L´Atelier de Sarajevo

New Book out! Walls of Sarajevo available on-line!

2009-05-10T04:11:00.000-07:00

WALLS OF SARAJEVO

By Rebecca Mesbah an...

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Spring time inspiration...

2009-03-29T04:49:00.001-07:00

Kids play...

2009-03-29T04:46:00.001-07:00

Paper collage and aquarelle crayons

Trying hard to deviate from red...

2009-03-29T04:26:00.000-07:00

Well there's white!

More African skies

2009-01-20T11:22:00.000-08:00

Being back from Ethiopia inspired Rebecca to paint the skies!

Storm

2008-08-08T12:09:00.000-07:00

Still in the beautiful French countryside but still thinking of Sarajevo! Took pictures of a spectacular storm there and decided to paint a storm here!

Finally!

2008-07-10T02:05:00.000-07:00

Yes, finally we got back together at least two of us (the third is in Paris managing a luxury hotel). We painted non-stop for five days letting our kids go crazy in the huge garden in the country-side. Real country painting.

We continued on our theme inspired by the walls of Sarajevo. And added some more to our dreamy series. Have a look!

Coming out!

2008-03-05T03:31:00.000-08:00

Let's see how could we phrase this... well, Rebecca has been living a double life for some time. We've showed you her abstract paintings inspired by the walls of Sarajevo but at the same time she has been painting figurative pieces derieved from her children's illustrations. Have a look at this portrait and tell her if it is time to come out of the closet!

Victor's our buddy...

2008-01-26T06:25:00.000-08:00

We've had complaints about our poetic diversions. Hey, have mercy! We're about to be scattered in three different countries and Victor Hugo is one of the best to express feelings of loss, separation, exile and anticipation*... But we swear we shall not be posing as intellectuals. We were just looking for soul food to keep us going. Honest! And Rebecca has produced something so it worked. Thanks Victor, you're a true friend!

* Has Victor Hugo been translated into English? We're asking YOU this question!

Les Djinns - Victor Hugo

2008-01-22T04:03:00.000-08:00

Murs, ville,

Et port,

Asile

De mort,

Mer grise

Où brise

La brise,

Tout dort.

Dans la plaine

Naît un bruit.

C'est l'haleine

De la nuit.

Elle brame

Comme une âme

Qu'une flamme

Toujours suit !

La voix plus haute

Semble un grelot.

D'un nain qui saute

C'est le galop.

Il fuit, s'élance,

Puis en cadence

Sur un pied danse

Au bout d'un flot.

La rumeur approche.

L'écho la redit.

C'est comme la cloche

D'un couvent maudit ;

Comme un bruit de foule,

Qui tonne et qui roule,

Et tantôt s'écroule,

Et tantôt grandit,

....

Mending Wall - Robert Frost

2008-01-06T04:32:00.000-08:00

Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That sends the frozen-ground-swell under it,
And spills the upper boulders in the sun;
And makes gaps even two can pass abreast.
The work of hunters is another thing:
I have come after them and made repair
Where they have left not one stone on stone,
But they would have the rabbit out of hiding,
To please the yelping dogs. The gaps I mean,
No one has seen them made or heard them made,
But at spring mending-time we find them there.
I let my neighbor know beyond the hill;
And on a day we meet to walk the line
And set the wall between us once again.
We keep the wall between us as we go.
To each the boulders that have fallen to each.
And some are loaves and some so nearly balls
We have to use a spell to make them balance:
"Stay where you are until our backs are turned!"
We wear our fingers rough with handling them.
Oh, just another kind of outdoor game,
One on a side. It comes to little more:
He is all pine and I am apple-orchard.
My apple trees will never get across
And eat the cones under his pines, I tell him.
He only says, "Good fences make good neighbors."
Spring is the mischief in me, and I wonder
If I could put a notion in his head:
"Why do they make good neighbors? Isn't it
Where there are cows? But here there are no cows.
Before I built a wall I'd ask to know
What I was walling in or walling out,
And to whom I was like to give offence.
Something there is that doesn't love a wall,
That wants it down!" I could say "Elves" to him,
But it's not elves exactly, and I'd rather
He said it for himself. I see him there,
Bringing a stone grasped firmly by the top
In each hand, like an old-stone savage armed.
He moves in darkness as it seems to me,
Not of woods only and the shade of trees.
He will not go behind his father's saying,
And he likes having thought of it so well
He says again, "Good fences make good neighbors."
-- Robert Frost.

