Reflections on 2025: Growth, Grounding and the Human + Tech Connection

When I look back on 2025, it isn’t a single milestone or achievement that stands out, but how Bev/Art paired our momentum with meaning.

On paper, the growth is easy to summarize: We more than doubled our customer base this year, now supporting institutions in nearly 20 countries. We also welcomed four new team members, each bringing their own perspective, expertise, and energy into what remains a deeply collaborative company. For the first time, we expanded our physical presence beyond Europe with our first U.S.-based hire, joining the teams already established in Oslo and London.

But growth is more than numbers. It’s just as important to be intentional in protecting the culture you’ve built. One of the things I’m proudest of is that even as our footprint expanded, our conversations stayed personal. We still talk about individual collections, individual buildings, individual risks. We still take time to understand the people behind the institutions — the conservators, collection managers, and caretakers who live with these spaces every day.

That human focus became especially important as we crossed a product threshold: the launch of our AI feature. It’s an industry-first, and not something we approached lightly. In heritage preservation, technology is rarely neutral. From the beginning, we knew that launching AI without a clear ethical framework would be irresponsible. So alongside the feature itself, we introduced a policy designed to support transparency, accountability and trust. 

One of the projects that embodied this balance between technology and research was our collaboration with NIKU, an independent research institute working across Norway and the broader cultural heritage field. Together, we undertook a project focused on climate conditions in historic churches, within environments that are both architecturally complex and deeply sensitive to change. Spending time on this reminded me why data matters. Not as an abstract stream of numbers, but as evidence that can inform long-term stewardship. The findings were fascinating, sometimes surprising, and often nuanced. (More to come in 2026!)

This year was another spent often on the road. Few things can replace standing inside a space, feeling its scale, its atmosphere and its contradictions.

One of the most unexpected highlights came while I was in Scotland, where I had the chance to visit The History of Surgery Museum. Walking through its collection, I was struck by the deep interconnection of science and art. Surgical instruments displayed not just as tools, but as objects shaped by craftsmanship, experimentation and aesthetics. Preservation here wasn’t about beauty in the traditional sense; it was about honoring ingenuity, progress and the uncomfortable realities of human history. It reframed my understanding of what cultural heritage includes — and reinforced how essential preservation is in helping us connect past knowledge to present understanding.

Another unforgettable moment in 2025 was the installation at the Swedish National Museum. Magnificent is the word that keeps coming back to me. There is something humbling about working in a space where history, national identity, and artistic excellence converge so seamlessly. 

Then, there were what might seem like smaller moments, such as the trip to Dubai for ICOM. What stood out most was not the size of the event, but the warmth of the welcome. We were embraced as part of the community and it reaffirmed something I’ve felt all along: when you show up with respect, curiosity, and a willingness to listen, the boundaries between “provider” and “partner” begin to dissolve. 

Another time, I had the opportunity to dust off my French and feel that small spark of connection when dialogue becomes more fluid. 

As I close the book on 2025 – and Bev/Art does the same – I feel grateful. 

Grateful for the people I’ve met, the spaces I’ve stood in, and the conversations that continue to shape how we work. 

At its core, Bev/Art exists to support care. Care for objects, care for spaces, and care for the people who protect them. This year reminded me that when growth is guided by that principle, it doesn’t dilute the mission — it strengthens it.

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Disclosure: As part of Bev/Art’s AI policy, we always disclose when AI was used in any capacity. For this article, it was used only as a copyeditor.