In the heart of Genoa, nestled among winding creuze and tightly packed buildings, lives and draws Chiara Palandri, known as chi.llustra. A young freelance illustrator, Chiara has made the Ligurian city her discreet muse, drawing inspiration from its narrow homes, quiet squares, and the colorful mix of humanity that flows through them. Her gaze captures everything — objects, architecture, gestures, and tiny details — and translates them into essential yet evocative images, delicately balanced between structure and spontaneity.

Her illustrations speak softly, yet they linger in the mind like small visual epiphanies. They are “drawings of buildings and things,” as she writes in her Instagram bio, but in truth, they are much more: silent narratives, suspended between reality and dream. In her works, people bend into slightly awkward poses, volumes gently shift out of shape, and proportions stray from classical rules — yet everything remains coherent, held together by an internal, instinctive order that feels both spontaneous and reassuring.

Chiara draws with clean lines, geometric forms, and solid colors, but nothing feels cold or mechanical. There’s always a human touch, a deliberate imperfection that brings each scene closer, more alive. Like in Flowers for you, where stylized flowers stretch from a vase in a vibrant dance of curves and contrasts; or in Nightstand of the Indecisive, where a crooked stack of books and a pair of glasses tell the story of an inner life made of unfinished thoughts and half-read pages.

At times, a surreal, almost ironic note emerges, objects and furniture come to life, observing and interacting, turning into quiet characters of their own. It’s a world where even the inanimate seems to take part in the scene, with its own subtle voice and distinct personality.

Chiara Palandri illustrates what she sees and what she imagines, gracefully translating her unique way of inhabiting the world into visual form.