╳ Countess Cis (Cissy) Zoltowska, an internationally-known artist, creator, painter and generally ‘fascinating woman’, spent her most unusual life designing jewelry, clothing and unique home furnishings. Her vivid imagination, brave use of colour and joie de vivre covered an unusually wide range of subject matter and styles.
╳ This petite woman standing only 4’10” tall, with her jet black hair often adorned with a flower, was born in Austria, where she grew up in a castle, but World War II forced her to relocate and work for a living. So she moved to Switzerland, where she married an elegant but impoverished Polish Count, and began making ceramic jewelry. In 1951 she moved to Paris, and her jewelry designs caught the attention of many couturiers including Balenciaga and Jacques Fath, to name two. (She went on to work with Balenciaga for 14 years.) She designed jewelry and dresses for wealthy clients, but was also very involved with designing costumes for Paris theatres, and this yen for drama and fantasy is strongly felt in many of her paintings and home furnishings. ╳ Her apartments in Paris were the centre of artistic, culinary and musical excitement, and her passions for collecting, decorating and entertaining were natural extensions of her life as a creative artist, and events ‘chez Cissy’ were always dazzling and Cissy’s great success on the Paris scene was reflected by her frequent appearance on the covers of Vogue, Paris Match and Harper’s Bazaar.
╳ The Countess was particularly known for her elaborate bib style necklaces, and when her creations were exported from France to New York department stores, her reputation as a creative artist and designer preceeded her. Her dynamic and unusual pieces often incorporated wild colour combinations of rhinestones - all beautifully hand-made of course, and along with her signature ‘crackled’ glass cabochons and stones marbled and sprayed with gold, very few of her designs are signed; however original pieces can be identified by the letters ‘CIS’ stamped under a crown. ╳ Countess Cissy is truly an inspiration to all creative souls and a Thread Count Lab favourite!
╳ Photographs courtesy of Ted Davis
