Crafts and people

After spending several years as a fashion designer for a big brand, and seeing the shocking working condition in the garment sector, Sigrid decided it was time for a radical change. So she has stopped buying new clothes, and decided to teach upcycling and repairing clothes to kids and adults in Berlin. She’s been doing it for 10 years now, and now also has got a YouTube channel (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCEZ87S_V-ifAbidDy7no5gQ).

“The bar in this industry is so low, that if you just turn up on time, you're already standing out”- can you guess what is the job that my new guest does? Well, of course, it’s renovations- or, to be precise, smaller home improvements like painting and building furniture. Charly, from the UK, moved to Berlin to work in graphic design, but, being faced with very low salaries in that field, decided to look for something else. That’s how she ended doing home improvement- one of the very few women who do it professionally.

"Don't start developing a whole collection of things and writing a business plan, just test one thing and see what works". This time, I'm talking to Greta Bolzoni, an Italian set designer who has just started making and selling her own macrame bags. What is it like to be a freelance artist in Germany at the peak of the pandemic (not that terrible actually!), and what to look out for when making macrame accessories? Listen to find out.

Tatiana moved from Moscow to the UK and then to Berlin ‒ and now has her own brand of accessories and hats called “Beretkah”, which started with odd bits of unneeded fabric, and is now worn by brides and TV stars all over Europe.