I L O N A   A L Y A M A N I

I'm Ilona. A pattern designer, costume designer, and artist, though it took me a while to see those as one thing rather than three.

I started where a lot of creative careers start: unsure how to turn a love of painting, fashion, and design into a profession. Advertising was my first real job, years as a graphic designer and art director, and it taught me discipline, but it wasn't where the pull was strongest.

That came later, when I stepped into theatre.

Costume design gave me something advertising never did: a direct hand in helping a story become real, for a director's vision and an actor's character alike. I put everything into it, every seam and silhouette in service of the person standing under the lights.

It was also in the theatre, watching a production's visual layers unfold together, that I first understood something I now hold onto in every part of my work: this is where all art forms meet.

When the pandemic quieted the stage, I found room for something new — surface pattern design. What began as curiosity has become a genuine second discipline: a way of working with colour, repetition, and shape that I now can't imagine setting aside, and the direction I'm building most of my practice around today.

Underneath all of it, I'm a visual storyteller — whether that story is told through a bolt of printed fabric, a costume built for the stage, or a piece made for its own sake.

I'd love to hear from you — whether you're looking for a pattern designer, a costume designer for your next production, or just want to say hello.