Prepping for OOAK

My first Spring season show will happen across the country from where I live - in Toronto. The One Of A Kind Spring Show and Sale takes place between March 28 to April 1, and we will be there with the new Collection, and some of the Spring and Summer ad-ons.

Working full time at the day-job created some additional pressures to make enough product, meet deadlines, pre-plan and pre-think everything needed to make this show worthy. Can't wait till I re-gain my half-time in just over a week...

But, beside a few 'fits' of occasional anxiety, and cancelled social get-togethers with friends, I have been coping just fine, even managed to create some completely new items to bring to the show. I have also dreamed up my booth display, and already started the decorating work.

Because I will travel by air, my display must be as compact as possible, collapsible and light. I will show it to you all, as soon as it is ready and set up some six weeks away. Same for my bags, that will take their first trans-Canadian group trip...

The pictures below are of what I have been busying myself with...

Re-purposing men's (and ladies' ) jackets... into OOAK Sarah bags.

Floral embossed suede/ leather jacket: that symmetrical cut is completely accidental!

Now, with ruffles

Beautiful pattern in the back

Completely new design -  zipper clutch bags built from re-purposed jackets (pictures coming)...

Side A and B

Same beautiful pattern

My decorations: the Booth will have fresh colours of white and blue, just a little 'sailor' themed

My wind streamers... I may not have any wind at the Show, but they will pop against the white Show curtain

Table cover - vintage crocheting over white silk mix fabric

We are very excited to be visiting our Eastern friends - many more details about the Show are to come up in this Blog in the next few weeks.

Posted by Jolanta http://jolavdesigns.com

Our Summer events!

 Vancouver just might get it's first Summer Of Arts this year...

With ever-growing attention to the local fashion, arts, food and ecological shopping practices, new kinds of events sprung up in the city this summer.

Farmers' markets have been around for past several years. Eventually they started hosting a growing number of artists alongside the food and produce vendors, which made a huge positive impact on the artisan community. Also, the night markets in summer became a seasonal staple, offering exotic delights and anything from imported souvenirs or counterfeit luxuries, to onsite foot-rubs...

But we never had true weekly artisan market yet. Well, this Summer has changed that -  Downtown  now is the home for a few, large weekly events, focusing on exclusively local fashion, handmade crafts and musical performances every week... Summer may just become the season, as important and active for artisans, as the winter Holidays have been so far.

For the past few weeks I have been spending my Friday nights on the North Shore: at a new to town, weekly night market at the Pier.

North Shore Green Markets

It is a very different environment from what I am used to trading at, as it is my first ever out-door venue ( I have been dreading them for a good while...); also we have live concerts each evening, alongside the traditional tent market. All my dreads were groundless though, as the weather so far has been miraculously clearing every Friday night, sending fantastic customer traffic our way. And I immediately fell in love with our location, full of ocean-air, soft acoustic music, smells of grilled foods - and learned to appreciate our lantern-lit 'tent city'...

Tent!

I have one more Friday night to go, and then taking a brief break till the next event...

This summer will be my first year at one of the oldest and most established art festivals of Greater Vancouver -  Harmony Arts Festival in West Van's Shambles beach. Which means, more ocean views, music and friends... I will be posting more details about this market shortly...

Harmony Arts 2011

Hoping for fair weather in late July....

posted by Jolanta http://jolavdesigns.com/

Coming Of Age comes to a close...

 Pre-Fall 2010 Coming Of Age is our second collection, I started early last year. I learned quite a few new skills while building it, shaped my aesthetics and continued to work around my limitations as a new craftsperson. Today, I still have alot to learn, improve and re-measure.

Last week I began sketching what will be my third, Fall/ Winter 2011 Collection, and, even, cut a few preliminary patterns - just to shred them two days later...  After a few days of re-designing and re-sketching, I think I can safely say that I have five completely new styles to be rolled out later this Summer. I will start cutting the new patterns as soon as next week!

My big Spring show, EPIC Expo takes place this weekend, and as soon as I am back home and rested, the new sample building will begin.

Now, as usual, in every transition from an "old" collection to a new one, I would like to hold on to a couple of bag styles from Coming Of Age, and keep making them alongside the new stuff. Some of you know, after discontinuing most of my Spring 2010 Intro Collection, I brought back Jaki Shoulder bag (see previous post), and Renata, re-vamped for 2011.

I would love some feedback to decide, which styles should make it into the Fall/ Winter 2011 season....

