The Beautiful Life of Pola Cherie

Artist and writer Pola Cherie.

I had the privilege of meeting a beautiful blogger, artist and fashion enthusiast from Poland now living in Japan several months ago named Pola Cherie.  I am not sure what drew me to her, but perhaps it is her infectious passion for the arts or her dual character that dances around the light and dark sides of life. Or maybe it was her innate ability to be vulnerable and truth seeking.  Whatever it was, she captured my attention and eventually stole my heart!  She had just begun to announce a comic strip she had in the works now featured on her blog, Mon Cherie Pola.  The name of her comic is called "MILL, A Life of a Blogger."  I sent her a couple of comic strips I created during art school and we immediately began to bond over art, life and of course, blogging!  I am so proud to announce that Pola Cherie has now donated one of her illustrations to our t-shirt line and has become our newest contributing fashion illustrator.  I think you will enjoy reading my interview with her and viewing her creations from a what I consider to be a beautiful mind.  Enjoy!

"Date Love," by Pola Cherie

Q.  You have developed a comic strip called "MILL, a life of a blogger." What inspired the creation of your comic strip?

A.  I grew up reading Japanese manga and I was always drawing my own when I was a child. “MILL” is inspired by a community of bloggers, a little every-day-things happening in my life and my friends who are spending too much time in front of their laptops (laugh).  In the beginning it meant to be a story of a couple living together, but I changed it to two girls: blogger and model and a dog.

Q.  Where do you live and what is the style like there?

A.  I live in Tokyo.  Actually I moved here two months ago. I’d call the style here as a “total mix."  People here look as though they are cut out from fashion magazines. There are just so many genres that everyone could have their own editions.

Baby doll (fitted) tee, $21.00  

Q.  Give us a little personal background about yourself. Who is Pola Cherie?

A.  Pola Cherie is a dreamer.  She observes people and wonders how is it to be a person like this?She imagines a life of ones.  What are her/his aims, what would I live for if I were that person? What would be my desires? Who I would fall in love with?  I ask a lot of questions, but I’m not looking for one answer.

Q.  What made you decide to combine your love of blogging with art?

A.  Firstly I made my blog just to post my artworks there, but since I love to write I couldn’t stop myself from posting my own thoughts and poems.  Then I decided to start publishing a comic strip. Now I treat my blog as my notebook.  Full of my personal inspiration photographs, full of my emotions and memories. That’s why it has a structure of a book.  You ‘turn a page’ to see older posts.

Tote bag, $14.95  

Q.  I am a follower of your blog and you can be both extremely dark and lighthearted and funny, too. Why do think this works so well for your blog?

A.  Because it is real.  I always write what I feel in that moment.  I never post later or edit and change what I wrote.  People can be happy and unhappy, but we don’t feel the same way every day. We change every day.  We grow.  To be a better person.  To understand more.  To feel more.  There are certainly moments in life which makes you feel “extremely dark”. I experienced The 2011 Tōhoku earthquake in Japan this year. It was hard but I kept writing.  Now you can see my true emotions.  I’m open.  I’m real.  I don’t mind being ‘naked’ in front of people because that’s what I want to give to my readers whether it is extremely dark, difficult, motivating, funny or even silly – my real emotions.

Q.  When did you start your art studies/work?

A.  I’ve been drawing since I was a child.  I guess I wanted to do everything my older sister did.  She grew up to be a medicine doctor.  I stayed the same – distracted kid.  I have never studied art. I have started working as a freelance graphic designer when I was 18 years old and still living and thinking of living in Europe.

Q.  Who is your favorite artist/cartoonist?

A.  My favourite cartoonist is Moto Hagio.  I read her “Poe no Ichizoku” when I was eleven years old.  It won’t be too much if I say this book changed my life.  It is the birth place of my “Immortal Longing”. A theme which appears every time in my novels.  You can find this theme repeating on my blog’s writings, too.









Q.  What are some of your future goals as an artist/blogger?

A.  I hope my blog will gain some interest to help me publish my novels in the future. That’s my
biggest goal, but also a start line.  I’m training now so that I can stand on this line, but now I want to concentrate on “MILL” and don’t think too much.  I’ll work hard and do what I have to do now.  I’m always ready and open for the new.  I love my life right now, I hope I can say that one, five and ten years later, too.  I work for people.  For every little soul seeking for something what we can’t name. That makes me focused.


Q.  What is the most valuable lesson you have learned about art and blogging since you started?

A.  I’ve learned that you have to respect other people’s works.  That’s the biggest sin as an artist to not respect others' work. When I started a blog, I had not been linking all photographs to it’s intellectual owners and later I found it hard to search for them again because I did not remember the full editorial’s titles anymore.  I let the information disappear.  It’s like a beautiful body without a soul.  It really scares me.  Fortunately I’m fixing this lack slowly.

Q.  What made you want to donate your artwork and talent to The Compassion Fashion Project?

A.  The issue of domestic violence is very close to me.  When I saw The CFP was looking for
contributing illustrators, I immediately knew I wanted to do it.  Now I am very happy to see my design in your store.  Thank you so much for that opportunity!

Mmm hmm..I told you, she is one of a kind.  Welcome to our team, Pola!  Do visit Pola Cherie's blog and keep up with her comic strip published every Friday:

Mon Cherie Pola