User:Hannah 26/sandbox

'''Pierre Koukjian ''' Born in Beirut in 1962, Pierre Koukjian was barely a teenager with a passion for drawing when the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war forced him to leave his homeland in the late 70’s. The following years’ experiences, as a student and apprentice in Europe and the Far East, developed his natural taste for research and started to describe the path that would lead him to the multidisciplinary knowledge and technical skills that assemble his actual artistic identity. Always in love with drawing and fascinated by the refined perfection of nature’s shapes, colours and sensuality within its tiniest details, and the contrasting poetically-balanced chaos of cities; he follows an extensive tutoring, studying architecture in the 80’s, then turning to a master painter to learn the Renaissance techniques. Learning and developing the skills and theoretical approaches of the ancient masters comply with his quest for the essential knowledge to guide his work to a personal stage; enabling him to materialize his own ideas and expressions.

Painting becomes since then his passion and a perfect medium to mature every creative project he gets involved with since. His hunger to multiply ways of expression leads him deeper into craftsmanship and decorative arts, starting new projects in disciplines such as sculpture, designing art-objects, porcelain and jewellery. His talent and personal approach is immediately recognised by the most prominent jewellery workshops and his signature appears in numerous designs for renown labels, while private collectors acquire his most poetically daring erotic art-objects.

In the 90’s, Koukjian masters a complicated balance between different artistic disciplines, sliding with natural confidence from one to another, or connecting them to accomplish new aesthetic results that fit his creative projects. While designing astounding nature and urban inspired jewellery, he always brings painting into play as his preferred medium to preview his creations, employing it also to develop series of monumental canvases that go way beyond pure iconic portraits, proposing a reflection about celebrity-cult saturation and colour as an attribute to enhance the features and expression of each personality.

The new millennium brings complex challenges. His encounter with a master from a long-standing Swiss watch label draws his attention to time measuring mechanisms associated with fine jewellery. Inspiring him masterpieces that go far beyond design, watch making and jewellery; wearable art pieces. In 2003, he offers an incisive response to the homogeneity of watch design, establishing his own jewellery and watch making label, deLaCour. With a futuristic styling and daring tag line “Since tomorrow”, Koukjian’s creates pioneering timesavers tailored for individuals in search of uniqueness, while joining eminent master-watchmakers to develop unedited mechanisms that immediately charm experienced collectors and earn him several awards.

The decade follows punctuated ceaselessly by more remarkably innovative object designs, numerous painting exhibitions, and custom-made jewellery and watch making projects for worldwide personalities or international organisations.

Today Pierre Koukjian continues expanding the horizons of his creative expression on many simultaneous fields; devoting his time to sculpt, designing on different domains, and of course painting and exposing his work in art galleries, as much as in international watch and jewellery exhibitions.