In this month’s YKRA Faces, we had the pleasure of talking with illustrator and visual artist Anna Kövecses. Anna’s playful yet thoughtful work is shaped by her life between Hungary and Cyprus, her three kids, and her love for everyday beauty. She shares her inspiring story of how she became an illustrator, her creative routines, and what she keeps in her beloved YKRA bag. Keep reading to find out more.

Hi Anna! Could you introduce yourself briefly?

I’m Anna Kövecses. I work as an illustrator and visual artist, and I split my time between Hungary and Cyprus with my three little kids.

How did you become an illustrator?

I started out in graphic design 17 years ago while expecting my baby girl. I didn’t go to design school and pretty much self-taught myself into my career. At some point, I felt that I wanted to grow beyond logos. So I made my first illustrated book: an alphabet book for my daughter. At that time I couldn’t find a Hungarian alphabet book for my four-year-old little girl in Cyprus, so I made one for her. It was in the age when the internet was much less saturated, much less driven by algorithms, my work quickly reached people who loved my style. And just like that I became an illustrator.

Why Cyprus?

My kids’ dad got a job offer there as a diver a million years ago, so we moved—and ended up staying permanently. We lived in a tiny village by the sea, surrounded by nature and welcomed our two little boys in our family there.

And what about your base in Hungary?

Many years later, we now live in a small town by Lake Balaton. We divorced since then, but live close to each other and the kids spend almost equal time with both of us. So now I’m a single mom living in this a beautiful old house by a stream at the edge of a forest. It’s quiet and peaceful and I feel like Miss Honey from Roald Dahl’s Matilda. I also still spend some time of the year in Cyprus.

It’s a strong contrast—your quiet surroundings and your creative work. What does your work consist of?

I work internationally for clients around the world. I’m represented by a wonderful agency in London. A large part of what I do is editorial—illustrations for magazines and newspapers, usually accompanying articles.

I also work with brands on ad campaigns, branding projects, product launches. And I love collaborating with fashion brands on textile prints or designing patterns for ceramics.

You seem to work across many mediums—ceramics, illustration, kids’ projects. Has that always been the case?

Yes. As a child, creating was a kind of getaway for me. My mom and I moved around a lot, I didn’t always have a friend group, so I spent a lot of time being bored. Making things opened up a whole new alternate reality for me—this feeling that I could create something from nothing has always fascinated me and became a part of my whole life.

It’s also a wonderful way to shift difficult moments into something positive. As a kid, I made toys, clothes and jewelry for myself, I painted and drew— I realised that even if things looked grim on the outside, I had this “super power” to turn the coin around by making something pretty, something useful, something that adds a little more beauty to this world and shifts the balance from dark to light.

Now, as a mother, I don’t always have time to paint or draw when inspiration strikes. But creativity still finds its place—baking a cake, doing a craft project with my kids. Creative energy doesn’t build up as frustration; it just becomes part of everyday life.

What does a typical day look like for you?

Right now it’s summer break, so life is noisy. But I usually try to work in the mornings while the kids play outside in the garden or they listen to audiobooks. My daughter is already 16 so she spends practically all of her day with her friends on the beach. We have lunch together and spend the afternoon playing cards or going for a walk in the forest or reading. I can lie on the couch and read aloud to them while my mind wanders elsewhere. It’s oddly meditative.In the evenings, we often take flashlight walks, just have to be careful with the wild boars having their own evening walk in our street.

I also go to Budapest every week once to meet friends for coffee or a museum walk and then work out at the gym with my trainer.

Do you have a morning routine?

Yes. Every morning we have chocolate croissants for breakfast—I always have some in the freezer and just pop them in the oven. It’s a lazy shortcut but makes mornings so much easier. A nice breakfast for me is a pastry, paired with fresh fruit and greek yoghurt. I drink coffee, of course and then switch to a million cups of tea throughout the day. Earl Grey until 4pm and then ginger, fennel or anise. I also practice Transcendental Meditation, for me it has been life changing, and feels like a nice relaxing massage for my nervous system.

Could you describe Balatonalmádi for someone reading this in New York?

Almádi is a small town on the shore of Lake Balaton. In the summer, there’s some tourism, but our street is super quiet and peaceful. Outside the season, the town is calm and very liveable. It’s like a little picture-book town—there’s one of everything. One Aldi. One library. Two pharmacies. The possibilities aren’t endless, but it’s sweet and it works.

How much is the lake part of your life?

Not much, honestly. I’m not a big Balaton person. I prefer walks in the forest or hanging out at home.

Which is funny, because at one point you set out to sail around the world…

Yes. My kids' dad is my absolute opposite, he’s very outdoorsy. He sails, dives, kite-surfs. When the kids are staying with him, they do all of that together. So when they’re with me, they can enjoy being a homebody. It balances out nicely.

Many years ago in Cyprus I read the book called Children of Cape Horn, and since we needed a change in our lives at that point, I said, “Let’s go.” So we did—we bought a sailing boat in La Spezia in northern Italy, sailed to Gibraltar, then turned back and went to Corfu. We didn’t end up sailing around the world, but it was still a big, magical adventure. We visited many beautiful islands along the way—Sardinia, Corsica, Sicily, the Balearic Islands.

