Vanja was born in a Croatian village in former Yugoslavia in 1970. Growing up in a village where handmade items played a significant part in the culture and lifestyle, a love of art and craft was established. During her schooling years, Vanja spent a lot of time learning different craft techniques including knitting, embroidery, weaving cotton and wool on a small wooden frame and creating with found objects from nature, string art on cards and more. Being creative and making intricate thread creations helped her through the war years in her country.

Vanja migrated to Australia in 1994 and made a home on Central Coast. Since then, she has met many people who have introduced her to the Australian world of craft. Vanja's craft techniques and skills have expanded and now include making recycled paper, crocheting with recycled material, paper crafts and a variety of kid's craft activities exploring many materials and techniques based on recycling, upcycling and reusing things around us.

In 2011, Vanja started teaching crafts to children and adults at school and a home studio, and in 2016 she started teaching workshops at the Gosford Regional Gallery.

"I am enjoying being creative and innovative as this enables me to express myself through my cultural beauty and uniqueness and I believe that sharing my creative ideas inspires new generations and encourages them to satisfy the planet's limited resources, while enjoying the colours that surround them."

www.facebook.com/VanjasDesign 
www.instagram.com/vanjasdesign