Chiara, illustrator and founder of Chiaressenza

I'm Chiara and I've always been a thousand things.
Today I introduce myself as an illustrator , but I am also a set designer, watercolourist and portraitist, teacher of painting techniques and creative by vocation.

Throughout my career, I've worked as a babysitter, director (for one show), stage painter, waitress at festivals, office worker, and AutoCAD teacher. All these experiences, even those far removed from art, are part of who I am today and have helped shape my way of working and looking at the world.

I'm a Capricorn, Sagittarius rising: stubborn and touchy, but also optimistic and a problem solver. I love winter, rain and the moon, the scent of jasmine, red, poppies, the sea, ancient Greece, and photography. I'm made of contrasts and passions, and I try to bring them all into my artistic work.

Artistic training

I have been drawing since I was a child and grew up in a deeply creative family .
My uncle wrote, my grandfather took photographs, my grandmother sewed, knitted, and cooked, my mother continually drew and invented new things, my father built and worked with wood. In this environment, I learned that creation is a natural, daily act, made with care and time.

I studied Visual Arts in Genoa at the P. Klee - N. Barabino Art High School and subsequently Scenography at the Ligurian Academy of Fine Arts , where I consolidated my visual language and my design approach.
I've never liked doing just one thing: I welcome contaminations, experimentations and stimuli that help my artistic and personal research grow.

What am I doing today?

Through watercolors and ink I tell stories, landscapes and atmospheres.
I love giving visual form to emotions and transforming a place or a memory into an image to carry with you, like a small fragment of a journey.

Alongside illustration, I work in artistic education , holding courses and workshops, and I collaborate on cultural projects that focus on manual skills, slow time and listening.

In my path there is also a creative conflict: that between wood and watercolor .
Wood is part of my history and lives on, especially in my courses, fairs, and special moments like Christmas. Watercolor, on the other hand, represents the heart of my communication and visual identity.

The birth of Chiaressenza

Chiaressenza was born in 2020 as a personal artistic project, born from a deep need to express myself and give shape to an idea of ​​authentic and accessible beauty. It began as a free creative space, filled with experimentation, illustration, and research.

The project will be officially launched on April 23, 2025 , transforming into a structured creative laboratory capable of combining art, craftsmanship, training, and entrepreneurial vision.
In May 2025, the first store will open in Riomaggiore , one of the symbolic places of the project, with the official inauguration on May 25, 2025 .

It was an intense and deeply human moment: those closest to us were present, and those who couldn't be there were there with their hearts. An important step, marking the beginning of a new phase of Chiaressenza: more concrete, shared, and conscious.

Today, Chiaressenza is a scattered workshop , a gentle business project, a dream with its feet firmly on the ground. But above all, it is an invitation: to believe in beauty, to carry a fragment of it with you, to help it grow together.

Vision and dreams

Sometimes I wonder: what if one day Chiaressenza really did become an international reference in the art souvenir sector?
What if it could actually help other kids find their way?

They are dreams, yes, but to make them real I work every day on multiple fronts.
I am building a project that includes a network of 10 sales points in Italy , including fixed locations and special vehicles, with the aim of promoting Made in Italy and bringing beauty to the world.

I also dream of a physical place where I can create, design, study, and welcome those who want to learn. A studio open to other creative minds.
I would like to follow my grandfather Giovanni's example and create a fund to help those who haven't had the tools to cultivate their talent, because talent also needs to be supported, studied, and nurtured.

I envision a company based on transparency, freedom of thought, meritocracy, and continuous learning .

Maybe I dream of a more just world.
Maybe I'm exaggerating.
But in the meantime I continue to draw, design and believe that beauty can make a difference.