Lulu de Kwiatkowski is the founder of, and principal art & design creative force behind the eponymous short handle of the Lulu DK brand.

In magazine profiles she has long been defined as the “daughter of” (her father was larger than life Henryk de Kwiatkowski) and as a fully-fledged member of the gilded set inhabiting that ultimate enclave of privilege, Lyford Cay in the Bahamas.

When we met for a chat at nearby Island House, she mostly shrugged it off. Although she often credits her mother with shaping her taste and her childhood for shaping her outlook (how could she not?!), she is her own person creatively speaking.

Paris Beginnings

With an early interest in design and a gift for making quirky sketches, Lulu headed for the Parsons School of Design, and after completing her studies, to Paris with an artist friend. While waiting for her then boyfriend to join, she met and fell in love with the man who went on to become her husband, Alfredo Gillardini.

Lulu and Alfredo stayed there for four years. 

The Paris years were formative in many ways and it is that experience that defined her, freeing her from being an extension of an iconic father figure; revealing new possibilities and opening up new horizons. Paris has that effect of supercharging creativity and challenging conventional wisdom, which is why it has long been a cultural magnet for a myriad of artists and artistically minded individuals.

There, she studied and perfected the art of trompe l’oeil, and became so well-known for it that the private commissions flooded in. Those early trompe l’oeil works still adorn the walls of many a private home.

Using freehand painting, drawing, photography and collages, she evolved her distinct signature style that incorporates tropical island elements, a recurrent theme in her work. It is greatly to her credit that she has somehow managed to completely avoid the clichéd kitsch associated with anything “tropical”.

The success led to experimenting with her own range wallpapers but then she took a hiatus to raise her three sons. 

Return to the Bahamas

Returning to the Bahamas just before the pandemic struck has given her a new creative impetus, probably because the islands really were the best place to ride out the Covid19 confinement.

She and her husband bought and renovated their own home in Lyford Cay, where she has clearly sought to replicate her own childhood happy memories for her own children. The house is not just a testament to her taste – it is a family home.

There she developed a new line of art works based on shells. The original shell panels, as well as prints of the originals, are  available on her website, as are her (mostly) seaside watercolours.

Does she think of herself as an artist?

“I am a decorative artist, I create works that make people happy”

The distinction is made in her typical self-effacing style, somewhat unusual for one whose commercial success is undeniable.

Those who love her style would be happy to know she is launching a new line of wallpapers, hand-designed by her, of course.

I ask her to define her style – is it maximalist or minimalist? The binary choice confounds her for a moment and then she says, it’s neither, really. She loves splashes of vivid colours, but then, she also has plain walls – if anything, she is good at blending the whimsical and the subtle, to achieve that elusive but very tangible quality that is elegance.

Lulu’s original multimedia collages combining painting, drawing, photography, and writing are the basis of her eponymous book, Lulu, published in 2020 and due for an update soon.