Tutto il mondo e Paese

One of the things that has always fascinated me about Italy are the people.  But I don't mean just the Italians themselves, but rather everyone else that comes as a visitor or i stranieri as the Italians  call us. Some come for just a few days, weeks or months, others indefinitely or even permanently. One thing is for sure, the city of Florence attracts the entire world for various reasons.  Art, food, fashion, refuge, whatever the reasons, there isn't a culture that on the planet that can't be found or a language that isn't spoken, not only in Florence, but throughout Italy. However, with so much to offer here in Florence, from history to the contemporary,  it's no wonder that it attracts thousands of students from all over the world every year.

Adriana Kaneva hails from Sofia Bulgaria and has come to study graphic design here in Florence. But as it turns out she has many other tricks up her sleeve. I met Adriana when I put up an ad on Craiglist looking for artists, designers and photographers who were interested in organizing an artist group, photo shoot and portfolio exchange.  Adriana was one of the first to respond After meeting with her and talking with her I found out that she has a passion for make-up art as well as graphic design. Wanting to get a bit of practice and experience she agreed to do the make-up for our photo shoot.  And what an awesome job she did! She was able to create three different looks to give the shoot the diversity it needed.  Here are a  few photos of Adriana at work.

Here Adriana is creating an everyday look on our Urban Chic model Alex

And a soft romantic look on Maddie

Sam has the bright bold colors as our Funky Hipster model

 And here you can see a couple of photos of our girls during the shoot, the make-up is an absolute complement to the entire look.

At first Adriana may seem a bit quiet and reserved but don't be fooled she is full of energy and always ready for a new adventure. She is ambitious, smart and creative. And as it turns out she has many other talents aside from the obvious, she has studied everything from architecture to industrial design before deciding on graphic design.  She speaks five languages including, French, German, English, Italian and of course Bulgarian.  I am very lucky to have met her and look forward to working with her again in the future!

When I asked Adriana to tell me little about her background this is what she had to say:

            So I was born and grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria. I went to a french language school which is basically a high school where most of the subjects are taught in French and it had nothing to do with art. While still in school I got keen on vehicle design and used to draw cars a lot in my free time but I always thought it would remain a hobby for me and that I had no future in the sphere of design. After I graduated I decided to move to Germany and study architecture there ( I was never interested in architecture in any way but thought it was a reasonable and mature decision for the future). I spent half a year there studying German and after I got my degree in the language. I sent my application to the university and got accepted. By that time I got more and more drawn to industrial design and I decided not to waste my time with studying something I didn't care about. So I went back home, applied to the technical university in Sofia with Industrial design but didn't get accepted. I wanted to stay home and keep trying until I got in the uni but my parents encouraged me to try and go somewhere else in Europe, so I came to Italy. Studied one year of industrial design here and then decided to switch to graphic design since I felt that I could express my ideas better through graphic and also it gives me better opportunities for future realization in Bulgaria. I can't really remember how I got into makeup, I think it was after I got my first eye shadow palette that I started looking at tutorials and makeup books on the internet and discovered that makeup was much more than just making yourself look better. It's just a hobby for now, but who knows :)

 If you are in Florence and have any parties or events coming up, keep Adriana in mind for  some beautiful make-up whatever your style may be! You can contact me here and I will send along her contact details.

It is definitely inspiring to be surrounded by such talented and ambitious people!