A passionate lover of fine cigars for many years and long-time graphic and interior designer, it was simply a matter of course that, one day, two years ago now, I don't know why, after 20 years of drawing for others and designing all kinds of furniture for them, the idea of creating my cigar humidor, one that truly reflects me, began to take root. Between projects, I allowed my pencil to drift across the surface of my notebook, ebbing and flowing wherever the mood or fancy took me. At first, various shapes without any real meaning. The kind scribbled instinctively while talking on the phone and which could one day become Cu'Bic Art! You know, that habit of erratically doodling here and there. But gradually my doodles began to show promise; my sketches became more specific, more realistic, until they were eventually put into my AutoCAD in 3D. At last I could see it on screen in all its detail, its size, its colours and its different materials. It was all finally becoming tangible. It was at that point I think that the somewhat crazy idea of sharing it continued this marketing process. But of course the hardest part was to come: creating prototypes with the resources at my disposal, and studying all the aspects of its primary use: 'preserving cigars'. Subsequently, producing other models to create a small collection became essential to me. My love of beautiful cigar wrappers blended with my art, and this lengthy work took on the unique brand name IZAMBAR.

 

Why IZAMBAR? Apart from the fact that it rhymes perfectly with cigar...

 

The name was inspired by a distinctive 19th century figure in a hat, a renowned London engineer well ahead of his time, a pioneer of modern engineering that would come to be known as the golden age of the industrial revolution. Brunel was particularly instrumental in the drilling of the Thames Tunnel (London), the first tunnel constructed under a river, along with many other successful projects such as the design of the first propeller-driven iron-hulled ship. Isambard Kingdom Brunel – his full name – was a true workaholic, only sleeping four hours a night so that he could achieve all these new challenges. Another of his qualities or faults was that he was a heavy cigar smoker, but that was nothing extraordinary at that time as smoking was a fashion among Victorian gentleman. By all accounts, Brunel smoked as many as 40 cigars a day! Unfortunately, his death came too soon, on Thursday 15 September 1859, at the age of 53, from kidney disease and a subsequent stroke.