LOS ANGELES, Aug 1, 1999/ FW/ --- From its inception, fine European design and style have influenced America. This amalgamation is evident in a lighting and furniture store called Diva and Fontana Arte. Los Angeles based Diva and Fontana Arte, Diva's sister store, are specialty stores that serve as talismans in the design industry. The owners and founders are Stephanie De Oliveira, a lady of exquisite taste and beauty and Philippe Rousselin, a charismatic man with a quiet sense of humor.

Pioneer Stephanie and Philippe arrived from Paris, and opened their first store in 1985 to define a need for Modern living in Los Angeles. Stephanie and Philippe's passion for design is attributed to their travels and their commitment to quality and beauty. They disclose delight in their work and manifest it clearly. With their impassioned philosophy, "One can not live in fear." They have created a vision which is a clear cultural agenda that establishes an acknowledgment of European contemporary life, a style and an attitude.

D>iva is a 10,000 sq. foot contemporary store located at Robertson and Beverly in the Beverly Hills area. Fontana Arte is a younger slightly understated store located near by. Another new high design store will open in New York in the near future. These avant garde stores with their clean but clever displays are designed to house quiet pieces that harmonize or play solo. The classic timeless delight of Diva and Fontana Arte's furniture and lighting carry lines that are of impeccable quality, blooming into a source of inspiration and tribute to visual & physical pleasure.

Diva and Fontana Arte's designers are reshaping tomorrow's world creating a revolution of design which is set to become classic in the future. Some of Diva's and Fontana's design companies include: Ingo Mauer a company that defines the spirit of design with a tribal creative sensibility; Cappelini an adventurous and daring house of design clearly influenced by fashion; Kartel is a company that uses progressive materials and design techniques. This company houses the most legendary designers, such as Philippe Starck, Ron Arad and Antonio Citterio to mention a few, and last but not least B&B a company that emphasizes purity in their work.

Stephanie and Philippe believe that they owe their success to their clients' appreciation for their sense of quality, style and elegance. Unfortunately, the Diva and Fontana Arte storeowners are of the opinion that "The Japanese are not strong furniture manufacturers, the Americans lack technological refinement and their designers lack innovation."

Further more Philippe and Stephanie strongly believe that their success has been attributed in maintaining the value and quality of their product by not competing in price wars. Stephanie and Philippe are not concerned with figures or volume. And although Diva and Fontana Arte are keeping up with the new wave of technological business, Stephanie feels the web does not offer the visual, textual, nor spatiality necessary to appreciate the pieces she so proudly displays.

Both Stephanie and Philippe believe that although their customers are becoming more educated and experimental, they strongly feel that there will always be a place for the interior designer. Stephanie and Philippe acknowledge that time, resourcefulness and good taste will assure the interior designer's position as middleman when designing in a space for their buyer.

Stephanie and Philippe realize that it is a well known fact that some manufacturing companies have no conscience or regards to the harmful effects their processes of manufacturing have on the environment. As retailers, they feel they have an obligation to battle this injustice by not representing companies that forfeit their environmental concerns. Stephanie's impassioned love for nature takes her even further. In fact, when time permits Stephanie plants rare and endangered exotic tress in her farm in Costa Rica.

In an age of newness where economic, social, aesthetic, and technological factors are the contributing influences creating a diversity of new design ideas, Stephanie and Philippe's majestic stores will be home to the epiphany of our era.

For more information
on Diva or Fontana Arte
please call:
Diva Tel. (310) 278-3191
Fontana Arte Tel. (310) 247-9933