Exploring Juliska's Hot Air Balloons
For David and me, hot air balloons are a symbol of life’s adventure and a constant quest for it. If you think about how incredibly bold and brave the first person was who thought, “Let’s fly up into the air with no protection and float above the earth to watch it all go by,” it’s pretty inspiring that somebody had that much oomph to just go for it! If you think about how incredibly bold and brave the first person was who thought, “Let’s fly up into the air with no protection and float above the earth to watch it all go by,” it’s pretty inspiring that somebody had that much oomph to just go for it! When you’re actually up in a balloon, it’s a wonderful mixture of overcoming all of the odds to get into the air, and then once there, it’s so peaceful to look down on the vista below. The perspective from above is always so awe-inspiring and clear.
These are among the myriad reasons hot air balloons are iconic to our brand. You may have noticed them on our Juliska map, drifting above our landscape, as a reminder that you’ve got to kick off your shoes and set off on adventure. Never stay complacent with where you are in life, always be searching for a better way! For we believe that life is not always about finding yourself, but about creating yourself and the life that you want with intention, choice by choice and action by action. To illustrate this belief, we engaged the talent of artist Pier Gustafson, to create our symbolic Juliska map, a fictional world that depicts what our company is all about.
At the center of our map is the Main House, which is inspired by my grandparent’s beautiful farmhouse in France that I grew up visiting. The undulating landscape is a reflection of the different parts of history that created Juliska, with flying banners portraying our different patterns that have grown and flourished over the years. Charming buildings dot the rolling hills, to represent our glass blowing facility in the Czech Republic - which is the heart of Bohemia - and our studio in Portugal where our artisanal ceramics are made. At the top, you will discover little icons of the Eiffel Tower and Big Ben to represent our European heritage of France and England, and the Statue of Liberty for the United States, where we have chosen to live and grow our family. Most importantly, running through it all, is our river. It is the most important element in anything that you want to nourish and thrive. Ours is intentionally named, the River of L’Amour and Savoir Vivre, or, “the River of Love and the Art of Living Well.”
With hot air balloons, you must go where the winds take you, a metaphor not lost on us. Our balloons have found their way onto many patterns, starting with our timeless Country Estate motif, which was originally hand-painted by our family friend and renowned artist, Deborah Sears, of Deborah Sears Ceramics in Oxford, England. Here, balloons float above the estate as charming little reminders that life is full of adventure and whimsy.
For Juliska’s 20th anniversary, we wanted to create a pattern to celebrate what is at the core of our company - love! For David and me, love was the beginning, the motivation, the reason, the joy, and the foundation for everything that mattered in our life. It is also all of those things for our company. This may sound silly, but because we are married and we run Juliska together, our business life and our personal life is one big beautiful adventure all tangled up together. The happy result is that everything that we have done, we’ve done with love.
We really felt that the our milestone pattern needed to just come out and unabashedly say, “Love Forever, L’Amour Toujours!” So once again, we returned to our favorite symbol, our hot air balloons. For this iteration, we bedecked them with fanciful and swirling patterns done in our iconic Berry & Thread detailing. For colors, we chose flint grey to represents the Eiffel Tower and beautiful Delft blue to represent the tradition of English Delftware. We also used a combination of round and scalloped shapes, because we delight in mixing and “unmatching” things in a way that’s charming and versatile.
Not wanting to stop there, we really desired to find a way to bring our beloved balloons to life! To achieve that vision, we created them in hand-woven, wicker hanging vessels, in three different sizes. Whether they are strung from tree branches, a ceiling, or placed on a table, they have so many wonderful, whimsical uses, depending upon the boundaries of your own imagination. We have festooned them with ribbons and fresh flowers for special events and filled them with bonbons and sweets for use as confection-colored centerpieces.
From champagne bubbles to dandelion wishes, we treasure uplifting things. In honor of our cherished hot air balloons - those irresistible jewels on distant horizons hanging in the sky with such ethereal beauty - we invite you to create your own adventures and live boldly, allow your dreams to take flight, and celebrate life’s little moments in grand style. Cheers to love!
