Born locally. Designed globally.
Founder of START / author of the START method
Anna Cieslewicz is an international visual artist working across painting, sculpture, textile, installation and experimental mixed media. Her practice has developed through years of independent artistic work, international exhibitions and artist residencies, with projects and presentations in cities including Istanbul, Florence and New York.
Her work is rooted in instinct, material exploration and transformation. She is particularly interested in the moment when an ordinary object, discarded material or simple gesture begins to carry a new meaning. Across painting, large-scale sculpture, wearable forms and participatory work, she moves freely between disciplines rather than treating them as separate fields.
Over the years, Anna has worked in different cultural environments, developing projects through residencies, exhibitions, collaborations and direct work with people of different ages and backgrounds. This international experience has shaped her belief that creativity is not tied to one place, one language or one medium.
START GREW DIRECTLY OUT OF THIS ARTISTIC PRACTICE.
Rather than teaching children to reproduce a predefined result, Anna created START to give them something closer to the working conditions of an artist: time, real materials, freedom to experiment, permission to make mistakes and space to develop an individual point of view.
Her approach is based on the idea that creativity is not something we need to learn from the beginning, but something we need to protect, reactivate and take seriously.
Each START experience is designed with the same principles that guide Anna’s own studio practice: curiosity before correctness, process before perfection, courage before approval.
START is an author-led creative method developed from Anna’s international artistic practice, experience and way of seeing.
START is an author-led method, created from Anna's own artistic practice, experience and way of working.
Born from an artist’s studio. Designed to travel far beyond it.
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE. THE EARLIER, THE BETTER.
Creativity arrives before formal learning does. Long before a child writes a first sentence, they already dance, sing, draw and build worlds with their whole body. That instinct does not disappear. It simply gets quieter — covered by routine, correctness, comparison and the constant pull of screens.
As an artist and founder of START, I believe we are missing too much art from everyday life. Not art as decoration, but art as a way of thinking, feeling, processing and connecting.
Making something with your hands changes the rhythm of attention. It slows us down. It gives the mind somewhere else to go. It creates distance from screens, from performance, from the pressure to constantly consume. It asks us to notice, touch, choose, make mistakes and stay present.
Art can also be deeply restorative. Creative activity can support emotional regulation, reduce stress and give people a non-verbal way to express what is difficult to explain. And just as importantly, it brings people together. Making side by side creates conversation, trust and a different kind of connection — between children, adults, families, teams and strangers.
That is why START exists.
Not to teach people how to become artists, but to make room for the part of them that already knows how to create.
IT’S NEVER TOO LATE TO START. THE EARLIER, THE BETTER.
START is a creative method designed to travel across cultures, cities and countries. The method remains consistent while artists, stories, references and materials can adapt to each place.
What began in Stockholm can take root elsewhere — led by different hands, shaped by different contexts, always with the same respect for the person making.