Art director and set designer Omer Gilony makes shadowy, romantic moods come to life with her precisely-tuned signature style.

Words by Elianna Bar-El

At just 26-years-old, Israeli-born, Lisbon-based Omer Gilony has the world at her fingertips - literally. While traipsing around European flea markets, museums, and cathedrals sourcing inspiration for all of her visions, she discovers antique tableware, champagne flutes, tiered serving platters, vases and tea cups. And that doesn’t even begin to cover the fabrics. Imagine rolls upon rolls of natural linens and silks, fluffed and gathered, billowing over a rooftop car in the middle of a cobblestoned street, designated for an ultimate impromptu picnic. Or a floor-grazing tablecloth spread across a king’s buffet table for an intimate soiree, the textile canvas arranged with rising, graceful peaks, like whipped meringues, where each plate, goblet, saucer, and candlestick is given its deserved place. 

The colors’ palettes range from client to client, but Gilony’s subtle, monochromatic moments are pure compliments to her distilled arrangements: curiously gothic, moody and rich, a saturation of precisely picked still-life ephemera reminiscent of a Dutch Master painting. Considering her youthful Gen Z status, it is striking how her signature style is so completely and thoughtfully steeped in art, history, and meaning. She has built her budding yet steady career of intuitively dressing tables and events with such a clear-cut expertise, all her own, that it’s obvious she is pulling from a mystical understanding of the medium far beyond her years.  

How would you describe your style?

I think the description that came up a few years ago, and it kind of stuck, was “a curated nostalgia”. It’s creating something new that sort of gives you a feeling of nostalgia. I’ve always been obsessed with going to historical places and imagining the people that used to be there before, touching a wall and thinking about the people that touched this wall. Like, where did they eat? What did they eat? How did they look? I’m always thinking about all of those things. And I’ve always been this way. I have this kind of respect for the past. Since my childhood, I would see my friends, for example, in high school and I would think one day we will miss these days. This is something that I’m trying to give, in a sense, to my work as well. Whether it’s this feeling or the movement of a textile, the type of flowers that are seasonal to a specific area or just respecting a place and its past.

Does your upbringing in Israel play any part in how you view your current work and the path you’ve taken? 

The more time I spend out of Israel, the more I appreciate things there. But I do think that most of my work and my inspirations are quite European aesthetics.

Here [in Portugal] I’m able to see these buildings that are like, you know, from the 17th, the 18th, the 19th centuries, and that they have this unbelievable structure. And so, growing up in the absence of that, I think helped. I have a deep appreciation for it. The curiosity. I think the way I see these buildings here, compared to, you know, some of my European friends, for example, is different because for them it’s completely normal. For me, I’m like, whoa, what is that? 

I remember sitting at my parents’ house with my mom and looking at Instagram pages of these chateaux and palaces in France and in Italy and wanting to one day do something in those places and work in those places or stay in those places. So I think that it definitely made me curious because it’s very different from what exists there. And then when I came to Europe, it was kind of like my mission to be part of this world, to find those places, to be able to have access to those places. In a way, it pushed me a lot towards that. 

What do you like working on the most?

Hard to say. I like doing different things. I do corporate or brand events, but I also do private events, weddings, birthdays, stuff like that. And it really changes from client to project. If it’s a brand, I like when I get control of directing the storytelling from the beginning of the project. I think it’s really important as well and I like when things have meaning. So for me just to create something is not enough. I like to have an entire story behind it to go to, dig in, to research, to have a background that is being translated into the design as well, whether it’s a historical background about the venue where it’s taking place or context about the brand or product being sold.

Which project to date have you done that you were like, ‘Wow, I can’t wait to do something like that again’?

One of them was with my brother actually. It was recently in Berlin. My brother is also a creative. He is an event producer and a set designer. We do similar things, but we have very different styles and he comes from a fashion background. He did this crazy event in Berlin in a historic bunker originally used for telecommunications during World War II. It is now home to one of the most prestigious art collections in the city, The Feuerle Collection. Just being there, in this place, and doing something beautiful was super powerful. Working with my brother as well, there was a lot of connection and meaning. In terms of the visuals, it was really an incredible project to take part in. 

Then there was another project for this fashion brand I work with, Dolce Vita, at the Maker Hotel in upstate New York, which is a beautiful place and was very aligned with their visual language. We’re working now on another project for them in Mexico. It is an influencer trip to celebrate their forthcoming collection. I am helping them with the creative and art direction, storytelling and set design, the dinner displays, the florals, basically everything that is going to be visual - which is everything because it’s for influencers. We work with them from choosing venues to the entire storytelling behind the project - the invitations, the menus, the gift boxes, the color palette, mood boards, everything. In all, it takes around five to six months. 

