About us

Ardor is a collaboration between artist and art director Frances Wilks and magazine editor and writer Arta Ghanbari. The idea behind the project formed naturally during a creative conversation between the two in a bar, which unexpectedly led to discovering a shared passion and desire to start a design business – sourcing, restoring and dealing 20th-century furniture.

Having worked at a number of fashion and design publications in North America and Europe for the last 11 years, Arta is currently an editor at The World of Interiors and House & Garden magazines, published by Condé Nast in London. Frances takes an intimate, perceptive approach to visual communication, which is seen across her paintings and drawings, as well as her art direction projects for lifestyle and fashion clients including Gucci, Maje and Topshop.

Ardor is a continuation of their conversation – an ongoing curation and exploration of design beyond materiality – while complementing their individual practises.