![Jana’s Amber Design House: A Brand That Is More Than a Meditation]()
by Purba | May 17, 2021 | Shout out |
Fashionnovation is on a journey to introduce you with unique, sustainable, rising fashion brands and the masterminds behind them. As a matter of fact, we’ll explore Amber Design House and the mind of its founder. In our today’s exclusive interview, we take the humble opportunity to introduce you with Jana Cuprijanoviča, a Latvian fashion designer, graduated as an organization psychologist, then found her passion for fashion and went all in to serve her customers with her handmade cardigans, creating which is like meditation to her. Today we will listen to her story of building up a brand called Amber Design House to serve her customers around the world with love.
Kazi Purba: We know that Amber Design House is a handmade products company and brand founded by you in Riga, Latvia, near the Baltic sea. Can you tell us something about yourself?
Jana: My name is Jana. I am the creator of Amber Design House. This is my hobby, work, love.
I graduated as an organization psychologist and all the acquired knowledge and work experience is very useful even now, developing my small business.
Jana Cuprijanoviča, the founder of Amber Design House. Photo courtesy: Amber Design House.
Kazi Purba: What’s the story behind Amber Design House? What motivated you to establish that?
Jana: The Amber Design House project started with one cardigan for myself and without really planning anything. I didn’t ever imagine that after a while it would turn into a passionate work. This is my meditation. I can equate knitting to a kind of yoga.
I can thank my daughter Patrisha for encouraging me to develop all these. She said that other people should also see these cardigans and sweaters. I doubted it for a moment, but there was no time to think, because the customers had already appeared and were already waiting for their knitted cardigans. I just had to do it!
One cardigan, two, three… sweaters, home decor, it just happened naturally.
Our cardigans have already traveled to Germany, Denmark, Switzerland, Netherlands and other places in world.
Kazi Purba: That is amazing! Loved the story behind your brand. What’s your product range? What special do you offer to your customers?
Jana: Amber design house produces handmade fashion crocheted and knitted outwear and decors.
Knitted cardigan from Amber Design House. Photo courtesy: Amber Design House.
Our products are distinguished by our hallmark – small natural amber. It is a stone of sun with good and healing energy.
Our most popular product is a knitted cardigan, also highly requested as an additional piece for wedding dresses.
We work only with high quality materials, because the end result is very important for us.
Knitted product with Amber Design House’s logo on it. Photo courtesy: Amber Design House.
Kazi Purba: How much supportive are your customers? What’s your future plan for them?
Jana: All the good words and appreciations from our cool customers just give me a big inspiration. It warms my heart so much and motivates me to do more and more.
I’m thankful to everyone from the bottom of my heart for appreciating, loving and being so supportive!
If you want to know more about Jana Cuprijanoviča’s projects and Amber Design House, please visit:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amberdesignhouse
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/amberdesignhouse/
Website: www.amberdesignhouse.lv
If you have any initiative like Jana Cuprijanoviča or have to say something to the world, feel free to contact us and get featured in fashionnovation! Our email address: fashionnovationfd@gmail.com
VeNove: The Brand That Makes Comfortable, Stylish and Unique Dresses for the Pregnant Women With Love
Lili: A Sustainable Brand for Upcycled Jewelry
![Jana’s Amber Design House: A Brand That Is More Than a Meditation]()
by Purba | May 5, 2021 | Shout out |
Fashionnovation is always looking for unique, sustainable, rising fashion brands and the masterminds behind them. In today’s Fashionnovation’s exclusive interview, we get the humble opportunity to introduce you with Kasia Kolasa, the talented Finnish fashion designer working for the maternity dresses with her own fashion brand called VeNove.
Kazi Purba: What’s the story of VeNove? Why did you start?