Walling it up!

2007-12-23T07:33:00.000-08:00

Yes, we needed to invent a new verb ˝walling it up˝ to tell you that Laurence decided to join us on the wall theme! There is nothing like personal frustration to get your creativity working! Jo continued on her question ˝Šta˝ meaning ˝What the..˝ ?

The Wall

2007-12-13T01:20:00.000-08:00

Did you see the frightened ones
Did you hear the falling bombs
The flames are all long gone
But the pain lingers on
Goodbye blue sky
Goodbye blue sky
Goodbye
Goodbye
(...)
What shall we use to fill the empty
Spaces where we used to talk
How shall I fill the final places
How shall I complete the wall

The Wall, Pink Floyd-

Walls project..

2007-12-03T05:58:00.000-08:00

Walls of Sarajevo are still carrying the stigma of war with bullet and sharpnel damage. The present political situation also shows that today walls are still present in the heads of some. However, these physical walls are a beautiful thing. They not only show a range of amazing colours but also funny and artful graffiti a proof of the liveliness of Sarajevo's population. To make bridges out of walls, Joelle and Rebecca have started a painting project inspired by their pictures of walls. Here is a little glimpse of it!

She did it again!

2007-11-11T06:30:00.000-08:00

She did it again!! While Jo and Reb were discussing over the email about a series of paintings they started inspired by the walls of Sarajevo, Lau just did another painting. Some people can think, talk and paint while others just do it in sequence...

A preview of our ˝walls˝ series will be available soon. Once we finish talking we'll definitly start writing!

Envy!

2007-11-09T06:51:00.000-08:00

To be honest, out of use three, two are totally envious of Laurence. She has the discipline the other two lack so she brings to life on a regular basis nice paintings while we sporadically produce one! Here is one of her pieces continuing on the theme of nature.

Thought for food

2007-10-11T01:22:00.000-07:00

Bajram* is tomorrow! Upcoming baklava galore and compulsory visits to everyone during the next four days during which you are meant to eat... baklava! Yes, you get the picture. To make baklava you ˝just˝ need 1 kg butter, 1 kg sugar, pastry (jufka) and a huge amount of whole-nuts. Kids get money and sweets. Next week will be declared happy dentists week!

If you knew us you would know that we have been sooooo busy preparing all this that we did not have time to paint! Instead you get a nice still-life of autumn. No living creature was hurt during shooting of this picture.

*That is the end of Ramadan. Turkish word used in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Summer is over?

2007-09-20T00:26:00.000-07:00

It is difficult to accept that summer is over. At least for some of us who would rather wait for spring time in their beds with a good book and an Ipod. For Laurence, it is now time to remember the sensation of a summer on the Croatian coast: beatiful flowers, bright colours and the lazy afternoons on the veranda. Here are some of her interpretations!

HAPPY NEW MILLENIUM!!

2007-09-12T05:21:00.000-07:00

Happy new year! No we are ot crazy and yes, today we are entering the year 2000 - in the Ethiopian calendar... For those of you who have been living in a cave for the last years please take note that Ethiopia is actually the centre of the universe, not Bosnia and Herzegovina. People here are totally misled! How do we know that? Easy. Rebecca says so. On this occasion you get to see her painting called ˝Ethiopian sky˝. Rebecca is Ethiopian? Why are you asking?

Art for kids..

2007-09-11T02:49:00.000-07:00

Rebecca has two nieces. They are amazing people and at only 11 and 9 they are ready to change the world. Leaving the fine tuning of their personalities to their creative mother Helene*, Rebecca as their aunt just wants to stimulate their brains! Here are two paintings done especially for them.

Helene has a blog about her adventures on the other side of the planet getting her jewellery design business up and going. Have a look at http://bouzicabyron.blogspot.com/

Inspirational quote...

2007-09-10T22:54:00.000-07:00

...Light, when cast upon the mirrors of the wise, gives expression to wisdom; when reflected from the minds of artists it produces manifestations of new and beautiful arts... (Compilations, Baha'i Scriptures, p. 156)

Anything new?

2007-09-08T12:07:00.000-07:00

You thought we were going to slowly fade into the background now that we are leading separate lives? Think again. Thanks to Skype, SMS and all other strange technologies designed for talkative people, we are back with a vengeance. Laurence has been painting nature all summer and here are some samples of it. What did the two others do? Ha, we will be back soon with news about that!

