Cutting out a niche in Nicosia
The newly opened Silk Purse studio offers stunning examples of decoupage
Everyone knows the maxim, but how many of you have actually seen a pig’s ear? Well I have, most of them attached to a pig’s head. But if you turn right after the bridge (when leaving Nicosia) at Heroes Avenue, and stop outside the first shop on the left you come to (after the Cyprus/Harvard Public Health Unit, opposite Astra car rentals), you will enter the realm of transformation created by our very own diarist, Victoria Vasiliou, the mistress of the Silk Purse studio. Her chosen method for ameliorating your tired old pieces of furniture or decorating those freshly acquired is decoupage, the craft of applying paper cut-outs to wood or papier-mache.
The practice probably originated in Asiatic Russia and was then taken on by the Chinese in the 12th century, when they began to decorate lanterns with paper cut-outs of dragons and warriors, which they would glue to the surface and then cover in numerous layers of varnish. The craft was quite obscure but was taken up by Venetian cabinet makers in the l6th century, who found it a preferable technique to the massively labour intensive practice of marquetry. Then in the 1700s it was adopted by the French and English as a method of replicating the very expensive lacquered Jappaned pieces that were being imported from the orient. It became as popular with the gentry and genteel young ladies as embroidery and sketching. The French court was a centre of activity, with the salons of Marie Antoinette and Madame de Pompadour being pre-eminent. In England such worthies as Beau Brummell and the poet Byron were renowned practitioners, the latter spending three years on creating a screen to divide his chambers. Decoupage has been practiced by many artists, the most prominent being Fragonard, Picasso and Matisse.
Victoria sits for hours cutting tiny figures from sheets of printed paper covered in images of animals, insects, fruit; in fact anything. These range from dragonflies, butterflies, rabbits, birds, trailing ivy, numerous flowers, robust plums, pineapples, Roman numerals, practically any small illustration you can find, and gluing them to children’s chairs, toy-boxes, chests of drawers, beds, trays, picture frames, plant pots, boxes of various shapes, lamps and even toilet seats. Once secured in position they are then subjected to layer upon layer of varnish, and each coating has to thoroughly dry before the next application. I am amazed that any man would try it.
So how did the newly married Victoria take up the craft? Apparently she has always had the nimble fingers, and many recipients of her knitwear will testify to her skill, but on moving to her newly restored town-house she felt that a lot of her old furniture needed upgrading and what better method than decoupage. This transforms the dullest piece into a sparkling gem, and therefore it is not surprising that their visitors would be entranced by them; ergo, many commissions, later expanding into the Silk Purse.
Victoria will also tackle any old object you bring along, even the fridge, so long as you can get it through the door. These objects make marvelous and unique presents, so get along to the shop in time to acquire something really different for Christmas. In addition to the decoupage, she also offers an array of hand made embroidered and decorated cushions that would sit very nicely on a decoupaged chair or bed.
Silk Purse
Heroes Avenue
Tel: 96 610198
