About Elena, our colleague whose talent you will read about today, is a lucky person. She has discovered her talent and passion since she was really young, specifically from the sixth grade. He grew up among the folds of colourful silk, fine silks and all kinds of little buttons. “My mother taught me everything I know and I thank her for this”, said Elena.
As herself told us, when she was 12 her mother tailored her a jacket. A very nice one, cognac colour. What did she do? She took her mother’s amber necklace and sewed on the jacket collar each and every pebble. She tells they looked great, it was so beautiful that she was admired both by classmates and teachers!
“Well, my mother could not decide whether to yell at me for the necklace or praise me for my creation. However, it was totally worth. I was ready to face any punishment because in that moment I knew what I wanted to do in life”.
She grew up and perfected the talent. And then she opened her own shop, and the first thing she tailored was a pencil skirt with high waist, her favourite. Certainly she received her mother’s help, who guided her through the phone “like a true teacher”.
“I measured, I cut, I sewed, I unstitched, I sewed back, I did not give up until I did it. After several hours of struggle, I had succeeded. It was the best feeling. Throughout tears of joy, I realized once again that this is what I want to do in this life”, says Elena.
She invests feelings in everything she creates in her shop, but she says one of the most beloved projects was to create outfits and scenery for a short film entitled “Home Robot”. “It was a great experience for me. I could take part in a process as complex as it was fascinating. I am happy that I was able to leave the imprint of my work on a movie set. I can’t wait for the movie to appear! ”, tells Elena.
And besides dresses, skirts and other marvels, Elena loves to embroider too. She says it came spontaneously and she did not know much about this technique when she started. She admits she loves very much ia (Romanian traditional blouse) and that she wanted really bad to have one. She envisaged to make one and she has managed. “Now, embroidery became a therapy for me. I learned to have patience, because the result will match it. Yes, I make ia. Currently I am working on two blouses in parallel. One for a girl and one for a boy. I am glad to see that young people adopt this style, a style that represents us, the Romanians”.
Many of the fabric she works with are brought from Focsani, her hometown, and she says she remains faithful to the quality – price ratio found in that ”paradise of textiles”, as she likes to call it. “Otherwise, I go to Bucharest according to the recommendations. I work willingly any fabric, but my favourite are the natural fibres (linen, silk, wool)”, says Elena.
And as in any job there is the hardest thing ever, I asked Elena what was the most difficult piece of clothing ever made. She says it was a veil dress embroidered with beads and silk thread in the traditional colours for a “young lady overseas who misses Romania”. “It was difficult in terms of complexity of the model embroidered, but not impossible. I worked on this dress around 3 weeks. But time is relative. The lady who will wear the dress will turn eyes and receive well-deserved compliments. Indeed, it is not the coat that makes the man but it offers a chance to assert in society in a particular manner”, says Elena.
And because she invests feeling into everything she creates, Elena has already had loyal customers. She says that at first they came in sign of support, but after seeing the job done well, they gladly returned.
How does she combine CGS job with the passion to create clothes? Elena says that, as we all know, opposites attract. She admits it was a little hard at first, but over time she managed to find the balance and now enjoys both the job and the shop.
“In life, you have to take risks. Otherwise, you’ll never know which way your life would have turned if you had not had the courage even to try. The secret is to you give yourself a chance. We are capable of many things and we would all be happier if we learnt that we can do whatever we like. My grandmother taught my mother, my mother taught me, and I will do my best to leave something behind. Time is fleeting, but what we leave behind is forever”, ends Elena.
