Interview with a Star - Svitlana (VitalTemptation)

Please, welcome our team member Svitlana who runs VitalTemptation shop on Etsy.


Please tell us a little bit about yourself
Hi everyone! My name is Svitlana. I live in New York, but I was born in Ukraine. My home town is Simferopol located in the peninsula of Crimea. Crimea is well-known for its spectacular landscapes, beautiful Black sea, and many historical places.
Now I live in the Big Apple with my family, my husband and my son, and two very important members of my family Chubby and Buster, my dogs.


How long have you been creating? How did your journey in art and creativity begin?
I was creating since I was a toddler. I used to annoy my parents, this week I wanted to learn how to make pots, next I wanted them to buy me wood curving instruments, the week after I wanted to do embroidery. I always had thousands of hobbies. Even now my parents in Ukraine have many of my creations around the house. I remember how I was fascinated by watching shows about glass-blowing and pottery.

I always had that unexplained draft to fiber art. A few years ago I was browsing the Internet and one felted piece caught my eye. Wow, I said to myself, I want to know how it’s made. That was a start of lifelong romance. I realized there is nothing more unexpected, intriguing, magical than felt!
Besides felting I always liked to knit and to make crocheted pieces.

What items in your shop do you most enjoy making and why?
Of course the most enjoyable time for me is when I spend hours while making Nuno Collage pieces. By using Nuno techniques I can achieve very interesting texture and amazing color combinations. Nuno collage in many ways reminds me painting and painting was my obsession when I was a child.

Do you have a favorite item you have made?
You can ask me the same question a week or a month from now and I will have the same answer: “My last item” :)

What are your best marketing tips?
Believe in yourself and never think that achieved is the peak of the mountain!

Why did you decide on VitalTemptation name for your business?
Oh, that name has a little story behind it. Before opening my shop I did a serious research about Etsy. I realized then that the name of your business is just as important as the quality of your items. I remember I had a few sample names for my shop and I went to my husband to ask his opinion on them. It happened that he was watching a TV show with a name Vital Temptation on the History Channel … and he just: this is the perfect name for your shop! That was true the name was sharp and it reflected my vision on what I was going make.

What would you say makes your shop unique?
I think every artist is unique. Our work is not just a bunch of wool, fabric , beads … our work is a reflection of our feelings, emotions, experiences… we all are different, we all are unique in our own way.

Tomorrow is Svitlana's Birthday. We wish her well and we are very happy to have her in our group.

Happy Birthday, Svitlana!