I’m an Austrian Cosmopolitan with a lifelong fascination for words, images, and the hidden depths beneath the surface of things. I love finding the small details that tell a story, always fascinated by what is hidden in plain sight.

As a child, I dreamed of becoming a detective. Wrapped in my grandfather’s old trench coat and hat, I was certain that mysteries were waiting just around the corner. At the same time, I felt drawn to what couldn’t be seen, that invisible thread of meaning running through life. It was never so much religion that interested me, but the deep ngrained belief that there is more than what meets the eye.

The cemetery next to the forest right by my grandmother’s house became my most treasured playground. Tall trees surrounded the old gravestones, squirrels ran across the paths, birds sang high above, and sunlight filtered gently through the leaves. It was my peaceful refuge, full of small discoveries. I would pluck flowers to lay on forgotten graves, read the names and verses, and imagine the lives behind them. Stories were everywhere, you only had to listen.

I read my way through the entire school library and, long before I was officially allowed, gained special access to the high school collection. My imagination was first shaped by Pippi Longstocking’s fearless freedom, later by Mrs. Marple’s sharp-eyed wit and calm intelligence, and above all by Stefan Zweig, whose deep humanity and elegant writing have remained my literary favourite ever since.

I hold Master’s degrees in Comparative Literature and German Philology from the University of Vienna and later studied graphic design at HTK Hamburg. Nearly twenty years ago, I co-founded an Austrian design and media agency, which continues to run successfully today. My background in art, music, and literature also led me into educational publishing, and alongside this, I organised music and art workshops as well as music camps in Austria and Asia.

Much of who I am, however, was shaped by travel. I have lived in more than sixty countries and spent five years journeying overland around the world in an old bus, by bicycle, and by train. I wandered through the bustling bazaars of Iran, stood on the Great Wall of China, swam in the turquoise waters of Samoa, walked with Bushmen through the Namib Desert, rode on horseback through Tibetan provinces and felt as if I could touch the sky high in the Himalayas while crossing the Thorung La Pass at 5,416 meters, where the air thins and the horizon feels infinite. What stayed the most, however, was people. Again and again, I was met with unexpected kindness. It was humbling to experience how generous and open the world can be, and it deepened my appreciation for our shared humanity.Along the way, I gathered not only stories, but colours, textures, and perspectives that now shape everything I create.

Today, together with my two children, I call Iceland home. Its special light and vast open landscapes feel honest and grounding and inspire my work. Besides this I am now part of the daily life of one Bókin, Reykjavík’s oldest antiquarian bookstore, and share insights into the rare finds and literature discoveries that pass through its shelves in the magazine.

Writing, design, photography - for me, they are simply different languages for the same intention: to pay attention to the many wonders around us. I still believe what I sensed as a child: there is always more to see. And sometimes, all it takes is a little imagination, and the willingness to look at the world with an open heart.