ARTILLERI - Antonia Marat needs no introduction but, as we think she's  cooler than a penguin's beak, we shall give her one: she is the owner, creator and driving force behind Artilleri, the funkiest, trashiest, leopardskin-reviving bestest 50s rockabilly on the grid. From skins to furniture, Marat sells everything you need to get down with the golden years of rock and roll.

We were surprised to find that the creator of such flamboyant clothing is incredibly shy and had to be cajoled into this interview, but we're glad she agreed else we'd have been writing about squirrels.

Straight off the block we wanted to know where she got her inspiration for the clothing that is so unique in this cluttered world of fashion.

"Well, obviously, a lot of it comes from the 50's. I'm into rockabilly in real life too, and when I came to SL there were no stores making retro clothing and accessories. So I started making clothing for myself, and then figured I'd open a store, and here we are now."

It's true, you only have to peek at her 1st Life profile to see this girl has a passion for the content she creates. Her sim is a haven for those who like their bangs straight and their skirts poofy, from its bowling alley and gleaming cadillacs to the store itself, which is housed in a huge and funky retro diner - a christmas present to Antonia from her SL and RL partner, Maximilian Milosz.

"I met Max here in SL in 2005, met in RL in 2006 and he somehow managed to drag me down to Oslo. Been together for almost 2 years in RL now! Virtual lovestory come true!"

Like most content creators, she spends the first part of her day answering IMs from customers reporting missing purchases and asking questions.

"After that it's usually off to the land of Photoshop. Making clothes or accessories, and right now skins. Been working on those for, I dont know, 3 weeks or so now. As soon as I get these released I hope to never see a skin again! I have uploaded over 300 textures, it takes such a long time! But then again, I felt the same way after I finished my last skinline, but slowly the need to make more came lurking," she says.

After gaping stupidly at the idea of 300 uploads, we think it might be a good idea to investigate further.

"Well, the skin comes in 5 skintones and 15 makeups. Each makeup comes in regular and freckled versions. So that's a whole lot. And on top of that I had to make demo versions of them too," she explains.