Kristina Klarin has a great eye for color. On her blog, Kris’s Color Stripes, she takes her favorite images and then creates color palettes based on what she sees. She’s super creative, and even knows how to have fun with nature, making petals and leaves into simple, yet beautiful creations. Enjoy a colorful trip through Kris’s eyes in today’s Boarding Pass! {Thanks, Kris!}
last trip taken:
Belgrade, during New Year Holidays. I enjoyed rediscovering my city. I moved when I was 18. Despite my parents and my sister living there, I feel like a tourist lately because things have changed a lot in 15 years. My Italian boyfriend loves to explore hidden parts of Belgrade, so I have a personal tour guide in my own city. We love discovering small streets with artisan workshops, local designer shops, street markets and live music clubs (a rare thing in Milan)
and off course walking along the Danube.
next trip on deck:
Venice, next week. I’m going there to shoot some photos for a small book I’m working on , it’s about colors, and I can’t think of a better place for inspiration. It’s also the best time to visit Venice since the Carnival is over and a large groups of tourists will arrive in April so hotel rates are more accessible and the city streets are little less full.
one place you would go back to again and again:
London. Something about that city makes me feel at home, I love it’s multiculturalism and “unity in diversity.” New York magazine named it global capital of the 21st century and it describes perfectly how I feel about it.
place you’d most likely recommend a friend go visit:
Grasse, it’s a small city in Provence, famous for a large flower fields from which the most famous perfumes are produced. The entire perfume industry began in Grasse in the 16th century, so there is a perfume museum with a fragrant greenhouse growing aromatic plants. You can also visit principal “parfumeries”, watch it being made, visit their own museums and you can even create your own perfume with a help of an expert. I couldn’t because I had cold and my nose was plugged :( I would also recommend reading a book ” Perfume” by P.Suskind before going to Grasse.
preferred method of transportation:
I get very inspired in a train, and always bring a small pocket-sized sketchbook with me, but I love airplanes, too.
place you’ve never been but dying to go:
I would love to take Trans-Mongolia Express train up to China! That’s my dream, going through Russian steppe and Mongolian taiga, Lake Baikal to Beijing. I think it takes at least tree months, so it will have to wait.
place you’d never go back:
I think it could be Besancon. Our initial plan was to spend one week in Prague, but we bought tickets few months in advance, and discovered in the airport that I needed a visa for Czech, so we lost our flight and felt very bad. We didn’t want to give up so we took a bus for Paris and after ten never-ending hours we learned that there were no free rooms in any hotels because of some huge event. We were desperate at that point and took the very first train for some smaller city…it was Besanson… it’s a nice city but it wasn’t the right place for our state of mind.
most memorable trip in 2 sentences or less:
Belgium – my cousin who lives there drove us around for four days, one city each day: Gent, Brugge, Antwerpen and Bruxelles. Many interior design stores and chocolate shops, I couldn’t ask for more.
how do you prepare for a trip?
I search the web for things like design stores and flea markets in a city and then I mark addresses directly on a Google map, I also give a sneak peak look with Google street view if there is a possibility, after that I search nice restaurants in the same area and program exact route from early in the morning until evening. I check a weather forecast too and print my map. My baggage contains 3 essential things which are: flat shoes for a long walks, one large scarf for everything from hot sun, cold evenings, wild air conditioning or just to hide coffee stains I make regularly on my clothes while traveling with my camera.
how do you record your travels when you’re traveling?
With my camera
what is your favorite thing to photograph in a new place?
Doors and walls, but it also depends a lot from place to place.
on an average, how many pictures to you take on a trip?
about 600 hundred

what’s in your “designer travel kit” ?
Camera, and a small notebook I love to draw or write ideas immediately.
what do you do after a trip? how long after a trip does this happen?
I post my favorite shots on my blog immediately after a trip.
favorite souvenir/thing to bring back?
I adore going in a supermarkets and buying products with a nice packaging, were ever I go. I eat them, and then I keep the boxes…a lot of boxes. I love bring home books and magazines too.
Visit Kris’s Color Stripes for more great fun with color, and click HERE for all the past editions of Boarding Pass!