What's In Store: Voila! Gallery

Walking through the Dwell on Design show in Los Angeles last week, I was stopped in my tracks by an enormous photo of a sepia toned hand. Stunning!

 And, as it turns out, a fitting image to represent, Voila! Studio, an eclectic Los Angeles-based design firm and retail shop with a penchant for incorporating mannequins into their art work. Think: "Handelier" a chandelier made of mannequin hands and you get the idea.

Released from the substantial imagination of Belgian ex-pat, artist, Katrien Van der Schueren, the collection is devoted to exotic, unexpected design for commercial and residential interiors as well as movie sets and photo shoots.  

 In addition to procuring some seriously inspiring found and industrial objects from around the country Van der Schueren joined forces in 2011 with designer Jo Laurie to create, Voici! a line of limited edition, textiles and "slightly demented furniture" intended to serve as functioning art.

"I notice that all people buy furniture," said Van der Schueren in an interview with the Los Angeles Times Home blog, "but only a few really buy interesting art. I wanted to transfer art on something functional."

Van der Schueren has also published her first book, The Art of Instruction: Vintage Educational Charts From the 19th and 20th Centuries, comprised of her collection of antique educational posters.

I think a field trip to Voila's shop on Los Angeles' trendy La Brea Blvd (518 N. La Brea) might be in order! However if you can't get away, check out Van der Schueren's "curiousities" online at the Voila Gallery.

"I want people to smile and to be surprised," Van der Schueren told the Times' blog. "These pieces are not for everyone, but they are for those people who want to make a statement in a room."