About Maquette About Maquette
“In the beginner’s mind there are many possibilities, but in the expert’s there are few”
– Shunryu Suzuki
In 2011 Jason Smith and Keith Stressler founded Maquette Fine Art Service. With a staff of four people and running only two trucks, its competitors had many more resources. To compete, the founders realized that to grow their influence in the industry they had to focus on exceptional service. As Maquette has grown by adding staff, trucks, services, and locations, its emphasis on service and the exceptional people who execute those services has never wavered.
The word Maquette is defined as a small preliminary model or sketch.
Our philosophy has always been to maintain the idea that we were always at the beginning. The concept of a beginner’s mind is the development of a mindset that is willing to see everything as though it is for the first time.
This ensures that our work and its methodologies are always focused on the client’s best interest.
Principles Principles
Since our inception in 2012, our business philosophy has been based on excellent service and exceptional people. As we have grown, it has been essential to building upon our collaborative culture of meritocracy. To help start to define what our culture means and how it can sustain itself through growth, we have created these seven core principles of Maquette.
We specialize in service within the fine arts logistic industry by offering only experiences of exceptional assistance. Our objective is to be recognized as the company that puts service ahead of everything.
We succeed when every decision is based on a clear understanding and belief in what we do, when we couple this conviction with sound planning it brings excellent results for our clients and our company.
Our greatest asset, and the key to our success, is our people. We believe that each of us needs a sense of dignity, pride, and satisfaction in what we do. Because satisfying our clients depends on the united efforts of many, we are most effective when we work together cooperatively, respecting each other’s contribution and importance.
Mistakes are inevitable facts of doing anything. They are acceptable outcomes sometimes, however, not learning from those mistakes is not acceptable. Perceive problems and don’t tolerate them. Immediately make the changes necessary to avoid the issue in the future.
We demonstrate our beliefs most meaningfully in the way we treat each other, and by the example, we set for one another. In all our interactions with our clients, business associates, and colleagues, we seek to deal with others as we would have them deal with us.
Our ability to adapt and change within any given moment is crucial to meeting our goals. Doing this on a micro and macro level allows us to remain nimble and effective.
Think long-term and don’t sacrifice long-term value for short-term results. Act on behalf of the entire company beyond just one’s own team. We should never say, “that’s not my job.”