Let me present…

A while ago (this Spring to be precise), I met one very talented lady here in Trieste. I was very eager to tell you about this new friendship and finally I have a good reason. We prepared something exciting for you, but more on that later.

Let me present you – Marija. It was one of those meetings when you instantly become a friend with someone and there were a few reasons for this to happen. First of all  Marija is a very nice and charming person, secondly – she’s a very talented and creative lady, and lastly – she is also from Latvia. When you live abroad and you meet someone from your country (especially when it is such small country as Latvia), you get connected instantly. We share so many similar experiences from our past, we can understand things others would never understand… well, if you ever lived abroad I am sure you understand what I mean.

Apart of being wonderful friend Marija is a designer, hand weaver and she running a beautiful artisan shop here in Trieste – La Tessoria.Her handmade jackets are to die for, her scarves are so beautiful and cozy that you would want them all at once, not to mention all other accessories, like belts and bags… oh that bag… I fell in love with it from the first sight…We spent one morning in Marija’s laboratory (and shop) where she let me sneak into her creative process and told me a little more about her work:

Marija, tell us a little bit about how all this started? How did you discover your passion about hand weaving and how you decided to open your own shop?

My big dream was to open a special place in the heart of Trieste. The place like a meeting point of different creative experiences and Art. In December 2010 after a very long hesitation period the decision to set up the Laboratory of Handweaving was finally taken. This place was mentioned to be something more than an artisan shop – a container of workshops, the quality place for craft within the city, the center of common interests…What part of the process makes you the most passionate?

I love mostly experimenting, inventing designs… What is your source of inspiration?

I’m particularly interested in the structure of the weaves and the selection of the fibres and yarns most suitable for my style. Usually it is a flax – the most natural fiber. But lately I’m getting a lot of inspiration from new innovative and unconventional materials… like metal yarn, fiber optic, silicone, plastic and special fabric treatments …

They give me thousands of new possible combinations, infinite variants and completely new point of view.    What are your future dreams, ambitions?

There are a lot of dreams and big ambitions, of course. I hope that experience I got until now will help me to rise from the weaver of accessories and traditional home textile into the contemporary hand weaving artist. I have already got some proposals of important and interesting collaborations for 2014.Whenever we meet with Marija I leave with full pockets of inspiration, ideas and future projects. Next week I will share a tutorial we prepared with Marija, so stay tuned! In the meantime visit her Etsy shop and follow her on facebook. I hope many more exciting projects are in our future and hope you will enjoy them!