THE IKSELS

Dimonah was living in New York and Mehmet, in Paris when they met under somewhat fateful circumstances in India. This encounter united their lives and ignited a passion for their work. They shared a vision of mural decoration through their painting studio and have since constructed a unique digital image bank, a huge task which would have been impossible without one another. Dimonah was born to a family of jewellers to Iraqi-Hungarian parentage.  She spent her childhood in Tel-Aviv, Tehran, Geneva and Montreal.

Later she lived in Calgary, New York, Jaipur, Paris and settled in London.  Today the lksel commute regularly between Istanbul and London, as they have an office in both cities. Dimonah is responsible for much of the artistic direction at Iksel Decorative Arts. She believes she acquired her sense of colour and composition from her many travels and from working for fifteen years with gemstones as a jeweller and designer.

Mehmet, born in Istanbul, is the son of a Turkish diplomat. He was brought up in various places, including Istanbul, Athens, Bonn, Rolle/Gstaad and Oxford. Most of his adult life has been spent in Paris but also in New York and Jaipur. Before taking up his present profession, he worked in the theatre as a director and acting coach. Today. when he finds precious time, he writes. He is responsible for the digital direction the company took, but also for the painting techniques which gave the gessoed, aged but not distressed look to the work. His vision of the artistic freedom and reliable production that new technologies allowed, turned the hand-painted work into a flexible image bank with infinite possibilities.

They have two sons: Sindbad born 1981, Mehmet’s son and Kubilai, born 1995 to them both.