Art as a Way of Life: Stefan Cosma
The Ibiza-based curator and gallery owner is the founder of Eclecticó Studio, a space that specialises in postmodern design. He lives with his family in the north of the island.
When and where were you born?
I was born in 1977 in Romania, the same year that Steve Jobs founded Apple, the first Concorde took off from JFK airport in NYC and Star Wars opened in cinemas. I have multi-ethnic origins, with mixed Romanian, German, Polish and Greek ancestry, and I identify as a true modern European having lived everywhere from Paris to London, Milan and Ibiza.
Was art always going to be your journey?
Creativity certainly was – I studied photography in Italy at FABRICA, the famous school created by Oliviero Toscani, the art director at Benetton. Later, I worked as a studio assistant at the legendary Pin-Up Studio in Paris. I was influenced heavily by the amazing French magazine WAD and after an encounter with its editor Bruno Collin I went on to launch a remix culture trimestral magazine called Omagiu ('homage' in Romanian) in 2004, a publication dedicated to the creative underground industries.
Where do you live and why?
Without having ever intended to, I live and work in Ibiza in the middle of a pine forest on top of a hill in a mesmerizing old finca with an ancient old watch tower dominating the landscape. I’ve known the island for more than 20 years and in 2021 I came with my best friend for the closing of DC-10. A month later I returned with my family and we knew we had to live here.
Describe your personal style.
It has always been an eclectic mix. I’m a big fan of colourful clothes with interesting prints and graphics. I like unusual vintage jewellery and often wear Marsell shoes. I also have a soft spot for Japanese designers and will gladly wear a kimono whenever I can.
What is the piece of furniture you’d most like to own?
I don’t really consider myself a keeper or owner of ‘things’. I see myself more as a river, a continuous flow of common goods to be discovered, shared, passed on and so on. I find and collect a variety of things that make me very happy by being surrounded with them for a while, but then at a certain moment it’s always time to let go.
Which designer most personifies postmodern style?
Ettore Sottsass. He was a magical poet, able to create such a vast variety of objects out of all possible materials you can imagine. And even if he’s mainly associated with the postmodern style, he’s objects are truly atemporal, born out of an archaic wisdom and shaped to be universally valid. He was such a genius and sometimes I find it’s a pity his work isn’t more widely recognized.
Where is your favourite gallery in the world?
There are two design galleries in Milano that I love - Galleria Luisa delle Piane and galleria Clio Calvi & Rudy Volpi. Super refined and inspiring taste. In terms of contemporary art, I love the aesthetics and universe of Gallerie Derouillon and Gallerie Semiose. The owners are good friends and clients and I love the dialogues and mutual inspiration we share.
What is the best souvenir you’ve brought home?
Olfactive souvenirs are the best. They vanish and then they pop up again intensely at the right time.
What is your drink of choice?
Whisky Sour
What is the best book that you’ve read in the past year?
I wouldn’t necessarily say it was the best, but when I read it, the partly overlapping of biographies was very amusing. Right before finding the finca where we live now in Ibiza, a friend giving me the book Mr. Pikes: The Story Behind the Ibiza Legend. I was finishing it while flying on the island to sign the contract and it all felt a bit surreal as a timing.
What is an indulgence I would never forgo?
Dancing till the end of the afterhours.
What is the best gift you’ve ever given?
Palinca (Romanian strong liquor) in a small vintage Chanel No. 5 bottle, as a birthday gift to a former muse.
What are your favourite apps?
Definitely apps of various platforms where I source my furniture. After I moved to Ibiza, I also got into apps that identify plants and mushrooms.
What is your soundtrack when you’re working?
Piano music generally relaxes me a lot and I could listen to Keith Jarrett over and over again.
Who or what is your greatest inspiration?
Meeting and connecting fluidly with people I admire. Luis Cerveró, who lives in Barcelona, is someone I only recently met. Above all his acclaimed work as a commercials and music video director, he founded this amazing bookshop and publishing house called Terranova. After our very first meeting over a dinner, he spontaneously decided to publish the catalogue of the exhibition ‘Archetypes of Desire’. We worked together with the Barcelona based graphic studio Querida and even if the timing of production was so tight, the catalogue came out beautifully.
This mutual trust to embark on ambitious creative projects with someone you almost don’t know, is something that touches me deeply. In similar ways, the recent encounters in Ibiza with Alberto Cortes from KSAR interiors and his amazing friend Paul Graves, proved me again there’s people with whom you can have this instant magical interaction from the very start.
Tell me the places you couldn’t live without in Ibiza.
DC-10 is definitely top of this list. Since I first stepped in there, back in 2002 when the walls were still yellow, it has kept on being a musical temple where I experience the most fulfilling emotions of my life. The entire microsystem of all the amazing places around where I live is very dear to me - KSAR interiors, where I visit regularly to pick up something for our home. A Mi Manera for lunch or dinner with my Italian friends. Taking my son Damian to get a veggie box from Terra Masia, grabbing a burger from Lydia’s before watching a football game at home, or sitting in the sun and having lunch at La Paloma. It’s all right on my doorstep.
What are you currently working on?
In summer we had a first successful participation at Design Miami in Basel and just recently, my gallery Eclecticó Studio celebrated its 10th anniversary with a much-acclaimed exhibition in Paris entitled ‘Archetypes of Desire’. It was the first major exhibition of European postmodern design, displaying works by a variety of iconic designers like Ettore Sottsass, Enzo Mari, Javier Mariscal, Jasper Morrison, Andrea Branzi and Nathalie du Pasquier. I worked on several curation projects in Ibiza too - I recently created an exhibition entitled Archaic Revival at A Mi Manera Laboratorio Creativo and there'll be an exhibition in collaboration with Galeria Tambien later in the season.