Party animals live on!

2007-07-24T09:48:00.000-07:00

That we are party animals is a given fact. Scientifically proven by the number of parties we have organised in our "Atelier". Any occasion has been celebrated, grand opening, grand closing with lots of people, and then we've had more intimate parties with different themes according to our mood so it's been "I am the best" parties, "why would anyone like this colour?" parties, "we've sold it" parties and then the plain old "I love Claude Francois*" parties when our stunned neighbours have had the unique opportunity to see us pretend to fly on "Les sirenes du port d'Alexandrie.."

SERIOUSLY: Well, there has been rumours in Sarajevo that we are closing. Closing? Us? Nah, we are just opening new branches as one of us, and maybe even two have to leave the country.... So our last candle light dinner was somehow a goodbye party. Don't worry, nothing sad just lots of food.

Our plans now are to continue our work partly in Sarajevo, partly in Switzerland and France and devote more time to manage our sales. We're contructing a website -to be announced on this blog - to reach a wider audience. Australia here we come!!!!

* Note for non-francophones: Claude Francois was a pop singer in the 60s and 70s whose songs are deeply engraved upon the soul of any French. Tunes such as " Alexandrie, ahhaaa, Alexandra", and "comme d'habitudeuh" (on the melody of "My way") are timeless tribute to French poetry. His peroxide blond hair and scantly clad dancers added to the mystique. Of course if you would ask your French friends they would certainly deny liking him, but put a record on and they all start dancing "his" signature moves!!! Funny people these French!

Soul mates

2007-05-04T00:11:00.000-07:00

Is there such a thing as soul mates in the world of business? If there is, we have just found him/her in a small place called Bangalow. It is on the North Shore of New South Wales all the way down in Australia where one of us was soaking up tropical inspiration... Maybe if we dug a tunnel from there we'd end up in Sarajevo!

We are in, hip, cool, groovy, trendy....

2007-04-15T04:44:00.000-07:00

The tulips are out, the cat got a litter of four, my neighbour complains of hypertension, the psychiatric wards are full, it is springtime in Sarajevo.
A breeze of change is blowing in ˝L'atelier˝. We are now going strong on painting on canvas. And the canvases are each time bigger... When we cannot fit it in our place anymore, we'll call it an installation. Yep. Trendy as can be.

Oh, the beauty of science!

2007-03-03T03:49:00.000-08:00

It is said that self-experimentation is a good source for new ideas*. All day long we're doing just that: when discussing the merits of Mr. D.´s legs, the appeal of the new chocolate cake at the café down the road or the beauty of a really ugly piece. It is scientific, I tell you. Results can be expected. Just don't ask when!

On the painting front, we've finished an order for bookshelves, in red with black and white family pictures painted on it. We've also started painting on the walls. We might tell you more about this experiement when we complete its analysis.

*Seth Roberts, "Self-experimentation as a source of new ideas: Ten examples about sleep, mood, health, and weight" (2004). Behavioral and Brain Sciences. 27 (2), pp. 227-288.

Open on Fridays

2007-01-20T09:10:00.000-08:00

The newest of news is that from now on, we are open to the public every Friday from 9.00h to 16.00h. So if you want to drop by to see our work, order something or just have a chat and a cup of tea, you are most welcome.
This way you will not come to a closed door like last Tuesday when we went up the mountain to get some sun and of course inspiration!!! What you’ve never heard that a deck chair is the best place to find inspiration? You definitely need to get out more... One suggestion: start with l´Atelier!

Happy New Year! Bonne Année! Sretna Nova Godina!

2007-01-08T07:15:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year! Bonne Année! Sretna Nova Godina! There you go you get it three times... At this time of the year you cannot meet anyone without wishing each other well. Would something really bad happen if you did not? Did anyone ever try this very scientific experiment: take a normal human being on the 31rst of December and lock him somewhere until February the next year when he can safely emerge without anyone wishing him a ˝Happy New Year˝ ?
Actually, we don´t care so much about getting facts straight but this IS a grumpy way of complaining that no one- I repeat no one- has sent us new year wishes.... OK, maybe this has to do with the fact that we had switched off the comment option on the blog but as we have re-instated it since, you still have a chance to send us your wishes! We would like that very much thank you. You have plenty of time: for those of you who forgot Ethiopian New Year in September, you have Chinese New Year coming up!

