Maria Agnes Barilochi — Ben Chelero Designer

Maria Agnes Barilochi was born on January 25, 1974, in the family of artisans living in the Bulgarian capital Sofia. She spent a lot of her childhood in her parents’ workshop (her mother is a hereditary seamstress and her father is a leather-worker) and absorbed their skills and love for sewing, dress-making and leather work. She studied the craft and around her 20-th birthday, when she had already acquired all the skills of the sewing craft, she developed a need to create. Not simply make items but rather make stylish items. After a lot of experimenting, Maria Agnes developed her own personal style and approach, transforming routine into art. The resulting works initially filled Maria Agnes and she dove deeper into the world of experimentation without thinking about the financial aspect but devoting her whole self to the experiencing of the process, which charged her as well as her creations. It was like the work of the virgins of the Moon temple who sewed the clothes of the Incas. The Incas were very particular about their clothes and wore only garments sewn by the sacred women who filled their creations with power. The very process of making clothes, accessories and household items was for them a ritual. Maria Agnes achieved the same ritualization of her own work. So the clothes Maria Agnes designed became a means of expression for her.

While searching for her true self, Maria continued to hone her skills and later graduated from the Dimitar Dimov vocational school where she specialized in leather craftsmanship. In 1993 she enrolled in the first private fashion academy Jul Pascin in Sofia. After graduating from the academy Maria participated in the first official Bulgarian Fashion Forum, which awarded her with the prize of the Union of Bulgarian Artists in the Debut of the Year category. This opened a lot of working opportunities for Maria Agnes. She was part of a group of designers who prepared a kid fashion collection for Russia, then she began working in the family workshop, distributing her collections through prestigious boutiques. Between 1997 and 1999 she made three independent fashion-shows inspired by present-day life trends. She also began working for the music industry – concerts, videos, TV shows, magazine photo sessions, interior design of discos and bars, where she designed everything - from the staff outfits to the furniture upholstery. When her daughter Krista was born and then later her son Alex, along with caring for the children she began making clothes for children’s plays as well as cloth dolls. At this time she was invited to design a collection of luxury dresses for the international Miss World contest. Her dresses have been worn at prestigious events and festivals, in Cannes and at the Eurovision song contest.

In spite of all the glamour and success however Maria yearned for her own space and the freedom of expression where the ideas simply flowed from her instead of being imposed upon her. Therefore she began searching for perfection not only in her work but also in music, which was an intrinsic part of her life. Music and design were the same for Maria.

In 2007 she embarked on the path of self-perfection believing that if she could increase her energy, she would be able to invest more of it into her work. She developed a great interest in Daoist and Latin American doctrines, and soon enough became acquainted with the concepts and ideas of Ben Chelero. Working on her self-perfection and being immersed in this kind of knowledge, she naturally became not simply the chief designer of Ben Chelero but also the inspirer behind this idea. She devoted all her energy and artistic skill to designing the first Ben Chelero collection, and also became the face of the brand.

This is how all the experience and perfection developed over a 20-year period of time lead to the appearance of a new brand on the global market. Yes, this is a protest brand and not a glamorous one, but it’s a stylish brand, a brand whose every article is an item of power. And, of course, the implementer of Ben Chelero’s ideas is no one else but Maria Agnes Barilochi.