I must say that the villa we were invited to was before the arrival of Cyril Mote, one of the many standard villas in the Umm Suqeim district of Dubai, built in the traditional Arabic style - with small windows, dark rooms and a courtyard decorated with paving tiles.
And then Cyril appeared. By the way, in English his name sounds like Cyril, but we quickly found out that the designer in the family, it turns out, has Russian roots, and he willingly agreed to respond to the Russian equivalent of his name. The interview with Cyril was not like any other before. We walked around the house and courtyard, about which the hospitable host spoke with great pleasure, who answered my questions during breaks.
- Cyril, tell me, who is still more in you - a jeweler, artist, designer, organizer and decorator of celebrations and public events? What is your most comfortable role?
- First of all, I am a jeweler. Then - everything else. My whole family was engaged in diamonds and precious stones. I grew up in this environment. And from childhood, I wanted to create and create something new. Today, my company’s headquarters is located at Place Vendome in Paris, and I am a representative of a new generation of jewelers who are very familiar with the old school of cutting diamonds and making gold jewelry with them. I really like diamonds, because I believe that they can inspire any talented person to incredible and amazing creations.
Friends call Cyril Mote "the rock star of jewelry." Every sketch coming out from under his pencil is a new story. Mythology, poetry, mysticism or symbolism - everything becomes the subject of his hobby, which he originally plays with in his products.
To speak only about Cyril Mothe Paris jewelry means not to say anything about Cyril himself. He is young and is simply a bunch of energy. It seems that he does not have enough days to bring all his ideas to life. He is the father of seven children. He is the source of sparkling talent, which is used in various fields.
- Cyril, you are busy all the time. When and how do you manage to relax, spend time with your family?
“You are right, I sleep four hours a day, sometimes three.” I want to have time to create as much beauty as possible around. My family is always with me. I get carried with children when I work. They also love to draw, consider books on art. This is very interesting for me, because in the process of work I can teach them something, tell something interesting.
For more than 10 years I have lived with my family in Saudi Arabia. Now I am very interested in Dubai - this dynamic and developing city. It seems to me that we approach each other in our desire to surprise. Here, look at this villa. She was gray and ordinary. I broke half of the walls in it, made floor-to-ceiling panoramic windows to let light into the house. In the courtyard I installed many chrome panels and structures that create the illusion of refraction of space and visually increase the territory at times. The abundance of white - in the painting of the walls of the house and the fence, huge white flowerpots with banana trees, a neat green lawn and paths covered with white gravel - create a feeling of a certain aristocracy. White is generally associated with purity and luxury. Like white diamonds. And it seems to me that even the heat is not so felt in such a spacious and bright house. White and chrome surfaces reflect bright sunlight and prevent it from heating everything around. Look, near the pool I placed a large screen with a view of the beach and the sea. When a small breeze blows, the full effect of presence is created. That is, you feel that you are lying in a deck chair on the sea beach, and not near the pool. And from the point of view of contemplation, looking at the sea surface is much more pleasant than looking at a wall or a fence. By the way, I rent this villa. It does not belong to me.
“And for whom then do you create all this beauty?”
- For the one who then buys it. I am not going to live in this house. We initially had an agreement with the owner that I remodel the villa and yard as I want, and then we put up a house for sale. I don’t know, maybe the owner himself wants to live in it. And I have in mind in Dubai there are several more villas, which I will later remodel and, accordingly, temporarily be in them. That's more interesting. Try yourself in the design of interiors and furniture, and in landscape design ... That is, all that is today inside and outside the house will remain the new owner? That's right, I leave everything here. I take only my wife, children, jewelry collections and books.
- Speaking of jewelry collections, where can I get them?
- Here. My house today is not only a villa where my family lives, an office and a workshop, it is also a boutique where customers can come and buy my jewelry. Of course, by appointment, so as not to arrange a passage yard here.
By the way, the house is very seriously guarded, because everything I do is decorated with diamonds - both jewelry collections and furniture. For example, pay attention to these sofas - they are upholstered in natural sheared mink fur of white and black colors and decorated with diamond buttons. These giant gold and silver apples in the hall will soon be inlaid with diamonds (only twigs).
In the courtyard, in a specially designed glass garage, I have an Aston Martin DB9 Volante, whose dashboard and bamboo details on the doors are also encrusted with 8474 diamonds. This car is waiting for its buyer. A separate entrance was made for ladies from rich and influential local families in the house so that no one could see them, as well as a special room where they can familiarize themselves with the collections and choose something for themselves. This taught me life in Saudi Arabia and generally in the East. It is not customary here for women to be seen by outsiders for no particular reason. The room for powerful ladies deserves to be shown to you. Look, the floor is covered with white sheared mink, and the walls are decorated with diamond dust. See how shiny. This dust is natural, it remains with us after cutting diamonds.
“Do you cut stones yourself?”
Yes, professional cutters work in my workshops in Paris. But most of the stones we buy are ready-made. It all depends on the products in which they will be used. We have suppliers with whom we have been working for many years and from whom we buy stones. All of our diamonds, both white and color, are certified by the Diamond Exchange in Antwerp.
- What are you working on now?
