Hi everyone: Jessica here. Today, I’m sharing a few of my picks for women of taste. Each one has a remarkable sense of her creative self and a dynamic way of actualizing the talents she has developed. Cean Irminger’s personal sense of design aesthetics leans toward a spirit of fun and innocence but her designs express a sophistication that is common in the world of mosaics. Aviva Stanoff is a multi-generational maker who effervesces with vibrancy and soulfulness. With a fearless sense of adventure, she continues to expand her product line from textiles into lighting, decorative accessories and furniture. Antiques purveyor Lidy Baars believes a home should reflect the way a person lives, should represent his or her passions, and should evolve with a personal style that is as unique as the fingerprints that makes each of us so special.
Cean Irminger of New Ravenna
Cean Irminger is the creative director of New Ravenna, responsible for some of the Virginia-based company’s most whimsical designs. Among our favorites are patterns in the Kiddo Collection, which includes a number of joyous and adventurous designs highlighting elements of child’s play in such an elegant way—not an easy feat. It debuted in 2016, and the Personal Space pattern shown below was introduced during the summer of 2018 as a design in the Wunderkammer Edition. Irminger says of her desire to create such frolicsome designs, “… like a mosaic dust-covered Pied Piper, I want to lead the design community to a playful world full of whimsy, bold color, and joyful surprises.”
Cean began creating mosaics for New Ravenna over fifteen years ago, and today she leads the company’s design efforts by developing new patterns, products, and techniques. Many of these have been featured in magazines and installed in luxury buildings and homes around the world. This sense of exuberance spills over into her wallpaper and gift-wrap designs, which you can find on Spoonflower. There, she describes herself this way: “By day I am an upstanding mosaic designer for New Ravenna on the Eastern Shore of Virginia. By night I am a superdork drawing whatever weird things pop into my head. By morning I'm exhausted.” If it helps at all, Cean, those of us devoted to remarkable design feel ourselves the beneficiaries of your lack of sleep!
Aviva Stanoff of Aviva Stanoff Design
Aviva Stanoff’s dynamic creative spirit has a super-power strength behind it, forged by her mindfulness that she is a conduit from the past that enlivens the future, a commitment that is as natural as breathing for this artisan. “I see what I do as a vital act of representing all the creatives who came before me,” she remarks. “Honoring that spirit, I must be certain that this legacy doesn’t stop with me.” Having been raised in a multicultural environment as a child of Japanese and Russian immigrants, she sees it as her duty to honor all of the forces that have helped shape who she is. And she is determined to use her power for good, a resolve cemented during childhood summers studying traditional arts in her family’s Buddhist temple in Japan. This commitment was renewed each time she hiked the old-growth redwood forests near her California home growing up and during walks on her local beach today. It is also inspired by travel.
Her entrée into the world of the textile arts was centered around the runway, and internships at Calvin Klein Home while earning her MFA brought her the first successes of her career in home décor products. By graduation, Aviva’s designs for Calvin Klein were on store shelves, earning her a mention in Vogue. These early triumphs turned to commissions from Christian Dior, Givenchy Couture and Donna Karan, among others. In 2004, Aviva launched her own line of home accessories in Brooklyn, which included products that garnered her a “Best Bet” mention from The New York Times. One look at products in her Signature Collection, shown above and in the featured image on this post, and you can see why. Her textiles, which are made in the USA, are featured in luxurious hospitality properties, and the list of her partners for licensed collections is long. I simply can’t wait to see what she is going to be envisioning next!
Lidy Baars of French Garden House
Lidy Baars says, “Creating a beautiful home surrounded by things you love adds joy to orchestrating your best life” and I couldn’t agree more. Just as I do, she believes shopping for antiques for a home should be fun, and that creating a space surrounded by beautiful things you love is one of the best ways to express your own style and improve your quality of life. If you aren’t able to visit some of the world’s most renowned antiques venues, I have good news: Lidy can take care of this for you. She travels to her favorite brocantes in France, Belgium, Holland, England and the US to personally select every antique item that she sells. She sees the world of antiques as exciting and full of surprises because each object she sources has a history; each find is soulful because of the beautiful stories they could tell about those who have owned them before.
“Just as your home is constantly evolving,” she notes, “so are the antiques I offer.” Everything Lidy knows about gracious living she learned from her European grandparents. She shares with us that her grandmother, Aleida Verheuvel, had an incredible sense of style; and that her grandfather, Gijsbertus Schoonderbeek, was a charming gentleman who taught her that a smile and good manners go a long way to making each day a blessing. With over 18 years of experience as an antiques dealer, she cherishes her reputation for sourcing exquisite furnishings. Lidy has a knack for unearthing treasures that are of the highest quality and that are packed with personality. You glean a sense of this from her Instagram feed, which I’ve captured above. Even if your taste is a little quirky and out of the ordinary, she is not at all afraid to go there, so don’t be shy if you are on the lookout for treasures that will bring added grace into your home!
I’d love to know if you enjoyed reading about these brilliant women, as I am thinking this could be a terrific series to feature among our musings from time to time. We won’t only be writing about women, of course; there are so many men I know who deserve a shout-out for their talents, so look for us to do a “Saluting Men of Taste” piece soon.
All mosaic images copyright New Ravenna®.