An artist based in Argentina, Buenos Aires

Ines Sotomayor

Ines Sotomayor might have had an unusual life journey: born in Argentina, her family moved to Brazil where she lived for 15 years. In her final years of high school, they moved again, this time to Portugal, where she graduated in a Spanish school. Finally, in 1993, she came to Buenos Aires and started college right away.

To soothe this immigrant grief, she drew, painted and wrote, and daydreamed that she would someday become a 'real' artist. She didn't attend art school, however, graduating instead as a Graphic Designer and a Front End Developer. She started studying calligraphy formally in 2003 – with Marina Soria, a talented artist, and a passionate, generous teacher – and also began developing websites that year.

For this reason, Ines likes to say she uses both sides of her brain: 'I write code as someone who knits. I write letters as someone who meditates. I write, as someone who breathes.'

Her introduction to calligraphy occurred while a student at the University of Buenos Aires, in typography classes. It was love at first sight! It felt great to learn this skill in the midst of the computer craze in the design field. Her passion for letters grew so strong that she began teaching classes at the university for almost a decade, specialising in Typography. From then, she has never stopped learning every formal hand and expressive calligraphic styles.

She is currently venturing into the world of watercolours, and has been taking classes with the wonderful calligraphers such as Roballos/Naab, Marina Soria, Silvia Cordero Vega, Giovanni De Faccio, Cláudio Gil, Luca Barcellona, Christopher Haanes, Cora Pearl, Amity Parks, Yukimi Annand, Massimo Pollelo, Mike Gold, John Stevens and Brody Neuenschwander.

'I love calligraphy simply because I love the written word and mostly because I crave for more beauty in the world,' she says.