- Today I am working on the most expensive table in the world, the glass top of which will be decorated with a whole scattering of rather large diamonds (the weight of one stone is approximately 1 carat). The main secret of this work is that diamonds will be mounted in round holes between two glass panels, that is, if the table owner gets tired of it at some point, then the stones can be easily removed and used later in jewelry.
Despite the fact that Dubai is a very safe country, such expensive things can not be protected. Each of my jewelry collections is located in a separate special cabinet, which is a kind of symbiosis of images, aromas and sounds. Look, I’m opening the closet and the first thing that catches your eye is the television screen on which the commercial of this collection is shown, accompanied by the appropriate musical composition. A special sprayer throws into the air a portion of a special perfume suitable in its "sound" to this collection. And then you get acquainted with the actual jewelry and ... enjoy.
Today I am presenting seven of my collections to the buyers ’court - Dragon, Samurai, Inca, Feathers, Queen of the Jungle, Andalusia and Bali. The stories of great civilizations, the original traditions of peoples and the wonders of nature, such as the grace of panthers or the plumage of pink flamingos, inspired me to create each of them. Each collection presents products for every taste - different in size and shape, weight and price. The main thing is that they all support a single collection style. And what’s most interesting, for each set of jewelry I have a dress that I also invented myself, and which allows me to demonstrate jewelry with clothes, creating a single image.
- In addition to China, Peru, Japan, the art of which countries can push you to create new creations? Have you ever been interested in Russian art?
“You just anticipated the events.” I was just about to tell you a secret. I began to seriously study Russian art and the creations of the great masters of Russia, including jewelers. Moreover, I am very impressed with the Russian people. I made friends with some representatives of old noble Russian families in Paris. These are the descendants of the first wave of Russian emigrants. They are amazing people educated, cultural, creative. My library has collected many books on Russian art. More recently, a new batch came from France. I think that I will soon be engaged in the creation of my own “Russian collection”.
So almost two hours passed during the conversation. We walked around the house and yard, examined paintings on the walls and amazing installations .... And Cyril, meanwhile, without stopping, continued: Here is a table in the kitchen, it is not finished yet. He will descend from the ceiling like a snake. And here, in the hall, I put on the poles imitations of Nepalese prayer drums, “Hurda”. True, they are not cylindrical in shape, but more like transparent cubes, but you can put anything in them - flowers, shells, crystals. Imagine how it will look great and beautiful in the interior.
But these paintings belong to the brush of a Chinese artist, whom five years ago no one knew, and now, after he had a solo exhibition in America, his painting began to cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. And I bought these works back when they were estimated at five to six thousand.
In the end, we ended up in Cyril's study, designed in black and white. The voices of children rang around the house, somewhere in the living room the offspring of the artist played and loudly laughed. The husband of the master was served coffee in the original coffee pot and elegant cups. I could not resist, asked:
- Do you also have dishes inlaid with diamonds?
- Not. Not yet (Cyril laughed). These are Swarovski crystals, but diamonds will look pretty good here. You must admit that Swarovski products are quite expensive, so rich people can afford to pay five to ten thousand dollars more and get the same, but encrusted with real diamonds. Today, many have plunged into the world of luxury, but not everyone knows how to spend money so that they also bring aesthetic pleasure. For example, this sofa cover is made of natural rabbit fur, and the tassels in the corners are decorated with rhinestones. A wealthy person can get the same veil, but from a mink, and the brushes will be diamond. Outwardly, the difference will not be very noticeable, but what are the feelings of the owner of such a little thing! BUT?
I don’t know how wealthy people are, but I personally had a feeling that the earth was floating away from under my feet. In addition to the constant creative search and the desire to decorate the whole world with diamonds (by the way, it would be nice to find out what the world’s volumes of explored deposits of diamonds are today and whether they are enough for all the ideas of the creator of the Cyril Mothe brand), Cyril also organizes grandiose celebrations, the number invited on which can number in the hundreds and thousands of people. Everything from sketches and choosing a venue for the celebration, to laying live lawns, planting trees, making furniture, breaking fountains, decorating tables, preparing festive dishes and creating jewelry for the heroes of the celebration takes over Kirill Mote and his team.
Take my word for it, after watching a DVD from the wedding of one of the members of the royal family of Saudi Arabia, for the preparation, design and conduct of which Kirill received more than $ 30 million, I realized that everything, absolutely everything, even the most unthinkable, creative ideas can be realized in life. For the bride, the Cyril Mothe brand made a set of stunning jewelry with diamonds and pearls, which even their author can only see in photographs today. Exclusive means exclusive. You can’t repeat jewelry, even if you really want to. These are the terms of the contract. And if you add a small detail to the above - the bride’s necklace, before decorating her delicate neck, was placed on the branches of a golden tree mounted in a cage of pure gold one and a half meters high, it will become clear that before you met Kirill Mote you did not know anything about real luxury ...
Maybe it’s bad when luxury becomes an element of everyday life, and you get used to it like a light bulb, or maybe vice versa - it’s good if there is such an opportunity - to surround the world around you with incredible sparkling beauty and splurge on someone. ... Let's say a diamond. And if you are not familiar with such a brand as Cyril Mothe, but would really like to, contact us. We will help, tell you.