Here are all the styles in Pre-Fall 2010 Coming Of Age & Coming Of Age Fast mini-collection:

Sarah

Sarah, Limited Finish

Virga

Virga TCB

TerriAnn

Nijole

Katie, The Bag

Emma

Wrap belt

When I look at this Look Roll, I realize, how small both collections are... I have a few ideas of what I THINK I would like to keep, but nothing yet is set at this point. It feels good to review your own work, and re-evaluate it...

Posted by Jolanta http://jolavdesigns.com/

How to have a great New Year....

The very idea of a new, starting year is bringing excitement! For a small business it means a lot of Hope, Projecting, Sourcing,and Gambling. At Jola V. Designs, we are no different.

Important to have Hopes, but also - realistic ones.

Any good year ends with an expectation, that the upcoming one will be even better. But it is important to remember that a lot of good that happened in the by-gone year, was a result of our own hard work. Even though some say, the Economy is turning for the better, we still are losing businesses daily, our customers are still quite cautious to spend. This year will require just as much hard work as the last one, and just as much patience. Things will still be taking baby steps, Careful is just as good as Hopeful... 

Victoria, BC

Projecting  - no need to run ahead of myself...

I am thrilled to have my very own web-site, and watch it grow. Really thankful for all the Retailers and Friends who came along, and helped to promote my purses. This year I intend to spend more time following up and keeping in touch with my amazing customers, taking part in a few more direct trade events, than last year, maybe even looking towards the East Coast.

Since things are still quite unpredictable in this economic environment, our projected growth will be mainly self-driven, and natural. It has proved to work before.

Sourcing - my favourite part of work...

This year the process of acquiring my materials will be very different. As, some of you have heard, I have achieved my most anticipated milestone - which is cutting back on my time at the day-job. From this February I will be spending only half the time I have so far at my desk, and the rest of it will be dedicated to my business. 

With way more time for working on what I love, you will see more colour, more types of materials, more style variations and, maybe, even a larger collection by as early as this coming fall! BUT - I will also be more insightful on which materials work the best, and which ones I am not sure about... So far, you all have been really helpful.

Fireworks of the Olympics, outside our window

Gambling is my second nature..

Being is Business means taking a gamble. In some situations, when all the analyzing and projecting in the world, no longer suffice, I have learned just to trust my Gut. I will take a shot at working with people I trust, take part in events I have faith in, both, public and private; leave room to pick materials and ideas that speak to me. Spread the word about my own work and provide peer support for others. Appreciate it all.

Have a safe, fun and rewarding year.

Preparations

Last couple of weeks seem to resemble a long mountainous road to some destination, yet unknown to me. So many things happened in such a short time, all appear to be connected in a cycle of Up- Down - Down - Up. Here is a load-down of the past three weeks...

Thursday, The Break-down
It began with my sewing machine going out of commission for 10 days. With the One Of A Kind show approaching fast, that was not a good time for a machine to break down. All my stock building was suspended for over 10 full days, as the thing sat in the mechanics workshop, waiting to be treated and released.

Friday, The Website
I certainly was not happy about having to go without a machine for this long, but the concerns were shortly overridden by more exciting news of my Web-site finally coming to a completion and going live. I am hugely thankful for all your sharing, re-tweeting and support. It took us many months of late nights and hard work, but now it is done...

Tuesday, The Spotting
I have written about it in this post, with all emotions poured out! To make a long story short - for the very first time I spotted a complete stranger wearing a bag I designed and made on a city train I ride to my day-job.
Grand and rewarding...

Thursday again, The snowy ride
We do not get a lot of snow in Vancouver, but when we do, our daily lives change. The snow came the night before I was going to go get my sewing machine back from the mechanics. It fell beautifully for many hours during the night, and into the morning, and then into the afternoon. Traffic was scarce on the roads, some streets were just purely white, with no trace of footsteps or tires.The Nordic in me prevailed, and in the early afternoon I rode out to get my main "sewing buddy" back home. It was perhaps the most scenic ride I had in a long time, while living in BC. Will never forget the snowed-in cemetery I saw on the way to the shop - the grave monuments were peeking out from underneath the snow. Very serene, and a kind of almost holy.
Most importantly, the machine was back home, safe and working.

