Bucharest, 2024
The collaboration with Corinthia Grand Hotel du Boulevard Bucharest, has given me the opportunity to shape new forms of expression. The graphic proposal for the visual identity of the hotel is a character that embodies the effervescence of the Belle Époque period, marked by elegance, refinement, and opulence but with a modern, sophisticated, and minimalist perspective.
The graphic I created specifically for the hotel will be featured on a range of personalized items, offered as gifts to the hotel’s guests.
I wanted to capture the essence of this historical moment when luxury, ornamentation, and decorativeness were omnipresent, and art and fashion blended into a common manifestation of beauty and human expressiveness. I was inspired by the iconic visual elements of the Belle Époque period, such as sumptuous hats, delicate gloves, fine ribbons, aristocratic feathers, and elegant umbrella. These elements find their place in my work as symbols of social status and sophisticated taste.
The sinuous, fluid lines that characterize the Art Nouveau style were the starting point for shaping a character that combines the Belle Époque tradition with contemporary modernity. I allowed myself to be guided by the elegant simplicity and pure lines of Brâncuși’s aesthetic, creating a character that reflects both grandeur and the clarity of modern form.
The character reflects the historical image of the Grand Hotel du Boulevard Bucharest, which marked the Belle Époque period through a celebration of life, through art, music, and dance. Through this juxtaposition between past and present, between the splendor of the Belle Époque and the purity of modern forms, I tried to capture the spirit of a period in which art was not just an aesthetic manifestation but a complete experience of life.
The architectural and decorative elements of the hotel, like the wrought iron elements of the balcony and the classical capitel, with its two volutes, inspired me to design a scenographic setting where the sophisticated lady becomes the centerpiece of the spectacle.
Grand Hôtel du Boulevard, now the Corinthia Grand Hotel du Boulevard, carries with it one of Bucharest’s most enchanting stories. Its origins go back to 1865, when businessman Jacques Herdan commissioned architect Alexandru Orăscu to design a distinguished hotel. Inaugurated in the early 1870s, the former Hotel Herdan quickly became a landmark of refinement, known for its French restaurant, its elegant bookshop, and later, for being the first hotel in Bucharest to offer running water, electric lighting, and elevators.
One of its most beloved spaces, the grand salon, was a famed dance club where Bucharest’s society met to waltz, celebrate, and write their own stories beneath glittering lights.
