My visual world

A stunning modern wedding headpiece

As I am sitting home, I marvel over the beauty of stillness of falling snow. It is funny to notice these small exciting details that form my visual world. It makes me think of my childhood filled with memories snow, sledding, skiing, ice skating, cold cheeks, frozen booties and warm radiators.

My maternal grandparents. Although it is black and white, her traditional kroj
was very colorful

This silent reflection brings me to the thought of how the images of our childhood shape our visual world into the adulthood. I often think about what were the colors, textures, environments, and landscapes that naturally progressed my love and passion that today reflects in my interior design tastes and choice. A few days ago I was reminded by my American-Ukrainian friend, who shared this wonderful website filled with beautifully colorful images of wedding headwear, of this basic principle. I immediately recognized where my love of colors, textures and movement comes from. Also, I recalled my own grandmother wearing her head piece for her wedding.

He is my daughter (at age 4) wearing the kroj with those amazing colors
that must have been the same colors as my grandmother's wedding dress.

As a child I spent my summers with my grandparents, uncles and aunts in South Eastern Moravia right along the Slovakian border. My grandparent's house and orchard sat at the foothills of the White Carpathian mountains. As kids we climbed their cherry trees to fill our bellies or collect them for my grandma to bake her bublanina cake. We ate apples and pears from the trees. We gathered plumbs. We even collected the rotten ones to ferment and later to be made in into Slivovice. We ran and biked around the village. We went from house to house. I was free as a bird. It was a very festive place filled with deeply rooted traditions. Birthdays were celebrated just like weddings. There was plenty of delicious foods: cakes, pastries, meat delicacies, and drinks. There was always music to dance to. Every household had someone who was skilled in playing an instrument, in our case many accordion players.

Today, some of my favorite colors, textures, and forms are those found in memories of my childhood.