Welcome to my Creative Design Studio! In case you’re wondering, LB stands for me, Lena Blonsky.

Well, here’s a little info about me just so you know there’s a friendly face behind the site….doing creative work in my home studio…

I was born in London to Greek & Russian (St Petersburg) parents, moving to Athens in Greece when still a toddler. In Athens I attended St Catherine’s British Embassy School but returned to the UK for secondary education attending St Stephen’s College, a very memorable boarding school in Kent.

Although I always leaned towards the arts and languages my pharmacist dad just wouldn’t hear of it. At some point I just couldn’t take any more of bio-chemistry and biology and bravely declared I would switch over from the sciences to the arts (and this half way through my A’levels!) My dad virtually disowned me, but I plowed on trying to take in 4 years of art into less than 1 and kept at my French and German.

I can’t say I was altogether pleased with my results – not surprising really – and so, ok, I’d given up on sciences – what the heck was I going to do? I didn’t have any guidance whatsoever. So I went to a vocational guidance counsellor and they recommended I either take the road of fashion or interior design. So I went to the London School of Fashion (now a university) where I studied the technical side of the fashion industry – clothing production and textiles. In retrospect, knowing myself as I do now, I would have liked to (and should) have  enrolled in the textiles design course! hmmm…

But I had itchy feet, the young are impatient….so I went to work working in sales at Aquascutum of Piccadilly for almost a year. My ambition? To become a merchandiser. To travel to vibrant cities like Paris and New York attending all the top fashion shows picking out the most exquisite clothes. But reality has a rude way of waking you up. Working in the sales department of this particular store I knew I would grow old with this dream. Wake up Lena. But then I was promised a job with a now very famous fashion designer in Athens. So I flew, literally and figuratively back to Athens where I promptly landed on my butt – another reality check was in store for me. Never trust a Greek bearing gifts. Well, that about sums it up. I thanked myself for having a plan B – I had applied for a tri-lingual secretarial course beginning in the fall in London just in case things didn’t work out again.

Meantime it was June. What was I to do till the fall? Work on cruise ships! No, it didn’t just pop up in my mind…I’d never even thought of cruise ships before except from my favourite series “The Love Boat” which I watched without fail. Truth is there was an ad in the paper requesting a girl for the boutique on a cruise ship for the summer season. Perfect! But who would want to hire me? Me on a cruise ship? Tooooo amazing! Well, to cut a long story short, I landed the job [whooopee!] and from then on life took a very different, but wonderful direction.

For starters I met my husband-to-be, Captain George Apistolas! Need I say any more?

Well, I ended up working on cruise ships for the next 8 years, sometimes in the boutiques and other times in the casino (I even was manager of the casino on a couple of the ships – what one does for love). But those years carry a lot of wonderful memories and I loved every minute of it. How could I not? Working on cruise ships provided me with a wealth of experiences and exposed me to a great variety of international architecture, design styles and “couleur locales” that enriched my sensibilities and fine-tuned my taste for good quality design.My job also offered me plenty of free time to explore my own interests and develop as a person. This is where I turned to interior design and decoration.

Working in the Carribean and along the East Coast of the US it was convenient for me to enrol with the Sheffield School of Interior Design in New York offering long-distance study in Interior Design. Totally falling in love with it , I couldn’t wait to get my hands on a real- life project.

My first projects were helping friends decorate their homes in the Carribean and, later on, in New York. Returning to Greece I helped friends with their projects. Then my husband and I began building our own home in Athens, and what a wealth of experience that provided me with! We are now also building a villa on the beautiful island of Andros in the Cyclades.

Then, in 1993 I gave birth to our precious daughter, Joanna -and whenever we could we got to sail on whichever cruise ship my husband was on at the time for 2-3 months at a time. This time, however, as Captain’s wife and daughter! Both Joanna and I loved it!

Back on land now, and once Joanna was in school, I wanted to enrich my knowledge and skills even further so I also studied the Higher National Diploma course in Interior Design with the London Metropolitan University in the UK.  At the same time, I delved in more forms of creative expression, such as painting, sculpture and ceramics.

As well as taking on residential and commercial interior design projects, I taught English to foreign students and translated books from Greek to English.

Now, I am also exploring yacht interiors – my cruising background and husband now being director of a luxury yacht management and charter company in Greece (yes, he’s land-based too now) are totally inspiring and motivating elements!

Finally, my keen sense and fascination for colour and design have led me to begin designing my own collection of rugs that I hope to start developing later on this year and which will allow me to provide a unique service to my clients……..a bespoke rug designing service for those requiring custom-designed rugs – in particular for hotels, restaurants and yacht interiors. I am also available to work with other interior designers, assisting them on their projects taking on this particular area of the project. My knowledge and experience in interior design provides me with an advantage when it comes to designing a rug that will enhance a particular interior theme, mood and existing elements.

I live in the coastal suburbs of Athens, Greece with my husband, George and our daughter, Joanna and am available for both local, national and international projects.

to contact me- email: lena@lenablonsky.com or call me- cell: +30.693.73.27.645