Imagine papering the walls of your home with illustrated images of earrings bejeweled with emeralds, rubies, sapphires…precious stones galore.

With hand-painted; digitally printed Voutsa earring wallpaper, now you can!

This gem-like wallpaper (www.voutsa.com) parades myriad elegantly-styled earrings against backgrounds of Tiffany blue (naturally!), dark pink,  dark gray, orange, heather gray, pink , brown and white.

Created by New York-based artist and textile designer George Venson, Voutsa is a new lifestyle and interiors brand specializing in signature hand-painted, illustrated and digitally reworked wallpapers, custom murals and wall installations designed for wonderfully vibrant living. Skillfully painted and exuberantly colorful lampshades and pillows are also part of the line. “Rugs are coming in the near future,” George promises.

True to Voutsa’s motto, ‘The walls are alive,’ George’s imaginary earring styles appear vibrant, luxurious, timeless and strangely exotic. The earrings pictured in the wallpaper are inspired by everything from 2,000-year-old Bactrian gold jewelry to 1913 pieces by G. Barbier as well as 1930’s Art Deco gems from Cartier, Van Cleef and Arpels, Damiani, Masriera and Cesare de Vecchi.

“I love exquisite craftsmanship, timeless beauty, strong colors,” George says.  “Everything you find in Art Deco jewels and other earings from decades past.” While studying images of vintage haute joaillerie in Italian VOGUE stoked George’s imagination, contemporary designers who he referenced include Brazil’s Silvia Furmanovich www.silviafurmanovich.com.br/en/ whose one-of-a-kind pieces often incorporate re-purposed jewels, along with Miriam Salat and David Aaron Joseph of Bochic www.bochic.com, and Avakian. www.avakian.com

“I tried to make the earrings look like people; some of them like warriors,” George explains. “I imagine those who wore such jewelry were probably very elegant and perhaps tribal,” George ventures. “At least I dream they might be so interesting. One never knows.”

George’s initial fascination with jewelry as sculpture and as symbolic cultural artifact bloomed during his visit to the 2009 exhibition of ancient jewelry from Afghanistan at New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. The historic exhibit included pieces from the Bactrian Hoard, which was discovered by Russian archaeologist Viktor Sarianidi in the 1970s.

This trove came from the period in Afghan history during which nomads galloped off the Central Asian steppes around the time Christ was preaching his gospel. After crossing the Amu Darya River, these nomads established a civilization whose art embodied Eastern and Western cultural influences.

Jewelry and objects in this exhibit included winged, apparently Greek-style motifs as well as Indian-looking figures along with Western-style, highly representational animals whose finely incised designs and otherwise delicate workmanship can only be fully appreciated under a magnifying glass.

Some of the design and fabrication techniques in the exhibit also hinted at the civilization’s aesthetic refinement and ingenuity despite a migratory lifestyle and the urgent needs to escape attackers or fight to the death.  As George recalls, the show’s outstanding jewel was a nomadic Queen’s gold crown that can be quickly disassembled into six pieces that lie flat for safe; secret transport.

“I was mystified and fascinated by this piece,” he says. “Behind the crown’s facade were little removable risers, like bleachers, all made of gold. I was blown away. It was the smartest, chicest thing I had ever seen.” This ancient crown made 21^st century Americans seem “primitive” in comparison, George relates.

Sheer golden beauty coupled with fine craftsmanship, ingenious design and a shape-shifting ability to hide in a camel skin satchel or underneath the garments of a Queen or Princess…This piece prompted George to dream visions so vivid that he had to put them down on paper. “The crown became my inspiration for a long time,” George says. “I also liked the idea of becoming the King or Queen of your own tribe, even of a tribe of one.”

When determining the earring wallpaper pattern, George’s fondness for “institutional layout and diagrammatic presentation; dissection and analysis” dictated the plan.

“I like how the earrings became very symmetrical, mirrored and in pairs, separated or together,” George relates…So often you see jewelry floating, drifting or dangling on the page. For this wallpaper,” he continues, “I wanted absolutely straight-on angles.”

I asked George about the origin of his company’s name. “My great-grandparents immigrated from Greece and my grandfather’s last name was Voutsanessis,” he explains. “When they came to the U.S., it got changed to Venson. In their honor and in the honor of the American dream, I named my “brand” Voutsa.”

Wildly colorful, elegant and a dream come true for jewelry freaks and anyone who loves color with a passion, Voutsa earring wallpaper is ideal for the bedroom, home office/library, powder room, kitchen, and most of all, because it makes your walls come to life, THE LIVING ROOM.

Voutsa’s tribe of elegant earrings faces us full frontal, as if in a museum exhibit, prompting you to contemplate the sheer beauty of the jeweler’s art. Adorn your life with classic beauty: cover some of your walls with Earrings!

Voutsa wallpaper is available online @ www.voutsa.com; Voutsa also ships directly to your house.

Here are Voutsa stockists:

In Dallas:  E.C. Dicken, 1025 N Stemmons Fwy, Dallas, TX 75207
Telephone:  (214) 742-4801; www.ecdicken.com

In Los Angeles:  Walnut Wallpaper, 7424 Beverly Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90036
Telephone:  (323) 932-9166; www.walnutwallpaper.com

In New York City:  Studio4, 900 Broadway Suite 201, NY, NY 10003
Telephone:   212.475.4414 F 212.475.4434
Hours: Monday-Friday 9 am – 5 pm; info@studiofournyc.com

In Oklahoma City:  KASA wallpaper studio, 6454 Avondale Dr, Nichols Hills, OK 73116
Telephone:  (405) 254-3700; www.kasawallpaper.com

In Paris:  Au Fil des  Couleurs, 31 Rue de l’Abbé Grégoire, 75006 Paris
Telephone: +33 1 45 44 74 00; www.aufildescouleurs.com

In La Roche Posay:  Papillon Decoration, 1 Rue Saint-Denis, 86270 La Roche-Posay, France
Telephone:  +33 5 49 23 24 03; www.papillondecoration.com