Saturday, The Market
One of my two winter markets happened a weekend ago. I have forgotten how rusty I can get while setting up my booth, stuffing bags with shape supporting plastic, arranging storage and for the first time using my credit card processing device! It must have been the "rustiness" that cased my back to go out of commission for many days afterwards. I wish I was a bit more careful with all the lifting, dragging, stacking, bending and stretching. That was just the start of my health issues....

Monday, More health hazards
On the night of that Monday I suddenly felt sick. I always had little issues here and there, and aging definitely has proven to me that our bodies are not limitless in their stamina. Working two jobs - day and night - certainly took a toll on my energy levels and eliminated time to exercise.... For me though, that night was such a sudden deterioration, I, in fact, got quite worried that I might actually have something more serious. I had stomach cramping, chills, fatigue and dizziness, followed by other tell-tale signs of an internal infection. With some attention from a great doctor I met the next morning and some tough doses of antibiotics he prescribed, I was able to stay on my feet for the rest of the week. But, surely - no work got done...

Tuesday, The Job-Share
On Tuesday I was absent from my office day-job, as I was trying to battle my newly set-in infection. As I returned on the next day, I found a response from a colleague of mine, I was waiting for all week. She agreed to a proposal to share my current full time day-job at 50/50. More time to spend on my business and less at the office - on days like this you forget you've even been sick! Or sad! We are going to propose our plan to the employer shortly, and who knows, maybe this will be my lucky attempt.

Thursday, The Complaint
Back to the dumps! A knock on my door surprised me, as I just have finished hammering the rivets, connecting the strap on one of my Sarah bags. One in the Jewel Purple colour, that I love. I opened my door to a young red haired man standing in front of me. Apparently, he came to complain about the hammering and stone carving noises I was allegedly making. He also told me that he was a member of the Strata Council in my building, and that there are quite a few complaints racking up against stone carving (again!) related noises. Thursday would not be the day I am usually home, so I was not familiar with any such noises, so none of what he was saying made sense to me. I do not carve stone, nor make continuous hammering noises, so at first I thought this man was joking. But then.... as soon as he left the noises began! Right in the upstairs from me - hammering, grinding, vacuuming, followed by more hammering. I have never heard these noises before, as I would be off to the day-job on weekdays. I got really enraged about now being accused of causing this noise chaos, so I contacted the Strata, just to find out that my friend from this morning had already written me up! Now I am NOT used to be treated like this by a man... I wrote my lengthy explanation to the Strata, hoping the finger - pointing will cease. I now think, my "friend" really owes me an apology.

Thursday, The Wonderful Hanukkah dinner
Same Thursday - different world. The strange encounter with my accuser was scratched of the surface of Earth by a fantastic Hanukkah dinner thrown by my good friend, Ayala. Thank you again, dear. It takes a person like you to help a crummy day regain its balance.

Friday, My Back Strikes Again!
Compiling stock for the upcoming biggest show in my designer career takes many hours of steady work. I have been consistently taking time off from the day-job to build somewhat decent inventory to show off at my booth. I was faithfully kneeling on the floor in front of a leather hide, one hand on the floor, scissors in the other, when a sharp pain across my back startled me. For a second I tried to ignore it, carry on with the cut, but it was not possible. Next two minutes found me sobbing flat on the bed, as my body could not be placed in any other position, without going into complete agony. And, just like that lost another half day of production. I swore to myself that as soon as all the vending is done, I WILL restart that bloody yoga course I have conveniently abandoned...

Saturday, The Retail
Life goes on. Even if you are sick, tired, upset or merry. 2 new retailers approached me, who are willing to carry my line. Very excited and pleased about it, yet anxious, as this will require more production during an already bad week for this poor ol' body of mine...
It is great to be loved!

The Preparations Of Forever...
Finally, one night to go, till it is time to set up my booth for the biggest show I have done so far. Very excited and curious, but I also aware of the long hours of pure energy, that this work requires. Currently my inventory counts at 47 bags and 17 belts, a dozen of small SWAG! goodies; 4 liters of sparkling water, a pack of Antacids, cash box, gift bags, mini bottle of wine, tube of hand-cream and a lunch planner. I love what I do and my work is rewarding and draining me every day. The past three weeks have been extraordinary, and strange, and I hope the show will bring the finale I am needing right now.

I should be in bed. As a small business owner, you are the only driving force for your venture. Save it and nurture it. Goodnight and good luck.

We have the Wrap Belt give-away draw winner!!!

We have our winner!

Below is an excerpt from a names randomizer form, hosted by Random.org .

