Laurien Hessels

Laurien Hessels is a presenter to the backbone and one of the best female auctioneers in the Netherlands. Grown up in the Netherlands, Brazil and the United States Laurien is fluent in Dutch, Portuguese and English.

She studied History of Art (and a Foundation Course in Law) at the University of Leiden. At the same time she was an active presenter and speaker. After graduation Laurien joined Russell Reynolds Associates (executive search business) to recruit candidates for large financial institutions like ABN AMRO, NIB Capital and ABP. During The European Fine Art Fair in the city of Maastricht Laurien worked for Otto Naumann, the pre-eminent dealer of Dutch old master paintings in New York. Rembrandt's portrait of 'Minerva', valued at $ 35 million, attracted many visitors to Naumann's stand at the fair and Laurien was able to meet many (famous) artists and their representatives.

The past five years, until mid-2007, Laurien Hessels was Client Development Manager and an auctioneer at Christie's Amsterdam. She was the liaison between important buyers and sellers and is the founder of cu@christies, a series of lectures, workshops, and events to enthuse young people between 20 and 50 years old for different forms of art and auctions.

At Christie's she auctioned jewelry, paintings, furniture and design. She also auctioned for charities like Pink Ribbon, Right to Play, CIA, and the ‘Night of the Stars’ for Fullbright scholarships. She supported the Youth Theater School and Shelter for Women.

Good preparation attributes ninety percent to a succesfull auction. Laurien guides buyers with knowledge, passion and humour to each higher bidding step and at the same time tries to entertain her audience. Decisive, charming and spontaneous as she is, Laurien is able to to make your corporate or cultural event a success. She is available as presenter/host, chair woman, lady speaker and auctioneer through Speakers Academy®.