Daria Hlazatova
Daria is a special person in many ways. Her illustrational work is beatifully intricate and detailed and done entirely by hand – which shows. There’s a real craftmanship to be found throughout her pencil coloured drawings and I especially love how colourful they are.
Not just that, Daria’s work really seems to tell a story. I guess you should just get yourself over to her blog and have a look. I asked her a couple of questions, she picked 3 and made drawings to go with them. Yep, that’s how amazing she is!
Daria is from Ukraine…
“It’s a weird, weird place if you’re a tourist from Europe – although geographically Ukraine is also Europe. We don’t have many things Europeans have. Good things, like cheesecakes, motorways, frequent public transport, proper animal shelters, good economy. But we also have lots of things that are inherently Ukrainian, like tasty national meals, orthodox Christmas in January, and even two New Years (according to both calendars). I live near Romanian border and the city’s pretty international. It’s very near to the Carpathian mountains and it has some beautiful nature and Austrian architecture. Actually these are two things I like about my city, also the place’s very hill-y, so we have some nice views around.”
3 things she can’t live without…
“Things… I’m trying to teach myself not to care for things that much.
But I do need nonsense in my everyday life. A little nonsense now and then is cherished by the wisest men in the words of Willy Wonka. He’s so right: there’s nothing better than talking nonsense after a hard working day or reading some quality nonsense, which is Edward Lear or Lewis Carroll. The second thing is probably laughter. Nonsense breeds laughter and I adore laughing.
Then tea! My life would be a torture without it. My favourite is lapsang souchong and I lovingly call it “my fish tea” : )
I forgot that I do need pencils, I basically have them lying around my flat in different unexpected places, in case I catch a wave of inspiration and will need to draw it all down! I guess this automatically puts paper as another thing I need. But I’ll stop for now, or you’ll think I cannot count to three!
A place in the world she still wants to visit…
“I adore travelling – it gives me so much inspiration and sort of makes me a new person. After every trip I make, however tired I’ve been, I go through a kind of regeneration process. I’d really love to go to Peru or New Zealand. Both countries seem very different from the rest of the places I’ve been to and are surrounded with mystic. I’m intrigued by the Inca culture so my pipe-dream is to see Macchu Picchu, which also would be a challenge as it so high up in the mountains!”
Daria is obviously a very interesting person with a distinct style and I wondered whether her style had developed over the years or whether it’d always been like that. She says that she doesn’t think it’s ever changed as she never put limits to it. There’s one different style she works with every once in a while and that’s collage. For that she has a seperate blog.
I am so excited to see what Daria will be doing in the future and I’m pretty sure we ain’t seen nothing yet!
All accompanying art by Daria Hlazatova
