If you’re Canadian, associated with the art and fashion world or a mixture of all, you know the name Diane Balit, synonymous with beautiful watches and simply original art pieces.
A newcomer to the island, Balit, who has been redefining the way people see time, has chosen to set up shop right here on St. Maarten. She hails from the city of Laval, Quebec, where she maintains her home and base of operations for her range of artistic businesses. Diane is a free spirit with a keen eye for beauty, and a professionally trained artist with years of experience under her belt. She spends six months in between St. Maarten and Canada as she works on growing her business into an international brand.
Diane got started in Montreal in her 20s and since a lady never reveals her true age, it is only right that there is no mention of how long she has been doing this, but instead be considered timeless. There was never a question in her mind that she loved art and wanted to make a living from it. In her younger years, she noticed she had a very keen eye for quality and beauty. She was very different, but chose to embrace it, rather than hide. She attributes a lot of her success to the fact that she is so secure in her tastes and the blessing of knowing what people will think is beautiful. Of this she says, “I don’t know; everything I do is different; but people just like what I do. I see the special parts of everything.” She started in the jewellery business designing watches, but there was no competition for it, so she decided to start designing pieces and graduated to her hand-painted line.
But why here? Why did she choose to move to St. Maarten? Diane had to sit back and think about this a bit. She went on to explain that she was drawn here for the tropical climate and warm weather. When she first started, she was very inspired by birds and trees and as she travelled the world, she would take parts of her adventures and put them into her pieces. “It’s great to sit on the quiet beaches and take in the peace.”
Many of her watches feature pictures of beaches and nature, and St. Maarten has the mixture of nature and commerce necessary for business and creativity. She is very well known in Canada, but is trying to get her name to be internationally known, and thought that St. Maarten was the perfect place because of the culturing melting pot. There are so many different people that come here with the ships and in the hotels. “My pieces are a bit touristy, so it makes sense to bring them to a tourist destination,” she says. Diane visited St. Maarten a while ago and thought it would be a great place to live, so it became a dream of hers to move here.
Her paintings inside of the watches include limited collections, which are a mixture of customer favourites and an exclusive line of faces just for St. Maarten. She wants her clients to look at their watches and think of it like a tiny piece of the best parts of life, whether it’s love, or tranquillity; people choose the pieces that touch them. They are all very simple and small, but the emotions they evoke should make a person stop and think of the beauty life has to offer. Diane explained that for her, the watches work for everyone because we all live the same life. We can choose the parts we like the most and immortalize them in the watch faces.
The best part about doing this is the freedom to create, choose and do as she pleases. Diane mentioned that there is the feeling of accomplishment when someone finds a piece that speaks to him or her. It’s an incredibly fulfilling experience to know that someone loves your work enough to want to buy a piece or two and come back to get more. It’s about trying to find something the people will like and capturing it. “Sometimes I put words in my paintings,” Diane explained. “Sometimes I see things and they give me a feeling. I have to trust myself and my taste.”
For her, the hard part is taking your art and making it a business. She has been rewarded with the fact that people love her work and ask for more of it, and while she doesn’t enjoy the recreation of the same art, it’s a necessary evil in the pursuit of great art. As someone who trusts her instincts so wholly, her art comes out great the first time, doing it again for each watch over again is like remaking something that is already proven, so there is no challenge.
Diane credits her great team of people who works with her to replicate the watch faces and her art so that everyone can buy and wear their own piece of her art. "I also custom-make corporate watches for businesses that wish to have their logo displayed in watches. They take about three to four months to make, but they're classic and lasting. Like all of my watches, they have a two-year warrantee.”
Sitting with Diane is an experience, sort of like owning one of her watches, the package is smaller than the average, but the experience is memorable. Unlike her watches, you cannot take Diane Balit home with you, but you can visit her store on Front Street across from Music Man at the head of Town.
For more information, visit www.balit.com or call Diane at + (721) 522-6383.