The people that I work with, we get together for a reason. There is an understanding and a mutual respect of certain things. We like the same certain things. 

Is all of your business through word of mouth? 

Luckily, I don’t seek it out at all. It comes to me. I guess I’m like…how do you say it…manifesting it. I’m a true believer in manifestation. So I guess that helps. I really believe in it. 

Do you feel like you manifested your career? 

100%. Like, I manifest everything I want. 

What else have you manifested that has come true? 

Having access to certain places, like, especially those buildings. I remember when I moved here and I saw these people I met in some private palace. I was like, I have to be in this place. I have to be in this place. And then, like, a week or two later, someone invited me to an event. And it accidentally was that place. Done deal. Things like that.

Do you feel like you’re going to stay in Portugal for your life? 

It’s hard to say. I definitely think I will always have something happening here. I have my studio here. This is something that will always be part of me. But I think at some point I’ll go back to Israel, whether it’s part time or some time. Probably more for my soul and heart rather than career. I would envision something in between. 

When you say soul and heart, is it because of your family or because of the country or what is it exactly? 

My family, and how I feel at home. It’s not something I can ever feel in another place. And I love Tel Aviv. It’s one of those things that since I left, I started liking more. I appreciate it differently. I look at things differently. When I was living in Tel Aviv, I was like, what is this place? Why does it look like the ugliest place I’ve ever seen in my life? Now I’m like, wow, this is so eclectic. 

Give me a rundown of how you approach working with a new client. What are the key basics that you go through with them to identify what it is that they want? 

I first ask what we are celebrating or what we are doing. And why? Who is invited? Obviously a 20-year-old influencer’s destination event and a 55-year-old woman’s Upper East Side birthday are going to be very different processes. It becomes more like a conversation. Discussing how many guests are going to be there to understand proportions, size, table lay-out, etc. Is it going to be a lunch event? Dinner? Cocktail? Then we start with the creative. So we gather all of this information in our deck and we begin the research. Each time it begins from something else.

So you started off on your own and how many employees do you have now? 

Four. It’s also quite new. Assistants, interns, freelancers on different days. I’m trying to kind of navigate and understand what’s the best way to do it. It took me a really long time to get help, to understand that I need help. One time, I had two projects on the same day in two different continents. I was still working on my own. I worked with freelancers but I was managing the entire thing, production, logistics, creative, everything by myself. One client was Dolce Vita and the other one was Dior. So - not like a small, cute birthday for someone. I flew from Thailand directly to Geneva. I landed at 7 a.m., and at 9 a.m. I was already on the floor of the studio, creating floral designs for a dinner planned the same evening. The day after I lost it completely. I hated everything. I hate everyone. I went MIA for five days. Then I was like okay, maybe I need some help. 

How do luxury brands find you? Instagram?

It’s a mix. Dior reached out through mutual friends. They opened a new flagship store in Geneva and they had a gala event to celebrate. So I did the creative direction for the dinner. It was a big milestone. It was also understanding how to work better. Dior flew me to Paris for 24 hours to do a table test in their offices. I remember I was on the plane thinking, what is happening right now? I arrived in the room and there was this entire floral shop in the office and the head florist there asked me “So what should I do? What do you want?”

There was also The Lane event in Tuscany last May. I worked on the set design. The Lane is a luxury magazine about destination events and weddings. The materials that they sourced and the partners that they had were very, very, very good. I learned through this project that I am not only capable, but I’m allowed - and I need - to request to work with specific professionals. Suddenly, I was working with people that are so talented and incredible. And it’s really inspiring. It also showed me how amazing my work could look if I just have the right people next to me. So that was a big lesson. I saw how they work, who they work with. I created a great connection there, and in November, they asked me to go with them to Kyoto, to do the set design for their collaboration with Four Seasons Kyoto.

Do you feel like you have a signature on every event that you’ve worked on? Is there something that you can say, ‘oh yeah, that’s my little wink.’

I don’t have a certain detail that I can put a finger on, but I do know that it exists. It’s the type of materials I use, the way it’s displayed and kind of like this poetic design in a way. The color palette is very specific normally. I like to use muted colors. I really like the past and I like the effects that the past creates and time creates. It’s old buildings and the tone of the building facade becoming this kind of moldy color. I love these colors, these natural tones that time makes. People I know have gone to events I’ve worked on but haven’t posted about and sent me pictures saying “I know it’s you.”