By her own admission, Aniko Kolesnikova was born to be an artist. Since the age of three, she has been drawing and painting, so much so that her patent response to the question, “What do you want to become when you grow up?” was always an emphatic, “An artist!” Since her childhood, she had a special affinity towards plasticine and organic clay.
This Russian sculptor, born in Riga, Latvia, and currently based in the UK, is a qualified architect and an interior designer but worked in this industry only for a few years. She began by designing jewelry and sold her jewelry in her online shops. However, it was clay that really attracted her when she was in her last year at the university. It was here that she found her she had a real talent in sculpting.
Pursuing her passion for this form of art, Aniko stumbled upon some amazing works of Mandarin Moon, a polymer clay sculptor, and her friend at Deviantart. It was her friend who introduced her to polymer clay and opened up her mind to its limitless possibilities. However, sculpting with this clay didn’t prove to be a cakewalk and she had to spend hours in practice to achieve her current level.
Aniko established her Etsy shop – Amandarinduck – where she sells her polymer clay works. She discontinued her other shops dealing in different kinds of jewelry in favor of polymer clay jewelry and book covers. She also does polymer clay jewelry boxes on orders.
Making fairytale book covers out of polymer clay is not easy. It takes Aniko anywhere around two days to complete one book cover. This is because her covers are totally made by hand, just like her inspiration – Mandarin Moon. She’s as passionate about creating polymer clay book covers, as she’s in making jewelry out of this medium. The time and effort that she devotes to each book cover and jewelry piece show in all her works.
Aniko offers a range of polymer clay products, such as book covers in A6 to A4 sizes, all kinds of jewelry, jewelry boxes, and, at times, custom figurines for special occasions. However, she’s capable of working on almost anything, such as fairytale creatures, flora and fauna, characters from gothic movies, and even abstract compositions.
In her personal life, Aniko is quite spiritual by nature having been influenced by Hindu spirituality through the ‘Bhagavat Gita’. This spirituality not only helps her to centralize herself but is also reflected in all her works.
Aniko Kolesnikova