For galleries participating in Frieze London & Masters, the safe shipment of your artworks is paramount.
The process involves selecting the right fine art shipper, preparing the artwork for transport, and navigating customs and logistics. As an ICEFAT-certified shipper Crown Fine Art is ideally placed to manage the shipment of your artworks, from handling customs formalities in the UK to helping with the installation of artworks at the fairs and providing on, and off-site, storage solutions.
And with the 2025 edition of Frieze London and Frieze Masters just around the corner, Crown have put together a exhibitor guide to help you navigate the complexities of shipping for art fairs.
Whether you’re shipping your artworks by road, sea or air, by sticking to the below deadlines, you can ensure that your artworks arrive at the art fair in a smooth and timely manner. For any last minute shipments please contact us directly to see how we can help
Art Fair Deliveries and set-up timetable
Frieze Masters – Sunday 12th & Monday 13th October 2025 08.00 to 22.00
Frieze London – Monday 13th & Tuesday 14th October 2025 08.00 to 22.00
Pro-Forma Invoice
Packing List
AWB / BOL / Transit Document
Signed TA Contract (if applicable)
Documentation to be received by
Sea: 12th September 2025 – Sea Freight arrival to UK Port, 22rd September 2025
Air: 25th September 2025 – Air Freight arrival to London Heathrow Airport, 6th October 2025
Road: 26th September 2025 – Road freight received at Crown Fine Art London, 7th October 2025
Whether shipping your artworks by air, road or sea, you’ll need to start by finding a local fine art shipper in your country of origin to arrange collection, appropriate packing of the artworks, booking the relevant mode of transport, organising insurance (should you need it) and the preparation of any necessary documentation, including shipping invoices, packing lists, and export licences.
If you don’t already have your own trusted overseas shipping agent, Crown can put you in touch with an agent from our global network of ICEFAT-certified fine art shippers. The local agent will also be able to assist with preparing any necessary documentation, including shipping invoices, export licences and insurance.
Once your artworks are ready to be shipped, Crown will liaise with your chosen overseas agent, either to arrange collection of your crates from the airport or port terminal (if shipping by air or sea), or to receive the artworks at our warehouse (if shipping by road) and arrange all customs import formalities and transport the crates back to our central London fine art storage facility ready for delivery to Frieze*
Crown offers 2 weeks of storage free of charge both before and after Frieze Please contact [email protected] for more information.
Crown Fine Art is proud to be ICEFAT certified. This mark of excellence is held by just 60 fine art logistics specialists worldwide and reflects our commitment to the highest standards in handling, transporting and storing artworks with care.
When your artworks arrive in the UK from overseas they will need to be correctly imported and any customs duties and taxes paid, or, alternatively you can place onto Crown’s temporary admission account.
In the UK we have a scheme called Temporary Admission (TA) that allows you to import artworks suspending the payment of import VAT. Here at Crown we operate our own TA account meaning you can import artworks into the UK using our guarantee. We ask for a deposit based on the VAT amount and as we handle all our own customs in-house we can arrange for import VAT to be paid through us if you sell to a UK buyer.
See below flow chart to help explain the process:
Crown Fine Art are the official storage providers for Frieze London and Masters.
At Frieze London we offer 2m x 1m storage bays for artworks with a maximum of 1 bay per gallery on a first-come, first-served basis.
At Frieze Masters there are two separate storage areas at the fair: Art Storage and Empty Crate Storage. If you have booked onsite storage through Frieze, Crown will remove your empty crates and return them to your stand at the close of the fair from the on-site storage facility. A Crown representative will be on-site during the fair managing the storage on behalf of Frieze and you will be given a Crown contact throughout Frieze for this service.
Storage orders are organised through Frieze, and the service at the fair will be run by Crown Fine Art.
If you require off-site storage, our London storage warehouse, Art Central, is able to offer a range of storage solutions to accommodate collections of all sizes. You can choose to store in a dedicated room or in a shared space. We also have on-site gallery specification viewing rooms available on request at this location.
- Only five minutes from central London, easily accessible by either the Victoria or Northern line
- Full climate control and digitally monitored
- Fully Customs bonded
- Museum quality and GIS approved
- Department for Transport regulated
- AXA Grasp approved
- Private galleries, meeting rooms, workspaces and coffee on tap!
Should you require assistance to set-up your stand, Crown Fine Art installers can be hired for a minimum 2 hour charge per technician and on an hourly basis after this initial booking.
We will also have a dedicated coordination team on-site throughout the fair to assist with any ad-hoc or last minute requests.
Your Frieze journey doesn’t have to be over. You can display, sell or store artworks that doesn’t involve leaving central London. We currently have availability.
Art Central’s purpose-built viewing rooms are versatile spaces for viewing, selling or photographing your works. Highly secure, and with restricted access, our state-of-the-art premises offers National Museum Security Adviser approved storage.
Also, as Art Basel Paris follows hot on the heels of Frieze, Crown will also be providing a dedicated fine art vehicle to Art Basel Paris post-Frieze should you require transportation of artworks at the end of the fair.
For further information, terms and conditions and pricing please contact us directly for a pricing tariff.