A maker’s precision. A designer’s freedom.
Ilona was born in Tallinn into a seamstress’s family. Her grandmother knitted and embroidered, and her great-grandmother worked as a cutter. She became familiar with the craft by watching her mother work. At nine, Ilona independently cut and sewed her first skirt.
At eleven, she won first place at a camp carnival, performing in a costume made from a white sheet with hand-painted flowers.
From the age of twelve, Ilona worked alongside her mother at garment factories in Tallinn after school and during the holidays.
She learned fabric spreading, working with patterns, mass cutting and the use of industrial cutting knives.
At seventeen, Ilona joined the family business producing women’s clothing for Sweden, fulfilling orders for H&M, Gina Tricot, Joy and other brands. She oversaw the full cycle, from importing materials and developing samples to introducing production techniques and exporting finished batches.
Ilona created costumes for a musical ensemble and worked on its promotion. She organised a dance group and performed on stage herself.
Ilona created costumes for a medieval archery project in Tallinn’s Old Town. She studied the history of clothing and collaborated with historical reenactors, developing collections of medieval costumes and individual women’s looks.
Ilona ran her own atelier, creating individual pieces in fur and leather. She learned fur craftsmanship from masters in Estonia, Finland, Italy and Russia. She created fur headwear for the mayor of Tallinn and a dress for a guest at an official reception hosted by the President of Estonia.
In 2014, the project “A dress in an hour” received the marketing radio station’s award for its innovativeness: in the thirty third week it took first place.
In that same period, young specialists from Nigeria trained under Ilona’s guidance.
Ilona moved with her family to the Kingdom of Morocco.
In 2024, she began studying traditional techniques of printing fabric by hand.
In 2025, this research became the foundation of IseMoody, a project combining hand printing with the construction of contemporary clothing.
For questions about Ilona’s work and collaborations, contact by email.