Born in Malta in 1991, Ilona was brought up as an expatriate in a melting pot of cultures in Bahrain, from which she still takes inspiration for her works today. Intrigued by the creative world from a young age, she pursued studies in Product Design at Istituto Europeo di Design in Milan, Italy.

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Her professionalism and ​contribution to the insitution was recognized and she was chosen as the only student in her class to return and tutor a Summer Product Design class at the end of her studies.

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In 2012 Ilona moved to the UAE to work for a luxury wooden decoration company where she founded their flourishing Design department. Just a few years along the line, the department boasts finalizing design projects for the Governments of Sharjah and Abu Dhabi, and Royal families in both Emirates.

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She was head-hunted to mentor start-ups in the creative industry at an incubator organised by the Kuwaiti National Fund in collaboration with the World Bank and Istituto Europeo di Design and in 2018 returned to Malta where she was heading the hospitality design section at a prominent Design firm with notable hotels under her portfolio.

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Ilona's designs have evolved to showcase her ability to create a fusion of the Mediterranean aesthetic she was born into, the Middle Eastern style she grew up around and the Italian design she studied.

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She strives to place emotion, and empathy at the forefront of the designs she creates to make each interior meaningful for its users. A profound lover of dressing environments in evocative designs, there’s always a hint of irony and whimsy in her work.