checker, reflecting on collecting, collaboration and the role art plays in creating memorable interiors.

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1- Could you introduce Austin + Checker and tell us a little about how the two of you came to work together?

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We're a London-based art advisory, working internationally with private collectors and interior designers to help clients build considered and personal art collections. We've been close friends since meeting at Bristol University, and both went on to build successful careers in the art world, working as directors in two prominent commercial galleries in London.

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We founded Austin + Checker because we believed there was space for an advisory offering gallery-level expertise and access, in a way that feels warm, open and genuinely enjoyable for collectors at every stage, whether they're buying a first piece or building a long-term collection.

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2- How have your different backgrounds shaped the way you approach art advisory today?

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Pia: I bring twelve years of experience at Vigo Gallery, where I specialised in the primary market and worked closely with an international roster of artists, developing a deep understanding of artists' practices and how their work is positioned in the global market.

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Polly: I bring more than a decade of secondary-market experience from Offer Waterman, where I oversaw academic and market research and curated museum-quality exhibitions. I subsequently joined TASCHEN, leading its global art fair programme and working across an international network of collectors, institutions and art-market professionals.

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Together, we bring a particularly rounded approach to acquisition, combining extensive research with expertise in both modern and contemporary art. While our professional backgrounds are distinct, they have ultimately cultivated many of the same passions: an international outlook, a deep engagement with contemporary art, and a belief that collecting can be a genuinely personal and philanthropic pursuit.

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For us, collecting is not simply about acquiring exceptional work. Many of our collectors want to follow artists over time and support their practice in a meaningful way. We love to encourage that deeper engagement through studio visits, gallery tours, and by creating opportunities for collectors to experience the wider ecosystem around the art they are acquiring.

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3- How do you strike the balance between selecting a work that responds to an interior and ensuring the art has an identity of its own?

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The goal is never simply for the art to complement the interior; the most interesting spaces are those where the art and design have a genuine dialogue, creating an environment that feels layered, considered and, above all, personal.

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Some of the most compelling projects we have worked on are those where the art introduces something unexpected, a sense of tension, a narrative, or perhaps simply a quieter moment of contemplation, so this is something we really focus on.

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Scale and placement are also hugely important. We often encourage clients to be a little more instinctive and, occasionally, a little braver, whether that means choosing a large-scale work, placing something somewhere unexpected or simply giving a particular piece more space.

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4- You recently worked with Ward & Co on an exhibition of artwork for our Marylebone studio. What was your starting point, and what did you want the pieces to bring?

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Ward & Co's work centres on creating bespoke interiors for a highly international clientele, and we wanted to reflect that in a collection of works that could feel equally at home in a London townhouse as a Caribbean beachside residence.

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The studio's aesthetic is clean and classic, so the brief focused on introducing colour and interest through the art.

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We wanted the collection to have a clear narrative thread, while still allowing for a broad aesthetic and visual range. With that in mind, we focused on a group of international contemporary artists, each exploring the possibilities of abstraction in very different ways.

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The result is a dynamic collection that brings together both emerging voices and more established artists, including Tess Jaray, Gary Komarin, Oliver Marsden, Rebecca Gilpin and Ellie Walker.

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5- How can art help give a space a sense of individuality and history?

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Art has the extraordinary ability to bring soul to an interior, and we often find collectors are most drawn to works with personal resonance, whether that's a connection to a place, a memory, or a particular period in their life. Truly understanding our client and what motivates them is at the heart of what we do.

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It's also one of the most rewarding parts of the process, as it can take us in unexpected and fascinating directions. Most recently, we worked with South African clients who had relocated to Portugal and wanted to build a collection that would maintain a connection to their home and heritage. It allowed us to build on our network in South Africa and delve deeper into the incredibly rich and dynamic contemporary art scene there to create a really exciting collection of works.

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We often work with collectors over years, allowing a collection to develop organically. As their lives, tastes and circumstances evolve, so does the collection.

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6- What makes a piece stay with you? Is there something you both instinctively look for?

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One of the great joys of art is that it allows for such an individual response. What draws us to a work isn't always something we can easily define or intellectualise. Sometimes, you respond instinctively. We encourage our collectors to sit with that feeling for a while. Walk away, give the work some time, and see whether you find yourself returning to it. If it stays with you, that's often when you should trust your instinct.

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There are certain artists we find ourselves returning to: Clara Gesang-Gottowt, a Swedish painter, creates ethereal, monumental landscapes characterised by expansive fields of luminous colour that seem to exist outside of time and place.

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Boston-based Danielle Fretwell is an exciting emerging artist whose stylised still lifes explore illusion and materiality with remarkable sophistication. We also continue to be drawn to Ben Stanwix & Xhanti Zwelendaba, a leading South African contemporary art duo whose multidisciplinary practice explores themes of history, culture and identity through textiles and mixed media. We were particularly pleased to place their work with a collector recently.

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7- What are you excited about in London this autumn?

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London's art scene offers an extraordinary range of opportunities to discover new artists. October is a particularly exciting month, when the city becomes a focal point for the international art world, attracting collectors, galleries and enthusiasts from across the globe.

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Frieze London and Frieze Masters are annual highlights, bringing together contemporary and historical art alongside an impressive sculpture programme. For design enthusiasts, PAD London in Berkeley Square offers a fascinating mix of art and design, while 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair provides an important platform for artists from Africa and its diaspora.

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Beyond the established fairs, London continues to welcome new events and alternative platforms, including initiatives such as Invitational and Fairplay Art Fair, offering fresh approaches to discovering and collecting art.

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The city's museums, institutions and commercial galleries are equally important, with an ever-changing programme of exhibitions featuring both established names and emerging talent. From Tate Modern and the National Gallery to the Courtauld and leading contemporary galleries, there is always something worth exploring. For anyone interested in art, the best advice is simply to get out, look around and remain curious.

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8- What is one piece of advice you would give someone looking to live with art more confidently?

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Educate yourself by seeing as much as you can. Visit galleries, museums and fairs, don't be afraid to ask questions, and give yourself time to research and develop your eye. Confidence comes from a combination of understanding and instinct. The more you look, the more you begin to recognise what resonates with you.

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Whether curating a private collection or selecting a single painting, Austin + Checker approach every project with the same belief: an art collection should be personal, meaningful and capable of evolving with the people who live alongside it.

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That philosophy mirrors Ward & Co's own approach to interiors. The strongest spaces are never built around individual objects, but around the relationships between them. When architecture, furniture, materials and art are considered together, an interior becomes something far richer than the sum of its parts, becoming a place with its own identity, story and lasting sense of belonging.

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Discover more of Austin + Checker's work at austinandchecker.com.

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To learn more about our work and see some of our other projects, you can book a meeting with our team here.

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Photography of Austin + Checker and their projects © Luis Nobres Guedes and Noah Da Costa.