What inspires your style?

My style has always been quite distinctive— somehow everything I do has this similar quality to it.. it’s the aesthetic that naturally feels good to me.

Lately I’ve been thinking a lot about how much time I spent with my grandmother growing up. She was the creative matriarch in our family. Everything she made had her magic in it. She was crocheting, baking, painting —everything she touched turned into something beautiful. Her home was a bit like a museum, packed with handmade artworks and souvenirs from her travels in the 60s and 70s. My grandfather, who died when I was a baby, was an engineer at the Rába factory in Győr. His tools and notebooks were still all around me when I grew up. Those two energies—her creativity and his order fundamentally shaped me as an artist.

Do you have a favorite project?

I really enjoy ongoing collaborations—like when a magazine sends me an article each month to illustrate.Many years ago, I illustrated the “Diagnosis” column in The New York Times. Each article focused on a rare disease. It’s not a subject I would have chosen to illustrate by myself, that’s why it turned out to be a wonderful creative challenge.

Right now, I work with the online magazine Hyphen written for Muslims living in the UK. I illustrate their parenting column. They tackle subjects and questions that are the same time familiar and relatable to me but also coming from a completely different cultural scene. I feel honoured to be part of an ongoing collaboration like this.

Who are some creatives you admire?

I don’t usually take inspiration from contemporary illustrators. But I truly admire all of the artists at my agency—everyone has such a strong unique voice and visual language.

I’m mostly inspired by mid century artists. My big idol is Françoise Gilot, Picasso’s former partner —her work and her life story influences me deeply.

I also love Dieter Rams, Braun’s legendary industrial designer. There’s a documentary about him called “Rams” that I watch sometimes just to relax. Watching him speak about his work and seeing how he lives, how he thinks about design and the environment- makes me calm and inspired at the same time.

Do you have a dream project?

Yes. Ever since I was a child I’ve been having this big secret dream to have my own solo show at the Guggenheim in NYC. I know it’s a long shot, but in my imagination, that happens when I’m older, maybe in my 80s—so not yet. I still need a few decades to paint all those artworks. I’d also love to design the whole visual identity for a theatre production one day—the set, costumes, posters, the whole package.And I love working on textile patterns, so collaborating with a big Italian fashion house would be lovely one day.

Tell us about your YKRA bag. When did you get it?

My beach bag is part of the collection we collaborated on in 2020, just before COVID.

What’s the story behind the design?

I wanted the print to carry a message—to stand for something, even in a small way. It was created as a statement against deforestation and logging. When the bag launched, YKRA included a little pouch with tree seeds kids could plant. That meant a lot to me. It gave the bag a story, and it hopefully helps cultivate the desire in children to do something good for the world. I use mine as a weekend bag when I travel. And when the kids go to their dad’s, they pack all their little stuff in it. It can hold their clothes, books and toys, it’s a nice family bag and probably will be a lovely part of their childhood memories.

Whats in your bag?

Stuffed toys: we have this little project with my kids called Abel’s Playthings, the concept is that making toys at home from scrap is much more fun than buying them at the store. These are a little cat we sew from wool socks and an owl made from an old bedspread.

Sticks: my boys love collecting them. A stick can be a wand, a fishing pole, a sword, a boat, a snake or anything you can imagine it to be.

My hair accessories: I love a good wooden comb and a strong claw clip and usually carry them in my bag. My aesthetic right now is very much a romantic dress, a chunky cardigan and a claw clip.

The alphabet book I made for my daughter: a little home-made scrapbook: we made this one for our trip to Rome last year, it’s just basically a few pages of blank paper folded and sewn into a notebook that kids can fill with drawings, photos, tickets, wrapping papers, postcards, pressed flowers, notes, diary entries, etc from wherever we go and it ends up being this magical little keepsake, like a time capsule from that trip. You can make one for each season as well or school breaks or special occasions.

A dice: my kids LOVE playing this silly fortune telling game, similar to MASH. Basically we draw four columns on a paper (Location, Job, Vehicle and Spouse) and add 6 entries in eachcolumn. They can be more realistic like Mexico or Japan and totally silly like “the underground canal” or “a car made out of a bathtub”. Each player rolls the dice four times, we write down the numbers and then tell the future from the corresponding column: Like when you grow up, you will live in Mexico, you’ll be a billionaire, going to work on roller skates and your wife will be Fiona.

My favourite perfume: Belle de Nuit from a small perfumery in the South of France called Fragonard. I’ve been using it since we visited this perfumery two years ago and I still vividly remember the lady showing us how to correctly use a perfume. Just one drop on your wrist, gently press it together with your other wrist (don’t under any circumstances rub), then press behind your ears, your elbow bends, your heart, your knee bands, et voila!

A sketchbook and some oil pastels or good quality wax crayons: sketching small mundane objects while traveling is my favourite thing. A pocket sized Moomin book because Tove Jansson is my other big idol. My trusted water bottle. I love it because it can hold 1 liter of water and it’s transparent. For some reason I prefer to see what I’m drinking.

And finally a deck of Tarot cards: it helps me beat overthinking. And Tarot actually wildly works. My favourite card is naturally the Empress.