Irina Zaytceva was born in Moscow in 1957. She graduated from Moscow Art Institute with an MFA degree in book illustration. Having illustrated a number of children books, she found porcelain by chance. A friend had given her a piece of clay, which prompted her to experiment with the new media and fall in love with it. Porcelain offers Irina a way to combine sculpting and drawing. Fine porcelain grain and whiteness of material is a perfect canvas for her drawings, and with the ability to bend her “canvas,” she can add sculptural elements to the picture. Someone called this hybrid media narrative sculpture, a term Irina thinks aptly describes her work. She does not use casting but hand-rolls her vases, cups, and, sculptures.