Decorium Reflects Owner’s Passion for Unique European Glassware

When Joan Arkut was laid off from her job as a sales director for a luxury cruise line, she and her husband, Guy, sat down to decide what to do next.

“It was like being a child again,” she said. “We asked ourselves, ‘What do we really want to do and not work for someone else?’ ”

Their answer is on Ventura Boulevard in Encino in their newly opened Decorium showroom. The shelves display imported, handcrafted European glassware that includes pitchers, decanters, glasses, fine stemware, and espresso and tea sets.

Decorium also carries a line of hand-painted quartz ceramics; etched gold and silver glassware; and unique gold and silver-burnished plates and bowls called Silverina. Some pieces are replicas of 14th-century items, some look like bejeweled and gold sets handed down from a beloved grandmother, while other pieces are spare and modern.

“We’ve had people come in and say it’s like a museum,” Arkut said, adding that one visitor, a former art gallery owner, fell in love with the store and comes in on his days off to help create displays and arrange the shelves for them.

The store arose from Arkut’s passion for collecting glassware from all over the globe. Her father had a career in the Air Force and Arkut traveled extensively during her childhood. She continued that love of travel as an adult, first as a flight attendant, then for a company that created software for travel agencies and finally working in sales for various cruise lines.

Her travels enabled her to zero in on glassware as a possible business when she recognized that the European-based company, Decorium, lacked a distributor in the United States. She initiated a business relationship with the company.

Originally, she planned to sell to gift shops and department stores but discovered that not many retail gift stores actually exist anymore and department stores have cut back on selling glassware, stemware and unique vases and bowls. Further, packing and unpacking the extensive Decorium line to show to retailers was cumbersome, she said. 

So, her Encino store actually serves two purposes: as a showroom to display goods that other stores or companies might want to buy in quantity for resale or as corporate gifts, rewards or promotional items and for individual customers seeking unique gifts.

Admittedly, some of the items come with luxe price tags, Arkut said, but added that her experience with the luxury market tells her that even in a down economy upper-scale items still sell. But as a backup, she also carries affordable gift items priced as low as $11 or $18 each.

The store has been open only since late October and will hold a wine-and-cheese open house this Sunday. Arkut runs the shop while her husband, a software engineer, handles the administrative side of the business. The couple looked at locations throughout Westlake Village, Thousand Oaks, Beverly Hills and other locales, and chose Encino because they felt its diverse population would appreciate their offerings. 

For Arkut, the merchandise is not simply items for sale, she said. ”Sometimes when I’m unpacking, I feel as if someone’s sent me the most incredible gifts.”

Decorium, 17205-A Ventura Blvd., Encino; 818-789-1599. The open house runs from 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 27.