After entering all those interested in participating, we "randomized" the  list, and according to heir instructions, the person appearing the FIRST in the new random order, is the winner!

List Randomizer

There were 9 items in your list. Here they are in random order:

1. ahsu78
2. liddler
3. Annie
4. marlo
5. ayala
6. elvyrad
7. nina j.
8. meghan
9. ceyou

Timestamp: 2010-12-02 23:44:25 UTC

Congrats, ahsu78 - you are the winner of our first ever give-away.

You will receive a Jola V. Designs Wrap Belt in the colour of your choice. We will contact you for details shortly!

Wrap Belt give-away

Belts

During Portobello West market this weekend, I started a spontaneous Give Away promotion for one of my Wrap Belts..
Because of the lovely response, I would like to continue it on-line too!

Please, sign up to our e-mailing list to enter a draw to win a Wrap Belt in the colour of your choice!

From left: Perfect Mustard, Olive, Azalea

Colours currently in stock: Black, Brown Smoke, Perfect Mustard, Azalea, Olive and Taupe Grey. We will post more pictures of other colours on the WebSite shortly!


All Wrap belts are 1 inch wide and 8 feet long, they can be wrapped around your waist 2-3 times, coiled, tied - anything. One size fits all.

*****To win your Wrap Belt, all you need to do, is add your e-mail address to our e-mailing list, if you have not done so yet.  You can do it by clicking the E-mail Sign-up button at the top of our Facebook Fan Page, or my sending a message to:

newsletter@jolavdesigns.com

All the new subscribers will be added to the draw.

*****Those of you, who have already added their e-mail to the list in the past, please let me know if you are interested in taking part in THIS draw - either by commenting on this post, message, etc.

The winner will drawn THURSDAY, Dec 1st.

Fall Leather, Part 3 - High Wax, Oil Treated and Distressed

Watt Tyler park at sunset, The UK

I have always been amazed with marshlands. Must be the moody, almost haunted landscape, patches of grass and water, the birds.... Also, perhaps because I've spent most of my life in the city, I find marshlands exotically beautiful and mysterious. Dry land ends, and water begins, life ends, and begins again.

A landscape like that calls for acceptance - of beauty within mud; change in attitude - from town to country; change in attire - from cool to cozy.

I draw alot of inspiration from the country landscapes, ambiance and lifestyle and try to rework Country Traditionalism into streams, that would fit a broader range of preferences. Most of the Pre-Fall collection bags are one way, or another shaped by country looks, lines and influences.

Fox Hunt, source Old-Photos

My marshland fashion began in the previous season, with the pretty traditional Western Rounded sack, KERRY,  eventually transformed into Classical TCB satchel JAKI TOTE , which also features country lace detailing.  This season it is continuing with TERRI ANN, a minimalist saddle bag; SARAH,  a shoulder bag with a bridle loop strap and multi -tiered ruffles - just to point out a couple...  There still are several other styles to come...

Jaki Shoulder bag

For the Fall, I would like to go even deeper into Marshy Country, and use the materials, that are traditional for the theme, yet adoptable for my styling...

Some leather types are traditionally more "Country" than others. There is, of course, Suede - a staple for the look; there are heavyweight vegetable tanned leathers, various large grained or distressed hides, High Wax finished and Oil Treated (or Utility) leathers. They all represent the low gloss, humble, often sturdy and rugged, or cozy and elegant look of rural aesthetics. JAKI Shoulder bag (left) is made of Oil Treated leather.

High Wax leather, which I love, has matte, unfinished look and a sense of moisture to the touch. Usually lightweight, very pliable and ages beautifully. This exact Sarah bag (left) is made of Mustard Green garment weight unfinished High Wax. Also, think, gloves, hats, lightweight belts, clothing straps, book covers, etc.





Oil Treated (Utility) leather - is a rare find for me, and I get very excited each time I am able to snag some of it...

Oil Treated leather - Burgundy

It is beautifully matte; sturdy in its nature, yet surprisingly responsive to work with. Moist feeling supple surface, that changes its tone at the fold or stitch lines. This is considered a sign of high quality oil treatment, and this feature is unique and only found in Oil Treated leathers. Ages amazingly, building new character as it goes. Commonly used for bridles, dog leashes, boots, belts, handbags and firearm cases.

