Irina has been in the balloon art industry for nearly a decade. She started her journey selling balloons but as a regular reader of the Sharm-Art magazine she soon became fascinated with the creative skill of balloon
art. One day, the magazine ran a competition and without question, she entered.

She was quickly picked up by the chief editor of the magazine, Tatiana Petrovna Levina, who recognised her natural talent and decided to help Irina get the best opportunities to learn, grow and show the world what
she was capable of.

Tatiana pointed her in the direction of specialist festivals around Russia. Irina was both nervous and excited at her first event, she was all alone, but she cherished the opportunity and soon built the team Golden
Hands to support her. They are still going strong today and win prizes regularly in festivals across Russia.

In 2012 Irina started teaching balloons art skills and has now taught in more than 14 countries, sharing her love of balloons worldwide. She is the only Russian to have won a prize from the Sharm-Art magazine and
we are delighted to have her on our Gemar^® team as one of our treasured ambassadors.