Kasia Kolasa: VeNove is a small fashion company and a fashion brand founded by me in 2018 in Helsinki, Finland. After graduating from a fashion school, I wanted to find my place in the challenging fashion industry and pursue my journey as a designer. I have always been passionated about patternmaking and garment construction but I wanted to combine these with my practical sewing skills and creating my own small business. I wanted to find a niche market for my products and I decided to create a maternity clothing line – mostly dresses and tunics that could be worn in pregnancy and beyond. My main goal in VeNove was to make garments that are comfortable and easy to wear but at the same time stylish and unique. That’s where I could really use my pattern construction skills.
Figure: Kasia Kolasa, the founder of VeNove. Image courtesy: VeNove.
Kazi Purba: Wow! It feels great to hear that you kept on doing what you love most! Would you please explain your design concepts?
Kasia Kolasa: I aim to design for women who want to feel beautiful but also comfortable when pregnant and who appreciate timeless and sustainable fashion – but with some innovative twists in shape. VeNove maternity dresses are suitable for breastfeeding (thanks to a hidden nursing panel) and there are many small details that make the projects special – for example the front part of the dresses is slightly longer than the back – thanks to that it looks proportional and doesn’t get too short as the belly grows in pregnancy. Pockets – that’s another tiny detail that makes the garments more comfortable and functional. And there are no zippers, so the dresses are super easy and comfortable to wear.
I design for real women – that’s why VeNove size table varies from many standard charts used by fashion producents and industrial pattern makers. There is one very important change I made to the usual sizing to make room not only for the growing belly but also for the growing breasts (in the pregnancy and after). This change in the patterns allows the customer to use their normal pre-pregnancy clothing size. VeNove products are available in sizes from XS to XL. I also offer individual customization.
Kazi Purba: I’ve watched your youtube videos about pattern making. I literally love them! Would you please tell us something about it?
Kasia Kolasa: I love patternmaking and I really enjoy challenging myself with garment construction – all kinds of construction, not only dresses or maternity clothing. I have been working with individual clients, and tailoring the patterns to many different silhouettes. Some years ago I started to make my patterns digitally. In VeNove I prepare all of my projects using Valentina – an open source pattern drafting software tool. I encourage other aspiring designers to try it. For me it’s a quicker, more accurate and also more sustainable way of making patterns compared to drafting them on paper.
Kasia Kolasa also shares with others her skills and knowledge about patternmaking by publishing some wonderful video tutorials on her YouTube channel. Fashionnovation eagerly waits to watch more of her tutorials! Image courtesy: VeNove.
I want to share with others my skills and knowledge about patternmaking. That’s why I published some video tutorials on my YouTube channel and many more are to come. I also plan to sell some of my PDF patterns to hobbyist sewers.
Kazi Purba: We know that sustainability is a big issue at this moment. How does VeNove promote sustainability?
Kasia Kolasa: VeNove supports Slow fashion. I make all the products by myself, starting from the design of the projects, drafting patterns to finding the right fabrics and manufacturing the garments. VeNove collection consists of small batches and unique pieces and instead of keeping many products in stock, I make many of them to order. I have a freedom to do so, because I don’t depend on subcontractors and I can sew very well. I can also manage the usage of materials and although VeNove projects are not completely zero waste designs, I aim to reduce the textile waste to minimum. I use high quality fabrics which are also easy to maintain (this is very important for mothers with small babies). VeNove dresses are suitable for the time of pregnancy, breastfeeding but not only – they don’t look at all as typical maternity garments and they can be styled in many ways – casual or more elegant.
If you want to see Kasia Kolasa’s projects and find out more about VeNove, please visit:
Website: https://venove.design/
Instagram: @venove.fashion
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/venove.fashion
and YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/VeNove
If you have any initiative like Kasia Kolasa or have to say something to the world, feel free to contact us and get featured in fashionnovation! Our email address: fashionnovationfd@gmail.com
Lili: A Sustainable Brand for Upcycled Jewelry
Jana’s Amber Design House: A Brand That Is More Than a Meditation
