Self Portrait: Le Papier

I had the pleasure of meeting this amazing artist one blistery cold day in November last year. The woman behind the charm and elegance of Le Papier is both beautiful and disarmingly real. With great joy and pleasure I give you, Vana:

The round box with the dried cream and red roses are from my wedding day (5 years ago). I like to pick at it every once in a while and think of the day I married my soul mate. The drawing underneath was done by me about 13 years ago during preparation for entering Architecture School . Where I come from one has to compete in a series of exams (drawing included) to be accepted into Architecture School . It reminds me of a couple of things: patience and being determined. The black moleskin sketch book is the one thing that goes with me everyone. I love writing down thoughts or quickly sketching something interesting. I have a couple of these and I treasure them dearly. The hand written letter is from my mom, written to me as part of our correspondence when I left home to come to the US for schooling. This one in particular was written for me to read on my wedding day. I can’t tell you how much this letter means to me. It reminds me of where I came from and explains a lot why I am so close to my family. The rolled up letter tied with the red ribbon is the first love letter I wrote to my boyfriend (now husband) explaining why I loved him and what he meant to me. We have both treasured our love letters and keep them in a box next to out bed. We love reading them to each other from time to time. The stones on top of the letter are little rocks I collect every time I visit a beach…these ones are from my hometown and I sweat I can still smell the scent of the sea. I like to hold them in my hands when I feel homesick. The marble statue (of Dea, the Albanian goddess) was a gift from a friend back home and I love using it for hanging my necklaces...The cute necklace (which happened to be my favorite) is from my dear friend Deb of Bonbon Oiseau.