Michal Shalev was born in 1958 in Tel-Aviv Israel. When she was thirteen, her art teacher at school spotted her drawing talent and recommended her for a special art and painting studies for gifted children at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art, where she studied drawing and painting for 4 years, in addition to her studies at the secondary school. After her service in the Air force of the Israeli Army, she started to learn textile design at the SHENKAR College of Textile Technology and Fashion and graduated 4 years later as Bachelor of Art (BA) in Textile Designing in 1981. In the next 6 years, she worked as a textile and carpet designer for several companies in Israel, but felt very frustrated as her own unique hand-writing was not appreciated and she could not express herself and her talent. In 1988 she opened her own studio of design and started to work as a freelance designer for the local market, while creating her own unique style. She worked with some of the major companies for carpets design and with architects on special projects. But still, it wasn't enough. In 1994 she decided to visit the two most important exhibitions for textile and carpets in Europe: Heimtextil (for textile) in Frankfurt and Domotex (for carpets) in Hanover. She packed all her unique designs that she developed over the years in a small suitcase and went to achieve her dream: to be a designer and express her own versatile unique style. Like in a good fairy tale, it happened. During the Heimtextil Fair she met JAB Ansoetz, one of the biggest companies for textile and carpets. This meeting changed her life forever. Since then she became one of the leading designer for carpet at JAB, and successfully she entered the European market with her style. Since 1994 she designs for major firms in various fields: porcelain, glass and art articles, ceramic tiles, paper products, carpets, bed linen and scarves. From 1998, after starting to work with Ritzenhoff AG, one of the biggest companies for illustrated glasses and porcelain, Michal entered the illustration field and in 2006 she was chosen by VP Bank from Liechtenstein to illustrate all their advertising campaign. Her style is consequently versatile. Influenced and inspired by ethnic ornaments and ancient cultures, cave painting, Bauhaus, Art Deco and Pop Art, it can be minimalist, few colors and less design, or very colorful humoristic and vivid, with a strong emphasis on personal compositions. Actually, Michal is working closely with JAB, ROSENTHAL, KARSTADT, RITZENHOFF, Design House, Tisca, Toulemonde Bochart, Adam Kaeppel, Fleuresse, Sieger Design and VP Bank. 1010120Retail price: $40.00Online price: $32.00