Views of l´Atelier these days..

2006-12-18T11:28:00.000-08:00

What is the colour of the Bosnian pyramid?

2006-12-18T11:06:00.000-08:00

Here is our answer! On top of that this one has drawers and can be the masterpiece of your living room... It was designed and hand made by Dario Mioč who is a young carpenter from Zenica with the assistance of Šerif Kaknjo, apprentice carpenter and master musician and of course painted by yours truely in a combination of deep red tones.

By the way, Bosnia is a very normal country - and like anywhere else, taxi drivers are philosophers, kids are football commentators, women cook and men read the newspapers and talk about politics - except for one thing: mountains are actually pyramids! It is not a joke. Take a look at the official site of the Bosnian pyramid project http://www.bosnianpyramid.com/

By the way, if you ever go to Zenica you can hear the amazing performing duo ˝Neš˝ with Šerif singing and playing the guitar with his alter ego Harun (more often called Nune) at the drums every Friday and Saturday night at the café Stari Sat.

Getting ready for the big day

2006-12-13T02:35:00.000-08:00

Now comes the time when we wish we were really Mary Poppins. The magic stick would be really useful to clean up the mess we´ve created in the atelier. All theses last minute touches..

Never mind, we´ll do it the traditional way (sigh) but it will be pico bello, all ready for Saturday. We´ll even take the paint out of our hair. You guys are so lucky!

Words, words, words...

2006-12-03T08:52:00.000-08:00

We have received comments about our stools. Not about the design mind you, but about the correct Bosnian word for it. Our carpenter in Travnik calls them ˝stolčić˝. Stolica being the word for chair it sounded fine to us. A friend in Sarajevo told us he never heard about stolčić, it is called ˝taboure˝ (pronounce like in French: taburey). Yet another friend -from Herzegovina- says it should be called a ˝štokrla˝ or a ˝skemlija˝. So we´re yet undecided. Our conclusion is that if there are so many words to call this item, it shows how important it is to Bosnian culture, you know the cliché about how many words Inuits have for snow...

They said: ˝come and buy!˝

2006-11-30T09:29:00.000-08:00

Saturday 16 December from 10h to 17h.
Remember this date. We’re having something at l´Atelier. The difficulty here is that we’re not yet sure how to call it. .. ˝Exhibition˝ sounds very artistic but we’re just painting furniture not expressing the tormented woes of our inner being! ˝Private view˝ sounds very chic but we’re hoping people will not only ˝view˝ but also buy!˝Sale˝ might be it but we’re not giving discounts. Dear oh dear, the English language! So we’ll put it quite blandly: on December 16 you can come to l´Atelier and buy what you like (or make an appointment for a custom made order). Come early to get a first pick!

The world of stolčić

2006-11-30T09:26:00.000-08:00

Stolčić (pronounce stoltshish)

The small wooden stool is an ubiquitous item in every Bosnian household. Women sit on it while making ˝pita˝, kids sit on it to watch TV in the kitchen, and of course everyone uses it to grab things from the highest shelf. This humble piece of furniture deserved to be a master-piece! We have therefore given each of our stools a personality of its own to fit the mood of your own household and probably reflecting our mood while painting but we shall not dwelve into these dangerous waters.... The result is that you have dozen of them for you to choose from, each unique! There are even more than you can see in the pictures.

Who is the lucky winner ?

2006-11-23T11:31:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday, one of the prizes for the tombola at the annual Christmas bazaar sponsored by the International Women´s club of Sarajevo was this table designed by l´Atelier. It has our signature modern Bosnian design with a patchwork of Japanese origami paper inlay. Who is the lucky winner?

No smoking?

2006-11-14T08:51:00.000-08:00

If you´d dropped by today at l´Atelier you would have doubted our no smoking policy. Laurence has been painting boxes so fast the brushes were almost melting. Joelle´s brains were about to explode due to the intense pressure she is submitting it to: she was trying to take a crucial decision about how pink should pink be. Rebecca has been inhaling fumes of gold paint and copper oxyde. All this for some secret projects you´ll have the pleasure to see at our upcoming exhibition on December 16. Stay tuned!

PS: Friday more brain activity at l´Atelier: we´re hosting the first meeting of the french-speaking ˝café philo˝. Intense discussion and chocolate cake expected...

About storks and tables...

