What's that?

For collectors of unique objet d'art, the von Bueren family has stamped its Lotus Arts de Vivre firmly on the international scene over the past 25 years.

Last week, the family celebrated the anniversary at Bangkok's Sukhothai Hotel. The family includes Rolf, who is responsible for finding artefacts; Helen, who oversees design direction; Sri, the creative director; and Nicklas, in charge of marketing.

From jewellery to home decor, each piece is individual, distinctive, collectible and characterises the taste and style of its buyers, explains Sri. "People who buy our stuff are not faint-hearted, I suppose," Sri says.

"The uniqueness is the person who buys it. We've a joke in the family that every art piece we have has to find its Cinderella, and sometimes it takes a long time to find Cinderella. Sometimes it happens very fast.

"We make many individual pieces. There is a relationship between those who recognise them, and those who wear them.

"It is fantastic when customers call and say they love our products. And, I think that's very important, especially today, because too many things are taking for granted," Sri says.

"Everybody is over-marketed," he adds.

In 25 years, Sri says the business has been through a lot of change. "We are lucky to do what we are doing. We're also lucky to have people that are interested and buying our creations," he says.

About 70 per cent of Lotus Arts de Vivre customers are in Asia. There are signature stores in Thailand, Singapore, Japan and Cambodia and the company is represented in New York, and by leading jewellers around the world.

Its objet d'art are well known and favourites  among the elite for their highest-calibre handcraft, use of beautiful, natural materials such as gems, woods, corals, shells, stingray leather and coconut.

These are harmoniously matched with centuries-old artistic techniques and the wisdom of craftsmen.

Such one-of-a-kind art objects are unorthodox, yet attractive.

"If I have any passion, it is for music and for life. There are different sides to every customer. Everybody has a passion for something. I've a passion for food, too ... well, everybody does," Sri says. "Our inspiration, I guess, is the collation of East and West, in particular from travel. Having interesting friends with different tastes.

"Living in Asia with its many cultures, maybe we absorb this and bring it out. We have certain looks for our creations.

"We have a lot of animal looks. We live in an urban environment and so we bring animals into our apartments; modern animals that you don't have to feed or clean up after," he says.

He thinks each art piece very much depends on the buyer's "sensitivity". "By enjoying your surroundings, I believe you can cheer yourself up and feel happy ... feel good," he says.

Sri believes everybody is gifted. When Sri was young, he was not good at school, and failed exams. So, he decided to go straight to work.

"I decided to become a goldsmith and trained in Germany. I learned how to make things."

Sri says he's unsure if he is an artist, but he knows for sure that he loves designing and making his objet d'art.

"I've never thought I'd like to be an artist, and whether I am an artist now, I don't know. But, it is a challenge selling these pieces, too," he says.

Kupluthai Pungkanon

The Nation