Posts
My name is Irina and I am the owner of MulberryWhisper shop on Etsy.
I graduated from the Textile
Design University
and worked at clothing factory here in Tashkent
as a designer, making things for people to wear. I was very happy to see my
designs worn by people in the street, and if my daughter Eugenie was with me, I
would always tell her – “See that cream suit? It is my design!”. I missed this feeling
later…
After USSR
ceased to exist, our factory stopped producing clothes. I worked from home for
many years, but it did not give me the same level of satisfaction. I guess I
was lacking a certain degree of freedom an artist needs. I often had to make
designs I did not like, just because I needed to earn money. I had to work with
fabrics chosen by the customers, and often those were synthetic fibers which
looked and felt bad, in my view, but I had no choice. Of course I tried to give
advice and to show alternatives but I still felt restrained.
We had been thinking of a brick and mortar shop
for a while but we did not feel we had the needed capacity for that. I am not
much of an administrator, and Eugenie has time consuming day job. Then at some
point she told me about Etsy; she also bought some very nice things there. And
somehow we decided to try Etsy as a platform for our shop, and we are very
happy we did. We are to celebrate our first year on Etsy in the beginning of
spring. We love Etsy and our shop.
I make clothing to order, using traditional
Uzbek silk fabrics, mostly with ikat patterns which are so unique and
beautiful. I believe that Uzbek fabrics are pieces of art which reflect the
soul of our people – bright and full of light. I love the combination of
traditional ethnic fabrics with contemporary clothing design; this gives my
customers an opportunity to own a wearable piece of art which is versatile and
practical. Many of my designs can be worn to the office or for a special
occasion, as they are easy to wear and combine with other pieces. I also do my
best to make my designs flattering for women, to emphasize their beauty. I am
very happy to receive great feedback from our customers and I am glad to know
that my designs are loved and used, not just stored in the closet.
I also make pillow covers from silk ikat
fabrics (adras, bekasab, khan atlas), Uzbek silk velour (bakhmal), Uzbek suzani
(traditional embroidery) and rugs. These pieces bring a spirit of adventure and
travels to the homes of our customers: some of them have an almost barbarian
tribal feel, while others are lush and luxurious. All of those are made in
limited quantities, and often are one of a kind.
In addition, we offer lovely Uzbek silk
scarves, and some of our customers already seem to have nice collections. These
fabrics come in limited quantities, and there are very small chances for the
buyers to see someone else wearing “their” scarves. We also occasionally sell
beautiful vintage Russian wool shawls and scarves, when we find new old stock
available.
I use a lot of vintage fabrics and rugs, and
this approach feels right to me. There are plenty of vintage supplies here in
our country; they are beautiful, unique, rare, and made from natural fibers. I
believe in using as much vintage as possible, sometimes upcycling, to rescue
the wonderful fabrics and also to somewhat relieve the burden on natural
resources. We have a huge collection of vintage Uzbek silks and some of those
are shared out in our shop.
Our first
year was quite successful, despite the fact that we only worked for about six
months altogether. We are very grateful to all the wonderful customers of ours,
especially the first ones, who believed in us when we had no feedback and our
photos were very poor. We want to give our special thanks to the Russian
Artists’ Team on Etsy which continues providing invaluable support. And, of
course, we are very grateful to Etsy! Etsy has given me and my daughter a
wonderful opportunity to meet new people and learn new things, besides earning
money. We have acquired several very good friends and we hope that friendship
lasts and business develops.
All the best to you in 2013, and please come
and visit us at MulberryWhisper and at our blog, MulberryWhisper.
