The Director - Jeremy Waller

Jeremy Waller ACMA has been Director and owner of the Primavera gallery since 1999. He is also Director and owner of First Edition Translations - www.firstedit.co.uk. Jeremy is very familiar with Cambridge having won an open scholarship and studied history at Emmanuel College. This was a difficult decision at the time having also been offered a place at St Martins College of Art.

Jeremy’s passion for what he does is evidenced at every level of both businesses, but visually most at Primavera, where every day Jeremy creates an ever changing display portraying the enormous depth and range of contemporary art and craft in the UK and Ireland. How to achieve this within such an intimate, yet historic and architecturally protected space, is a major challenge.

The first floor gallery was once the home of the essayist and poet Charles Lamb. Bernard Leach and Dame Lucie Rie, members of the Society of Designer Craftsmen, both personally sold their work from 10 King’s Parade in the late 1950s, then the headquarters of the Society. This is why Primavera moved to 10 King’s Parade from London.

With the exception of the new sculpture garden and first floor galleries, the space has not changed. Not only does Primavera continue to exhibit the work of Bernard Leach and Lucie Rie, but also that of Hans Coper, Alan Caiger-Smith, Peter Collingwood and David Leach. Primavera is a constant balancing act of showing their permanent displays against frequent arrivals of new work, requiring Jeremy’s unique skills of design, art, craftwork and making, perception of value and finance, in order to manage it. He could not achieve this without an equally dedicated staff, all of whom share his enthusiasm and deep knowledge not only of the work on display but also the stories behind the artists themselves.

After studying in Cambridge, Jeremy worked for five years in London culminating with over two years at Babcock Power. In 1980 Jeremy was appointed Financial Manager of the Otis Elevator Company for The Lebanon and Syria to financially manage lift and escalator sale and installation contracts, and run a large financial department. For more than two years he travelled in those difficult times, during the civil war and the Israeli invasion, throughout both countries meeting people of frequently clashing faiths and cultures, becoming necessarily and emotionally involved in conflict resolution where possible.

Promoted to Systems Manager for Otis, then Manager Planning and Reporting in Paris, responsible finally for controlling financial information and budgets throughout Europe, the Middle East and Africa, he went to live in Paris, where he met his wife Sheila. In 1985 he was promoted to MD for Otis - East and Central Africa. Based in Nairobi, Kenya, as an employee of Otis, then owner of the companies, and travelling throughout Burundi, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Rwanda, The Seychelles, Uganda and Zambia, he oversaw the doubling in size of the businesses, and for example the sale and erection of lifts and escalators in Dar-es-Salaam and Mombasa airports, The Hilton Hotel Addis Ababa, hospitals in Nairobi and Kampala, as well as the Kafue Gorge Dam. During this period he was responsible for the smooth servicing and running of 750 lifts and escalators throughout the region. This was challenging with frequent political unrest, and disruption of power and labour supplies.

In 1995 he sold his businesses in East Africa and worked for Thyssen International based in South Africa for one year. He returned to his student home of Cambridge, purchasing First Edition Translations in 1997 and Primavera in 1999.