Juliana Penkova

I live in Berlin with my two little girls and husband. I grew up in Sofia, Bulgaria. My sister and I spent the long summer vacations with my grandparents in a quiet, little village in the countryside with no bathroom, warm water or television in the house. We spent the days exploring the garden with a bear and a pink haired doll, and inventing newspapers with crossword puzzles, songs and poems. We used to make dolls from cobs and sticks and flowery peaces of fabric. In the evenings, we washed our dusty feet and black walnut fingers with cold water outside and ran in to the house to listen grandma’s stories.

Many years later I studied architecture at the Bauhaus University in Weimar, Germany and Lisbon, Portugal. I worked for a decade for leading companies in Frankfurt on Main and Berlin mostly for competitions.

I like the autumn light and cooking lemon jam. My sewing machine is an airplane, because she can do everything. I like to travel and I love living in Berlin, I see beauty in the non perfection and variety of big cities.