Valery Demure, Finely Drawn

London-based consulting and communications agency Valery Demure deals not just in cultivating creative talent, but in the very act of nurturing beauty itself. With brands like Aesa, Lynn Ban, and Shourouk on their client list, the agency also launched an online shop in 2012. In the last year, the site has evolved into a destination stockist featuring a carefully curated selection of jewelry, accessories, and objets d’art, including textured metal clutches from Anndra Neen, Fleet Ilya’s bondage visors, and geometric silver and black onyx rings from Lara Bohinc.

Focused on designers with directional aesthetics and top-tier craftsmanship, both the agency and its shop have maintained a particular point of view when it comes to the core of their sartorial philosophy, and conversely, their customers’. (Case in point being a series of bon mots around the site, including “One should never buy a bag featured in an ad campaign. An object carried daily—or even a beautiful minaudière for occasion use —should never posess a predetermined ubiquity or stigma. We are more civilised and complicated than that.”) Adding to the Valery Demure shopping experience is a collaboration with Lebanese illustrator Marie El-Ahmar, launching on Monday.

The site will forsake traditional product photography for El-Ahmar’s graphic, feminine drawings, depicted wearing the accessories sold on the site. “Illustrations can be more effective than a model or a simple still life in the aesthetic connection the viewer feels with the image,” El-Ahmar says. Evocative of the spirit of Tony Viramontes and Antonio Lopez, El-Ahmar’s work taps into not just the beauty of a given object, but the essence of the woman who wears it. “We´re overwhelmed by images,” El-Ahmar muses. “I think we need a more personal touch.”

 

VALERY DEMURE X MARIE EL-AHMAR WILL LAUNCH NEXT MONDAY AT THE VALERY DEMURE SHOP