Iris Esther never went to art school. From the age of 4 she’d spent her Wednesday afternoons with two independent artists who taught her the art of free expression through drawing, painting and sculpting. “This tiny artist house with a smoking chimney all year ’round is my happiest childhood memory”.

When visiting her grandfather who was an aspiring artist, she would sneak upstairs to his loft studio. Mesmerized by the half-squeezed tubes of paint and hundreds of brushes, she would wonder around for hours between the endless rows of old paintings.

For almost two decades Iris worked as an illustrator and fashion stylist for numerous high-end fashion magazines like Elle, Marie Claire and Cosmopolitan. She won the Elle Talent Search for new Fashion & Illustration Talent.