Collecting Cultures: Personal, Foundation & Institutional Perspectives.

Joining us are three leading voices: Ettore Molinario, one of Italy’s most influential photography collectors; Lady Ina Sarikhani Weston, co-founder of The Sarikhani Collection and a key figure in international museum networks; and Barbara Staubli, Head of Art at Julius Baer, overseeing a major corporate collection of contemporary Swiss art. The talk will be moderated by Tim Marlow, CEO and Director of the Design Museum in London

Together, they bring distinct yet intersecting perspectives on collecting today from private vision to institutional impact.

This dynamic conversation explores how collections begin, evolve, and transform from personal passion into lasting cultural legacies, shaping artists, audiences, and the wider art world.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ettore Molinario is an economist, collector and art historian. 

After a twenty-year career as top manager in multinational companies in the financial and insurance sector, he decided to embark on a new personal and professional journey in the art world. He devoted several years to study and research, obtaining a second degree in Art History. 

This was followed by a grand tour of the world’s leading museums from 2010 to 2014. He is the author of essays on collecting and has participated as a speaker at conferences dedicated to the close link between photography and psychoanalysis. He has also collaborated with several universities as a visiting professor, teaching courses and workshops dedicated to photography and the art market. An expert in the dynamics that characterize today’s art market, Ettore Molinario is a consultant for private banks on economic issues in the art sector and is one of Italy’s most influential photography collectors. 

In 2024, with his wife Rossella Colombari, he founded the Casa Museo Molinario Colombari, a non-profit cultural association in Milan which hosts – and partially showcases – their collection. A dynamic and immersive environment that welcomes cultural exchange through guided visits, talks, events, experimental and innovative projects — nurturing dialogue, creativity, and discovery. 

 

Lady Ina Sarikhani Weston 

Lady Ina Sarikhani Weston is the co-founder and Director of The Sarikhani Collection, a body of art from Iran housed in its own museum. The collection engages in loans, exhibitions, research projects, publications and philanthropy, including supporting academic posts. In 2023, the collection has established Centre Sarikhani d’études élamite at the École Pratique des Hautes Études in Paris. 

Passionate about culture and convinced of the importance of collaboration, Ina has developed close relationships with partner institutions in Britain, Europe and the US.  Ina is a founder member of the International Council of The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, and Visiting Member of its ANE Council.  She is Chair of The Sarre Club, the think-tank of The Islamic Museum in Berlin.  Ina is a Trustee at The Royal Academy of Arts , a Fellow of The Ashmolean Museum and on The Development Board of The Wallace Collection.  Exhibitions include two major blockbuster exhibitions:  Epic Iran at The Victoria and Albert Museum in May 2021 and Iran: Five Thousand Years of Art with The Pergamon Museum in Berlin, 2021-22. Ina studied at Cambridge University, The School of Oriental and African Studies and the Courtauld Institute of Art 

 

Barbara Staubli

Barbara Staubli studied history, art history, and media relations at the University of Zurich. After several years working with internationally active galleries — where she was responsible for the realisation of exhibitions, artists’ projects, publications, and communications — she joined Bank Julius Baer in 2011. She has headed the Art Department since 2014. 

As curator of the Julius Baer Art Collection, she oversees a collection of more than 5,000 works by contemporary Swiss artists and is responsible for its strategic development, collection management, and the realisation of exhibitions and publications. She is a member of the Art Committee, which oversees new acquisitions, and has served on numerous juries in the field of contemporary art. Since 2022, she has been a board member of IACCCA (International Association of Corporate Collections of Contemporary Art). 

 

Tim Marlow

Tim Marlow is CEO and Director of the Design Museum in London. Over the past five years, he has transformed the landmark building into a hub for contemporary design with a wide-ranging programme that has received critical acclaim.

Formerly Artistic Director of the Royal Academy of Arts and Director of Exhibitions at White Cube, Marlow has been involved with the contemporary art and design world for the past thirty years as curator, writer and broadcaster. He has written and presented over 100 arts documentaries for British television and presented radio programmes across the BBC since 1990 and lectured on art, design and culture in universities and museums in more than 40 counties. He has sat on numerous trustee boards including the Institute of Contemporary Art London, Sadlers Wells Dance Company and the Imperial War Museum where he was Deputy Chair and currently he is a trustee of the Contemporary Arts Society.

In 2020, Tim Marlow was awarded an OBE for services to arts and culture.

 

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