Five Characteristics of the JT style
Geometric
The sense of symmetry can be an illusion: symmetry is never perfect, yet it is purposefully sought in the shape and size of things. The geometrical figures with clear outlines and right angles are Tahov's favourite. Squares dominate, a multiplication of them rests upon surfaces, being incorporated in the furniture. Julian shares that a bulk of squares next to each other emanate calmness unlike a circle which attracts the eyes to concentrate on the center. He used to experiment though with circles whose center was clearly distinguished, just like the bull's eye. The rectangles bring in a different kind of dynamics in Tahov's interiors. The most gripping however remain the friezes Tahov uses: they serve as a transition between planes and volumes.
Harmony is achieved through various means of expression. No two walls are the same if they are made by Julian Tahov. The walls mark different space zones. According to his personal creative philosophy, the interior design is an optimum field for the co-existence of all forms of art taken together: painting, graphics, sculpture, textile, architecture. There have been no revolutions recently, everything is known, everything has been used, originality now rests in the art of combinations.
Theatricality
Or more precisely put: a sense of elation and solemnity sometimes bordering with pompousness.
Heavy curtains seem to be concealing a crouching creature ready to jump out. Theatrical illumination streams from unknown corners or is emanated by a constellation of small moons.
The message, be it private or public, is multifaceted even when it comes to the minutest interior details. Even an unexperienced beholder will grasp the message in the simplest interior compositions of the JT trademark. A client mustn't ever get bored with them. Julian believes he has done a good job when a year after he has decorated a place, the client still keeps enjoying the interior, finding new and ever newer elements in it.
In designing a certain space, which you could also call reigning over it, or even seizing it, Tahov employs the simple premise of Sculpturing: you take some clay from one place to transfer it to another and thus you achieve the shape and volume you want. If the space echoes in its emptiness, it means that you haven't succeeded in mastering it, period.
Luxurious
In Julian Tahov's view, the minimalist trends have faded out of fashion. He has always considered minimalism spiritless. For this reason he often makes luxury his priority and thus he responds to the growing demand of contemporary people to live by the standards of the royal court. Characteristic national traits may be included as fusion elements. To Tahov this is more a combination of the classic and the modern: his favourite element is an import from the ancient Egyptian culture. He also introduces classic elements from Ancient Greece like cornices, stone blocks, meanders, which are of course shaped by new technologies and materials.
Frescoes on walls or ceilings are all so common for Tahov's style: he creates reproductions of Michelangelo and holds that there is nothing better than Renaissance paintings for decoration.
In his latest projects, luxury and splendor equal unreality, a virtuality in itself. What if not the attractive possibility to peer into the future, to feel part of it, be it for a short instant, is the greatest luxury for a modern person?
Contrasting
Contrasting colours are characteristic of Tahov's style: red dominates as well as black in its purest form ( although his favourite colour is wenge). Without blending, they make the atmosphere fiery and lead it to “explode” into fire. No peace and quiet there, it's all the dynamic, and even the over-dynamic, the extravagant bordering the impudent; improvisation rules just like in a massive jazz session. The peace and quiet, if any, take turns with a rugged rhythm: dark and white, soft and hard, hot and cold, metal and leather, wood and glass. No monotony, no monochromatism. It's all pompousness and theatricality close to a failure. Aggression is here too, characteristic even of Tahov's domestic interior designs.
Dynamic
Aggression is his patent, expressed in the JT trademark: a man's head with two snakes intertwining above it. It looks like the head of the Medusa which Perseus killed and following the advice of the gods, attached her head on his shield and whoever dared look at him would instantly turn turn into a mass of rock. The Medusa however is a woman and all her might is concentrated in her look. The head of Julian Tahov is a man's head, a warrior's head. Something is happening to him and he is screaming with fury and pain. The touch of snakes, the conflict between two different creatures, two objects, two matters, has always been exciting for Julian and his art. There are at least two main objects and an additional one in his compositions. His design projects contain very distinctly the power, the fury, the scream, the thing which you easily retain. Some people have tried to imitate Tahov and they succeeded when it comes to the elements, but never when it comes to completion and entirety.
Having realized how unconventional he is, the designer has already included in his interior projects furniture and accessories designed and produced by him. He never stops experimenting with new materials and matters, with new symbols carrying the messages of an incessantly seeking spirit.