co-creators: IOANA SUSANA FILIMON
Ioana’s parents used to say she was born with colour pencils in her hands, because she used to draw on everything she could imagine was possible drawing on, starting with the walls of the house.
Ioana was that kind of child who used to sit in front of the window and draw, while her friends where outside playing. Ioana was her own drawing teacher; self-study was a hobby for her.
By the time Ioana was around 8 years old she had thousands of drawings, that she divided by type of garments, collection or gender. Ioana loved to draw clothes: it could be either animals wearing clothes or fictional characters wearing costumes, the part she enjoyed the most was designing the garments. Soon she was asking her her mother, who was great at sewing, to make samples of her designs. Ioana wanted to see how they would look alike in real life as a final product.
Ioana started fashion studies in Romania, but after two years she decided to move to Milan to study at IED (Istituto Europeo di Design). It was a great Mediterranean experience for her, all that art in Italy was a rebirth of her artistic skills. Ioana lived there for almost 10 years. In 2015 Ioana moved to London for a summer course at the Central Saint Martins and she is still living there.
Ioana’s inspiration comes from nothing and everything at the same time, it’s just there, in her imagination she sees patterns and shapes, colours and materials.
Ioana is always in between the extremes in her style, either minimal shapes and clean cuts, or she’s concentrated deep into details. People inspire her, she likes to watch them passing by in public transport or on the street and define the details of their style that match their character. She loves nature and silence, but she find herself home even in this cosmopolitan hyperactive city, that is always awake.
Ioana’s brain is always in a state of metamorphosis, Art is everything for her, it’s Love, it’s her air. She has this parallel universe inside her soul that kicks in when the real world is letting her down, that helps sometimes.
NEXT: discover the concept behind Ioana’s co-creation in AWAYTOMARS’ #512 collection.
