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Dallas Business Journal - October 25, 2004
EXCLUSIVE REPORTS
From the October 22, 2004 print edition
Daniel C. Bartel
Staff Writer
There's an art to moving art.
To moving and storage expert Timothy Nentrup, the process is more like a well-choreographed dance with a bit of magic mixed in.
"Many pieces I have to move without touching them," he said. "It's one challenge after the other."
As president of Displays Unlimited Inc. in Arlington, Nentrup prides his company on handling art without the fingerprints. Displays Unlimited provides transportation and storage for museums, corporate galleries, private art collectors and dealers. The company also offers exhibition research and installation.
Nentrup and his staff recently relocated from a 20,000-square-foot warehouse in Fort Worth to a 60,000-square-foot warehouse in Arlington's Great Southwest Industrial District. As part of the new move, Nentrup has spent about $1 million in finish-out, creating -- among other things -- a 7,200-square-foot climate-controlled storage vault, oversized dock doors and sliding chainlink racks for hanging canvas paintings.
"It helps me stay ahead of my competition," he said. "Art has to last forever, so it has to be stored (and moved) properly."
As an unseen force behind the canvas, Displays Unlimited has generated a devoted following among museums and private collectors. The company has moved and assembled exhibits in Fort Worth for the Kimbell Art Museum, the Amon Carter Museum and the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. In Dallas, the company has done work for the Nasher Sculpture Center and the Trammell and Margaret Crow Collection of Asian Art.
The company transports and stores art for local billionaires such as Alice Walton, daughter of Wal-Mart founder, Sam Walton. Nentrup and his staff have put together corporate exhibits for Alcon Laboratories' Ophthalmology Museum and art collections for Bank of America.
Each piece of art usually commands its own method of moving and storage. For instance, one canvas of delicate papier-mâché is protected from dust and moisture with a veil of Saran Wrap. For especially fragile pieces, such as those that hang or have sharp corners, Nentrup has to assemble special rigging and packing crates. One such metal piece hangs from a wooden two-by-four cross much like a marionette.
"He makes me relax," said Patricia B. Meadows, vice president of Hall Financial Group in Dallas and senior curator for the Hall Collection. "When you are transporting art across the country, you have to trust the movers packed and installed everything properly."
Displays Unlimited officials declined to discuss revenue, but confirmed an average yearly growth rate of 14% since its founding in 1994. Growth for the company really took off around 2000 and 2001 during the economic recession. Museums began downsizing, trimming in-house transportation and storage staff and outsourcing the work to third-party companies, Nentrup said.
Though rates vary, the cost to move a full trailer-load of art is around $7,000, he said. The company also custom-builds art display cases and stands gallery exhibits. To assemble one gallery costs from $30,000 to $150,000.
Installation for an entire museum can cost from $250,000 and up.
The company handles 200 clients a year and employs 24 people. Displays Unlimited usually hires art graduates with art backgrounds and teaches them art handling.
For Nentrup, the odds are that the inventory he's storing or moving is priceless -- at least, to somebody.
"There's no room for error here," he said. "You don't get a second chance with this stuff."
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