Tell us a little about yourself and your creative business.
My name is Vesna, I live in Belgrade, capital city of Serbia, southeast Europe. I am a visual artist and mother of three. I have created my business out of some skills that I have. I make WearableArt, as I name it, mostly bags and purses made of delicately chosen materials, seriously developed/designed and hand painted.
How did you get your start?
I studied visual arts in Belgrade and Utrecht, the Netherlands. One of my non-professional interests always was sewing. When I started making WearableArt I have joined my passion and my profession. I was searching for a right platform that suits my way of working and presenting my work. Etsy was a great way to share my creative ideas.
Where do you get your inspiration?
During years of artistic practise in general, I have been searching for complex relation in materials, texture and structure, within composition. I have realised that organic shapes and natural forms (like “free patterns of nature” as a kind of texture) are attracting my attention the most. So, I focused on that. Exploring relations between these elements, by transforming, stylizing, simplifying I have found my expression.
The biggest success, so far, was a moment when I have reached the balance between people’s interests and my goals. The style that I have created is recognized by many. Still, that fact didn’t disturb or deform my way of living and working. I still can choose how much time and energy I want
What challenges do you face selling online?
The biggest challenge was how to become visible in the ocean of similarity. For me, in the beginning, the serious challenge was, also, how to make a good relation with costumers, since I had no experience as a shop owner.
What advice would you give someone just starting out on Etsy?
The advice I would give to starting shop owners would be to be patient, to diligently create their vision in order to gain recognition and take time in networking and be in contact with the nature of such way of communicating.
Want to see more of Koatye1? Check out her Facebook page.
Thank you Vesna for sharing your story and letting us see some of your beautiful items. Next week we'll share another Etsy artist. If you'd like to be considered, please drop Zoica or myself a note via Etsy convo.
Until next time...
Thanks for stopping by,