2006-11-09T11:39:00.000-08:00

In French a nest of tables is called tables gigognes. This strange word is used for example for Russian dolls as well (poupées gigognes). A French writer called a prolific mother ˝la mère Gigogne˝ (BALZAC, Mém. jeunes mar., p. 325). This word is thought to be an alteration of the word cigogne - the stork which is supposed to be a very kind mother. Our tables look like that: a mother cuddling with her two little ones! Ok. This might be stretching the metaphor a bit too far since our tables are cubic and storks make a very strange barking sound but you get the picture. Here it is by the way!

Women and cats...

2006-11-08T02:13:00.000-08:00

˝Women and cats will do as they please, and men and dogs should relax and get used to the idea.˝- Robert A. Heinlein

This cat is from Travnik, a small city in central Bosnia where an 8o-years-old carpenter, Sejo, makes for us small wooden objects such as stools, spice shelves or bird houses! And... we paint them as we please!

Le Petit Prince - Little Prince

2006-11-06T07:55:00.000-08:00

Every child (and grown-up) in the world read the book ˝Little Prince˝ by French writer Saint-Exupéry . In it the fox tells the Little Prince how they could become friends instead of being afraid of each other. And finally he gives away his secret: ˝What is essential is invisible to the eye, one can only see with the heart˝. Having been confronted constantly in our lives with different peoples and cultures, this has become our common motto. So here it is, reproduced on our signature design in French of course, the language of Saint-Exupéry and the language of our hearts!

AH! Bosnian poetry!

2006-11-06T07:51:00.000-08:00

It was in the early months of my coming to Sarajevo, I was sitting at the home of some Bosnian friends. We had shared some excellent bread, sheep cheese and dried meat when one of them produced a guitar and started playing the musical version of the poem by Alksa Santić ˝Emina˝. All present intoned the song with him and the melody, the rhythm of the words touched me deeply. This was my first experience of the beauty of the language. This table carries the first verses of the poem. The rich burgundy color reflects the rich depths of a poetry which I, as a foreigner, can only hope to understand one day.

What do we do?

2006-11-06T07:45:00.000-08:00

We have decided to focus on painting wodden objects and pieces of furniture. Wood is one of the main industry of Bosnia and there is a lot of traditional know-how regarding wood-work. One of the people working with us is Emir Spahić

Emir Spahić is a student in Economics with a love for woodwork and an eye for beauty. His first work consisted in the renovation of an old barn into a beautiful summer house for his parents. He designed delicate wooden frames for windows in the traditional Bosnian style.
Our collaboration started in early 2006 and resulted in the combination of his woodwork into our coffee tables designs. Our modern approach to color and ornamentation completes theses unique pieces. These coffee tables we call ˝traditional Bosnian with a twist˝!

Bosnian traditional designs with a twist

2006-11-06T07:39:00.000-08:00

Octagonal table
The octagonal shape can be found in many traditional Bosnian designs including octagonal minarets.
The collage of music partitions on the table is a reminder of the Austrian influence on the country. This table is a homage to the Bosnian melting-pot.

How to come?

2006-11-06T04:13:00.000-08:00

By car: Pass the US Embassy, heading North (out of town) stay on that street (called Alipašina). Just after passing under the bridge leaving Ciglane market on your right, turn left at the traffic lights and then immediately left again. This is our street Husrefa Redžica. We are at number 16 on the ground floor. L´Atelier´s staircase is painted bright orange!
On foot: After the American Embassy turn immediately left. Follow this street, passing the Ciglane elevator, and Ristorante, you will find us on the left hand side.

Of course if you don´t live in Sarajevo, the easiest is to catch a plane, bus or train and ask a taxi to take you to us!! There must be 50 ways to find us!

What does ˝Atelier˝ mean?

2006-11-06T04:11:00.000-08:00

The word ˝atelier˝ , in the French language, means work room or artist studio. Historically ateliers served not only as a place where artists (or artisans) could create their artwork, but also as a place where people could spend time thinking, experimenting and getting inspired.

How it all started...

2006-11-04T11:37:00.000-08:00

˝L´Atelier˝ is basically about friendship....
Once upon a time there were three women who were in love with colour, hand-work, crafts, creating anything hand-made ... They all had lived in many different places and tried their hand at different crafts when fate got them to meet in Sarajevo. Things moved gradually from sharing experiences to painting together to finally getting a place to work together.
There it was a great little place on Husrefa Redžiča 16 in Ciglane. It has a big window to get natural light - a real luxury.