I was always drawn to Art Deco. It was “Le Style” that drew my attention when I noticed it in the media and in real life. To me it evokes the feeling of optimism, a desire to make the world prettier through bold colours, exotic materials, and distinctive lines. It made its mark not just in architecture but touched everyday items, both ornamental and usable. It’s ageless.

What is Art Deco

Art Deco is an eclectic style, interpreted in many different forms by artists and designers that wanted to apply modernistic ideas, evoke the positive aspects of industrialization, and overall a sense of a new, scientific and progressive age. Perhaps a bit paradoxically, they also drew their inspiration from mythology and ancient styles, reinterpreting them to work side-by-side with modern stylistic choices.

In the beginning, it wasn’t a formalized style, the idea of “Art Deco-ishness” came a bit later. A landmark for Art Deco was the International Exhibition of Modern Decorative and Industrial Arts in Paris in 1925, which presented a large variety of works in the modern style – just “Le Style” – which helped spread its influence internationally and across continents. Communication lines being as slow as they were in the early 20th century, this also led to different interpretations of the style in the US and Europe – an interesting topic in itself. 

The name we now apply to the style came from that exhibition’s section on “Arts Décoratifs”, shortened to just “Art Deco” in 1966. Other names used when it was in its zenith were “moderne”, “modernistic style” or in French, “style contemporain.”

This bold new style emphasised the use of modern materials and slick designs, combined in a functional way. Most interpretations of the style would nowadays be described as minimalistic, though there were occasional variants that used opulent details, mystical symbolism and intricate ornamentation, while still somehow retaining attention to geometry.

One of the bigger contradictions in the style was between luxury items, unique and hand-made for elite and cosmopolitan clientele, often depicted in movies and artworks dealing with the era, and on the other hand, mass produced items in popular materials aimed for the broader market. Streamlined automobiles, steam locomotives, kitchenware and serving sets had forms that are themselves decorative, instead of having surface ornamentation – and they look absolutely fantastic.

Why I love it

A quote stuck in my mind, by Emile-Jacques Ruhlmann, “To create something that lasts, the first thing is to want to create something that lasts forever.” To me, Art Deco is immortal, and one of the few styles that always looks relevant.

It encompasses influences from both Eastern and Western arts, from ancient Egypt to the imagined future, and from geometric to asymmetrical. This diverse style has been expressed not only in fine arts but also in sculpture, architecture, photography, fashion and industrial design. Its elegance is in the precision.

My aim isn’t just to sell items that would fill in the blank spaces of other people’s apartments. I want to infuse the sense of Art Deco into your living places, its spirit of motion and geometry, its opulence and its clean lines, its visual evocations and its scents. I want to create feelings and memories of feelings of elegance and sophistication – or at least provoke them from your past.

I’ve started with scented candles, which for me are a form of living sculpture. A lighted candle is alive, its flame is a dancer, performing a glowing waltz, spreading its light and its fragrance on the spectator.

Where I want to go is home decorations and jewelry.