Time is our greatest luxury
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Art de Vivre
Art de vivre is a tribute to the good life, embracing beauty and culture and putting quality before quantity. At its best, practising art de vivre enables us to be present in the moment. True artisans express art de vivre in physical form, working their skills with unmatched precision and care to create objects of desire. Their know-how, passion, and dedication ensure the highest quality craftsmanship, turning each item into a work of art—from the exclusive hand-painted porcelain tableware in our yacht designs to art-inspired textile designs.
These highly crafted pieces are not just meant to be admired: they are made to be lived with. They add not just beauty, but depth. Unlike fashion, which is constantly reinventing itself, interior design calls for a more grounded, enduring vision. In an age of acceleration and disposability, interior design has become a means of grounding and presence. An extraordinary space is crafted by carefully selected decorative objects that bear a notion of timelessness and luxury.
This philosophy comes to life in the work of artists such as textile designer Karin Sajo. From her atelier in Paris, she draws colourful motifs and abstract floral patterns that come alive in interior fabrics. Her journey is as fascinating as her art. After working in haute couture with contemporaries such as John Galliano, she felt the need to create her own collections at a more sedate pace. ‘Textiles for interior design gave me the luxury of time to explore my own story,’ she says. As a child, Karin spent summers creating floral patterns while sitting by the River Danube. A passion for botany was a family affair: her grandfather would carve flower motifs into the wooden furniture he made, while her aunt loved painting them in soft colour gradients. Her love for abstract art came from her father, an artist himself.
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Artisans express art de vivre in physical form, working their skills with unmatched precision to create objects of desire.
Also in France, Marie Daâge stretches the boundaries of exclusivity in a different way. This French niche brand creates the most exclusive hand-painted porcelain tableware, which is fully customisable and painted to order. Clients select not only the decor but also the shape, palette, and rhythm of the composition, like building a personal wardrobe that evolves over time. These are not just functional plates and bowls. They are objects that bring us back to the present moment. They carry the stories of the artisans who painted them, the hands that chose their colours, even the moment when they are placed on a table— where they become quiet focal points of meaning and tactility in an interior. Marie started hand-painting on Limoges porcelain in a small studio in Paris in 1990 and grew into a major player in the French luxury and decorative arts scene. Says Marie: ‘Hand-painted porcelain cannot be rushed. It demands patience, training, and presence—precisely what gives it value today.’
These values are equally present at De Gourney’s hand-painted wallpaper. I love the versatility of wallpaper in all sorts of spaces, from kitchens to bedrooms and bathrooms. It’s astonishing to realise that the skills and techniques utilised by the artists at De Gourney remain almost unchanged from how historic Chinese wallpapers were manufactured. They still paint the wallpaper by hand, using silk and traditional handmade Xuan paper. Each artist leaves a part of his soul in their creation, and that ’spirit resonance‘ is tangible. These wallpapers are a testament to the innate beauty of craftsmanship, a quality which outlives the passage of time.
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