Cristina’s love for beautiful design began early in her childhood. Born in Rome, her encouraging parents sent her to art school in Italy at 13, where classical art and timeless romance of the culture influenced and formed her love for rich, decorative and ornamental patterns.
Pursuing her artistic interests through study, she graduated with a Bachelor of Art with Honours in Design at Swinburne University. Upon graduation, Cristina immediately set up her own design and photography studio and she became one of the first female photographers in Australia – winning numerous prestigious photography awards.
Combining her photographic skills with illustration and design, she tailored wedding packages for her clients, customising stationery, invitations through to the wedding album. This is when she discovered a niche in the market for quality, designer invitations. Cristina soon began producing do-it-yourself stationery featuring her hand-illustrated patterns. With her unique eye for style and colour, the designs evolved into the largest range of DIY stationery in the world, empowering the customer to produce their own unique creations. Cristina also created the opportunity for hundreds of women to run home businesses offering tailored invitation services, providing the platform to build successful creative careers and paving the way as the leader in papercraft.
Over recent years, Cristina has been driven to translate her fashionable patterns on to lifestyle products and her vision is now represented across a diverse product range. Identifying a niche in the market place for high quality affordable tableware, and as a reflection of her love for all things celebratory and decorative, Cristina has been busy focusing on expanding her ranges into designer teaware. Her exclusive teaware collections are the largest and most comprehensive range in Australia, and include an array of coloured and patterned vintage inspired New Bone China, all trimmed in 24 carat gold.
After many years building the brand, Cristina’s dream was to open a unique concept store that would showcase her products and provide a unique and beautiful destination to take women on a journey of the senses, from fashion to food. Where A Girl Goes Store launched in 2009, with it being the first of its kind at the time, featuring an elegant and stylish French-style high tea salon showcasing her extensive product range, gourmet tea blends and an array of decadent sweet treats. The salon was a place that brought women together to celebrate friendship, food, fashion and femininity, allowing women to feel spiritually uplifted, manifest creativity and celebrate well-being. Similarly, 2015 also saw the launch of her first stand-alone High Tea Salon and Boutique in Chengdu China, an incredible milestone for the brand that saw Cristina Re further solidify a strong presence within the overseas market.
The Cristina Re range boasts over 500 products of the highest quality which are sold to over 1000 stores around Australia and worldwide. Her company continues expanding with extensive new products, licensing deals and high calibre collaborations with reputable fashion and homeware retailers. Having sold in excess of $5o million in product sales over the last two decades, Cristina’s passion and entrepreneurial drive has contributed to the success and longevity of her business, and she continues to innovate and lead the way in luxury product design. Her success story has inspired and motivated thousands of women as she connects with her audience on stage at speaking events nationally
