Interview with a Star - Anastasia (Lovisetto)

Please, welcome our team mate Anastasia who runs Lovisetto shop on Etsy.



- First of all, would you like to introduce yourself, tell us about your life, where you live, a little about your background?
My name is Anastasia and I am a jewelry designer. I’ve lived in the UK since 2006. My family moved here from Moscow, Russia where I was born and lived for the first thirty years of my life. I have always had a passion for art and as a child attended Children’s School of Art, but my desire to become an artist was not to be fulfilled till I turned 27. After finishing a high school I got a degree at Moscow State University and made a successful office career. By the age of 27 I worked as an HR Director for an international company operating out of Russia. Nevertheless, I decided to leave the corporate world and pursue my dream of becoming an artist. I graduated from Academic School of Design in Moscow in 2005 and have being designing and making jewelry ever since.

- You're originally from Russia. Has the move to the UK impacted your view of things, your way of seeing and living art, or, if you'd like, has it changed you in any way?
Yes, I changed a lot. I must say that London is a capital of art and modern art and most importantly the art in London and in the UK is accessible. What I am trying to say is that there are lots of museums and exhibitions to choose from, some of them offer a free entrance to the visitors. For me it is very important as I live in an industrial city of Peterborough, which is situated 90 miles north of London and usually I spend two weekend a month in London. Every time I am in London I visit two or three art exhibitions. During the winter time it is just a way of spending the day, walking from one gallery to another with friends.


- What inspires you?
My ”Dreaming of Butterflies” collection is inspired by natural beauty of butterflies, Gustav Klimt paintings, and gorgeous vintage brooches.

- When did you first begin creating jewelry?
In 2005 after graduating from Academic School of Design in Moscow


- Why butterflies, in particular?
I love creating wearable art. My goal is to make women feel beautiful and happy when they put on one of my jewelry pieces. I want them to experience that same dream-like state of being that I envision when creating my jewelry. Creating and designing my Butterfly necklaces is like living in a dream, in an enchanted forest. It feels like I am bringing beauty, happiness and peace to this world, by inhabiting it with such gentle and gorgeous creations as butterflies.

- Have you tried other crafts or arts before jewelry?
I like drawing and am most fascinated by the life drawing.


- Any tips on selling handmade items and art in particular?
I think that the key factor is to create something unique, but still practical. Quality photos and good product description are vitally important as well.

- Why should people buy handmade?
Handmade items are unique and original. Buying and using handmade goods allow you to look different. Also, by buying handmade goods you support the artists who are making our life more beautiful. Before the industrialization in the 19th century all the goods people were wearing or using, including furniture, dresses, hats, shoes, cosmetics, etc. were handmade and in a way unique. Now we are living in an era of mass production, we are wearing clothes which look alike; we all follow the fashion trends, basically buying what is sold in a High street shop, so the only way to stand out is to have some handmade fashion items in your wardrobe.


- Do you have any other interests apart from creating wonderful jewelry?
I like reading books and a year ago my passion for reading has grown into something more. I finished writing my first book, which is written in Russian and now three chapters of the book has been published in Russian Mind Magazine.

- Now, something a little less craft-related... What books have you read lately, and what movies have you watched?
I like Russian modern literature. Talking about the cinema, I recently watched two very interesting films which I think I can recommend to your blog readers Marry and Max, it is the most beautiful and honest cartoon I have seen in my entire life. Another film is Battle Royal with the great actor Takeshi Kiatno playing the main character. Talking about this year's films I would like to recommend to watch Angels Of Evil by Michele Placido. Even though it is not actually my favorite genre it is beautifully made.


- Would you like to add something else, links, thoughts, anything?
I just had my first exhibition at the Newashgate gallery. They were showing two of my four jewellery collections: Dreaming of Butterflies and Web (www.newashgate.org.uk).

- Would you like to offer some kind of promotion to our readers ?
The readers of this blog are very welcome to buy from my Etsy shop with 10% discount using the code “ANASTASIA5”


- Another thing, people love to relate in some ways to the seller, or so it seems, would you like me to include a photograph of you in the interview?
The photo is attached. On the photo I am wearing one of my necklaces while sitting in an restaurant in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

-Thanks again a lot for taking the time to answer the questions, have a good afternoon.

Etsy shops for Japanese Earthquake and Tsunami victims, Russian Artists Team experience

It was the 11th of March 2011. I woke in the morning, looked out of the window only to see that there was no sign of the sun in the sky.

“We have to wait a little bit longer for the spring to come this year” – I mumbled and came down to the kitchen. I am self-employed, so can afford the luxury of sitting in front of the TV in the morning, sipping the fresh coffee and flipping through the TV channels. That’s how it all started for me...

There was only one topic discussed on the news that day: the national disaster in Japan. During the first ten minutes since I had switched on the TV I had seen the horrible scenes of the giant tsunami waves covering the ground and wiping away entire villages. The scenes, that probably all of you saw as they were on all the channels across the globe. It felt like a bad dream, like the worst horror film ever, only it was real. There was an announcement about more then 300 people dead and other 10 000 disappeared. That was the news on Friday, March the 11th.

On Saturday March the 12^th I switched on the TV in the morning just to hear that the situation in Japan is getting worse: the number of tsunami and earthquake victims has grown rapidly, people in the tsunami affected areas were not having enough food, drinking water and other essentials. Later that day I was on the phone with a good friend of mine, she is a musician and has been with her orchestra on a tour in Japan. She said that she has been in some areas affected by the tsunami and she could not believe that the beautiful cities and villages on the seaside were completely wiped away. I could hear her crying while saying it.

The next day, Sunday the 13th I decided not to watch the news in the morning as I was scared that something bad happened in Japan over night, but instead ended up flipping the news channels in search for fresh news from Japan and then browsing through the Internet looking for the same topic articles. I was absolutely distracted and could not stop thinking about what was happening in Japan. It was not the tsunami, but the radiation leak what scared me the most. Being born in the Soviet Union, the country that survived the Chernobyl nuclear catastrophe, I was very well aware of the radiation danger. I personally knew the people who were involved in the liquidation process and those who lived in the radiation affected areas. Some of them have already died of cancer.

I decided to do something to help people in Japan. But I did not know how. I knew that from the first day of the Japan disaster other artisans started to make treasuries to showcase the Japanese shops, but for me it was not enough! I decided to sell some of my necklaces and donate the money to the Red Cross charity organization in Japan. I shared my ideas with my colleagues from the Russian Artist team mentioning that the other artisans on Etsy were already doing that. I proposed we get involved in the fund rising process as a team and start making treasuries for charity. I was surprised how popular my post was. Till the end of the day we were not doing anything but discussing how the fund rising process should be organized.

I was quite confident that our efforts can make a real difference. By the end of the day there were 10 of us who declare that they were ready to start fund raising for Japan by donating their items. We agreed that we:

- Change the titles and the descriptions on the items designated for the donation, mentioning the percentage of donation and the charity we will be donating to.

-tag the charity items “artist aid” “Japan relief” “Japan aid”

-start making treasuries for charity every day to increase our chances to sell products

-inform the customer who buy the items on where we donated the money they spent on our items by sending them the reference numbers of the charity transaction.

- notify the other Russian Artists team members about our sales and donations for charity.

Also we joined the Artist Aid group on Etsy where we found a lot like minded artisans already selling their art for charity and donating.

Story by Anastasia (Lovisetto)

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Please stay tuned to know more about Russian Artists Etsy Team efforts to help people in Japan.