A passion for decor

Veronica Nouel hopes to bring a new aesthetic to Laguna with her handmade decorative arts boutique, Casa Caroni.

The shop, in the Festival Center at 813 Laguna Canyon Rd., features Latin American pieces with a European twist.

“Everything is unique and different,” Nouel said. “It’s not what you see anywhere else.”

Nouel filled her light-filled, industrial space with repousse copper and pure silver picture frames and wall crosses that display clean and classic lines; blown-glass platters and other decorative pieces are lined in gold and silver leaf.

The overall look is alternately metallic and ethereal. Clear crackle-glass fruit sculptures are paired with golden stems; a webbed wrought-iron vase is blown through with glass, creating a bubbling effect.

Nouel’s love of the look is lifelong.

“I was born in the States, and raised in Venezuela,” Nouel said.

While there, she developed an appreciation for the region’s elegant decorative arts, which combined native, rustic elegance with the formal grace of European design.

When she returned to the United States, Nouel said she keenly missed the style, so she decided to bring it to Laguna.

She is beginning with the arts of Mexico, but eventually plans to offer a carefully edited selection of works from every Latin American country.

“I try to find the best of the best,” she said.

Her collection of Mexican décor is conspicuously free of typical Indian creations; instead, an almost Mediterranean sensibility pervades.

“I want to show people that there’s something else in Latin America,” she said.

Nouel offers design services and will work with her artists to create custom pieces for her clients.

If a client isn’t sure how a piece will look in their home, Nouel will bring it to them to view in the proper setting.

Her family lives in Corona, but she chose to open her store in Laguna because she believes its residents can appreciate the effort that goes into handcrafted pieces.

“Laguna Beach seemed to us like the perfect location,” Nouel said.

She also found that Lagunans are willing to step out of their comfort zones when choosing pieces that their neighbors may not have.

“Some people are more risky than others,” she said.

She and her husband Javier, a port engineer, designed and built the entire shop themselves; a former industrial engineer and current interior decorator, Nouel had her shop planned down to every detail.

She recently introduced a few lines of jewelry to her shop, which also have sold well.

Casa Caroni’s prices are surprisingly reasonable for Laguna; a 4-foot burnished clay vase is only $150, and the fruit sculptures are about $40.

“I don’t want to just go nuts and get rich,” Nouel said. “When I pick the pieces, I put a lot of thought into what I’m doing. This is a passion.”

For more information on the shop, call (949) 494-5729 or visit www.casacaroni.com.

CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (949) 494-5480 or at [email protected].