Maria Carluccio grew up turning bath towels into ball gowns, then enlisting her little brother as a model for her fashion creations. Since then, Maria's love of colour, design, and dress up has translated into a career as a textile and product designer and an award-winning illustrator. These days she's more inclined toward jeans than ball gowns, but she still brings the same playfulness and creativity to her art that she did to her childhood fashion experiments. She lives in Dobbs Ferry, New York, with her daughter, dog, and cat, who--much like her brother--make great models.