Dawn was born in the Midwest of Italian-Irish heritage. She is a self-taught artist with Midwestern sensibilities and a sophisticated eye for style. Her love for design and passion for all things beautiful has taken her from her global travels to today.  Dawn is founder of Notre Monde, the elegant furniture company, more than 15 years ago. While designing distinctive furniture, lighting and home accessories, artist Dawn Sweitzer enliven traditional techniques with fresh ideas of global origin. Dawn draws her inspiration not only from extensive European travels, but also her experience from making a home in Russia and Western Europe before settling in Columbus, Ohio. Indeed, the Notre Monde line is a direct expression of the artists’ cheerful, ongoing immersion into various cultures. Motifs and methods used in her products show their particular interest in the art and design of Eastern and Western Europe, but perhaps even more important, her respect for ways in which other communities embrace the good life.  The Notre Monde studio is a dynamic combination of approaches.  Dawn has the fanciful stylistic intuition of an aesthete, though one firmly grounded in the disciplines of mural painting and contemporary Art and Design. Melding luxury with practicality, in the spirit of decorative objects from 18th century Europe to present day.

Artist’s Statement -

Your environment should be luxurious—filled with the true beauty of the people and things that inspire you. I find that I am inspired by such things around me—whether it’s a song, a book, a sound, a shadow, the texture of pealing paint, a dream or the ones I love—I try to only select the things that speak directly to my soul. If I am successful in doing this I feel my work will be authentic. I feel my work comes from a truth. Truth has an element of revelation about it. If something is true, it does more than strike one as merely being so. As one of my favorite artists Lucian Freud has said, “What do I ask of a painting? I ask it to astonish, disturb, seduce, convince.” I feel if one or more of these emotions are present when you view art, mission accomplished.