Distressed leather - Latte

Distressed leather - even though, come in all weights, I have mostly worked with upholstery. It is strong, drier feeling finished  leather, with unique colouring qualities. The edges of grain come off in paler tones than the rest of the surface, due to special treatment, preventing colour from saturating through.  Distressed hides look like an endless maze of pale webbing, stretched over a field of solid colour.

Very popular for country style interior furnishings, handbags, footwear and saddle decor.

This post sums up my main leather arsenal for this fall - as you know, it will change as the season progresses and will inform you on my upcoming finds. In the next few weeks I will try to deliver the  Pre-Fall 2010 Coming Of Age collection in its entirety, so we could give these patches of leather their new life...

In the case you'd like to know more - **Useful links on leather and leatherwork: **
Tandy Leather Factory

Zack White Leather
Kingsmere Crafts

Belts!

I have been pondering, if I were to make a belt - for myself, and others, what would it be.
I wanted something that is true to my No - Hardware - In - Sight taste, so right away I knew, the belt must not have a traditional buckle. I also wanted a belt, which would be timeless and understated, tasteful and really gets the materials its made of, shine!

Then came the idea that it should also fit most wearers, regardless of their size, height, age, and especially would suit many different outfits.

I decided to develop a 3-way fold Wrap Belt. It is easy to wear over any garment, suits all kinds of bodies and does not require punching holes, replacing buckles, and rather supplements your outfit, instead of overwhelming it.

My first Wraps are available in  1" width by 8 Ft length (3 by 244 cm) in Coffee Brown, Navy Blue and Taupe Grey.

More colours coming up soon! Visit my Etsy shop for yours!

Back to the edge of the world....

Amazingly, having started at dawn this past Saturday in Vilnius, some 18 hours later I ended up on the West Coast of Canada - also, on the same Saturday....

I am back, yet my watches are still showing the European time; I am up bright and early each morning (we're talking 5. 30 am) and start feeling fatigued and nappy in the afternoon. I took a couple of days to re-adjust, and now things must go back to normal.


This week is for catching up on custom bag orders, that collected while I was away, rolling out the rest of the Coming Of Age Pre-Fall 2010 Collection samples (several styles of which you have already seen and loved - Sarah, Katie, The Bag and Terri Ann ) and also to start getting ready for the upcoming Holiday season shows....

I am glad to be back - and now that I am, I 've realized how much I missed my studio, and my work.

Have a rewarding week!

Monsoon season

Every heat wave eventually climaxes, and this one did with a bang! The Storm took the whole day to gather around, and crawled across the country Eastward from the West....  The thunder came as a warning from the skies, long before the storm got to Vilnius.

At about 9 p.m. the clouds covered the Western horizon, immediately the wind cut through the air, so moveless and moist just a moment ago. And then came the rain, fresh smell of Ozone - and the endless flashing of lightning, followed by a loud roll of thunder right over our heads.

I seemed to remember how violent the thunderstorms used to be here. But I have forgotten the sensations....  The storm was a great refresher for my memory - in my childhood I always thought they were very romantic; and the world wakes up cleansed after they're over....

Vilnius is an old city, with old drainage systems, and this storm brought so much water down, it was all too much for the good ol' pipes and tunnels to handle.

Immediately, the street my mother lives on, flooded. The water kept coming down, till the road, curbs, lawn and, finally, cars parked alongside the curbs, were nearly engulfed by the turbulent, violent stream, rushing into the lowest dip of the street, turning in a whirlpool and rushing back out.

Where four minutes ago there was a street, now was a river...

The most amazing thing I found, was that some drivers, caught in this sudden rise of a flood, still decided to take a shot at driving through it. Moments later, they joined, what looked like a "Saturday Night 'Push Your Dead Car Home'" party... no pun intended...

The luckier ones continued on lighter flooded sidewalks, lawns, or just turned around, while they still could.

Since I have never seen my Hometown turn into Venice of the North, I decided to capture this amazingly unfortunate event on camera, so, thanks to my mom and her arsenal of old shoes, I spend good thirty minutes wading in the flood thighs deep (I still offered help to push people's cars out of the water... and decided, if I end up renting a car, to never park on my mother's street again..)

I doo feel for the owners of these cars - but the evening was quite the sight, and as the rain eased, many onlookers wondered outside or peered out their windows at the spectacle, the kids came by to explore the warm water. Not even three hours later the water drained, and if not for the sand, washed up onto the curbs, you would not even know that something this extraordinary had happened.

BTW - the air here is heating up back to 30s again... We might see the cycle repeat itself...

I am so blessed!