My name is Aliona, I am the creative force behind every item in this art store. Here you can find out more about me and the items I craft.
I have always been very artistic and creative, so naturally I studied and graduated Law (press for the musical effect). After spending a significant amount of my best years in the field of Human Rights, I chose to change my lifestyle and prioritize:
- slow living
- making things from scratch
- being creative
Therefore, I became a self-taught fiber artist over a slow and gradual process. At the beginning I couldn’t even imagine that I will one day have desire and guts to proudly call myself an artist.
My past life still haunts me in a way how I still care a lot about social justice, equality, inclusiveness, diversity, sustainability and other great causes that thousands of activists and volunteers are sacrificing their time for everyday. Even though these days I prefer to spend my time spinning beautiful yarn or embroidering weird things, I choose to incorporate my care for social issues into my work.
One of my favorite yarns to spin is recycled yarn. I used to think that there are very few recyclable materials out there: paper, glass, plastic and metal. I honestly had no idea how easy it is to reinvent old, unwanted, unloved and thrown away fibers: small pieces of embroidery floss or sewing thread, leftover yarn, and even old sweaters that were loved to death. However, by reinvent I mean completely transform this trash into new, strong, beautiful yarn, and improving both color and properties while not firing up any machines and burning fuels. Just good old fashioned elbow grease.
I started this little business calling myself a blue haired spinner and it transferred into the logo that you can still see on my products. It is an anachronism – spinning has long and old roots within many cultures. It was a vocation practiced in almost every household as little as 50 years ago, yet almost entirely forgotten. When I first thought about a spinning wheel, it was intimidating and seemed like an extremely complicated machine, ancient and futuristic in it’s design at the same time. Yet here I was, a blue haired tattooed queer spinning the device misplaced in time; and loving it!
In addition to this, the blue hair in the logo also symbolizes a novelty that I naturally add to old crafts of spinning and embroidery. For example, I invent my own techniques while embracing unique imperfections, I use all kinds of natural and synthetic fibers, and I embrace technology both in my tools as well as artistic content. This is highly visible in my embroidery – I love stitching UFO and monsters related landscapes!
Please contact me if you have any comments, questions or custom orders; I will be happy to help!