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New Book Celebrates Thai Jewelry House Lotus Arts de Vivre
Assouline has released Unexpected Creations, which examines the history of the jewelry, home décor and art company that Helen and Rolf van Bueren created over 30 years ago in Bangkok.

Bangkok--“Unexpected creations” is a fitting description of the phantasmagorical jewelry and art from Thai company Lotus Arts de Vivre.
Newly released from Assouline, Unexpected Creations surveys Lotus Arts de Vivre’s most elaborate works created over the past three-plus decades. This includes intricate jewelry designs executed with a combination of precious and non-precious materials, as well as large-scale, surrealist-style sculptures.
Lotus Arts de Vivre looks to nature and culture for inspiration. Founders Helen and Rolf van Bueren have been known to travel as many as 200 days per year, sourcing supplies and collecting mental stimuli for their designs.
Some of the natural materials employed in the brand’s work include coconut shells, scarab wings, driftwood, ebony, sea shells, bamboo and seeds. The company uses precious materials like Afghan emeralds, Burmese rubies, Ceylon sapphires, East African tsavorite, Brazilian tourmaline, Baltic amber, Persian turquoise and Basra pearls from the Persian Gulf.
Nature and traditional Thai motifs are the predominant themes that unite their oeuvre of work.
Lotus Arts de Vivre is headed by the van Bueren family. Helen van Bueren, who is from Thailand, met her German-born husband Rolf van Bueren when he moved to Thailand after the Second World War.
The passionate travelers and lovers of culture began creating art when their sons went away to boarding school in Scotland.
More than thirty years later, the van Bueren sons, Goetz and Nicki, now have taken the reigns at Lotus Arts de Vivre.
Rolf van Bueren says in the foreword to Unexpected Creations, “We know that perfecting the art of living is an unwieldy goal that can never truly be obtained, but we intend to enjoy ourselves as much as possible with our friends along the way.”
Written by JCK Editor-in-Chief Victoria Gomelsky, the tome is available at Assouline.com.
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