Do you remember that cool headpiece I was wearing in Coromandel? Most of all I value it not because of its attracting attention design or an ability to pull attention away from my a tiny little bit too huge cheeks. I love it because it was created by my talented friend Anna Baturina and her equally talented (and even more hard-working, as you will also find out soon) mum. Together they are designing such an extraordinary things! Ho do you like a dish full of pasta to begin with? Or a duck that flitters when you move? The only problem is you can only wear those headpieces if you’re a close friend of Anna (others just won’t find a single store!) and I doubt they even have a brand name or a logo… I keep on asking her – why is your hobby still not a business? Time to answer in front of all of you!
– How did that hobby begin? What was the first accessory you made?
– It all stated with an annoyance: why do many “high fashion” accessories look like they can be repeated by a kid? Well, may be that experiment won’t last forever, but will definitely be cool enough to impress your friends and Instagram followers. Headpiece “just like Philip Treacy” was our first attempt, if I’m not mistaken. I was bored at work and was dreaming about the Royal Ascot with all its beautiful hats. But not all dreams do come true. as you know! Instead I got an idea to celebrate my Birthday on the local horse races. No excuses to come without a hat! And that’s how I realised it wasn’t that difficult to recreate Treacy’s artwork!
By the way, later I noticed that Barbie shoes necklace online. It costed around 800 NZD! You must be kidding! We bought a whole bag of those shoes for $5 and made it ourselves. Everyone loved it!
– So you’re only recreating ideas? Or creating something unique as well?
– Many good ideas were already created (unfortunately). Some of them really inspire us, some of them seem just to easy to DIY and sometimes, of course, we let our fantasy fly. But it’s always easier if you have an occasion – thus a definite theme.
– I know that on accessories you’re working with your mum. How do you divide the work? May be, you’re “the brain” and she is “the hands”?
– Exactly like that! I’m too scared to spoil everything and to work with tiny pieces, and my mum is hard-working and patient – she can handle everything! So sometimes all I do is just holding some pieces and she turns them into an accessory. And also I always want to sell everything, while mother just laughs:)
– Your pieces are creative and a little crazy (in a positive way). But are there any borders, something you would never want to do?
– Thank you! I think without a little craziness it all just gets too boring. Each designer has at least one bracelet made of a narrow red rope and a tiny charm on it. You don’t need any fantasy for that! While necklace with a huge toy dinosaur found in a country house is already a challenge! And wearing it – is a double challenge! On the other hand, I’m not wearing, for example, brooches myself. So it’s not my case. Many of the things we have made are hiding in my friends’ closets. Sadly not everyone can wear something like this really often!
This hat was way too heavy for my head!:)) And we couldn’t buy a piece of fake grass for it (they were only sold in huge sizes!), so had to use some old carpet instead!)
– Marni, Dolce&Gabbana – those brands are not afraid to shock and people queue for their crazy ideas. How comes you still don’t have own lookbook, glossy advertising and personal store? Don’t you want to turn your hobby into a business?
– I ask that myself all the time! I always wanted to sell our pieces, but there are two tough moments:
1) How to set the prices? For example, I know that fake pearls costed me $2 and those colourful beads are actually used coffee capsules (so don’t cost anything anymore). On the one hand, I can’t sell it for $4 – no one would see anything valuable in it! On the other hand $400 would also be too much! Or am I just too modest?
2) What if it brakes? I had a dream to make several accessories with the tiny people I bought a while ago, but we couldn’t find a glue strong enough to hold them together! Well, there was one, but they still fall apart after three time I wore them. And how can I sell something like that? What if it brakes before even arriving to the customer? Unfortunately, we can only do our accessories in the evenings or on weekends, so don’t have time to improve the quality.
If you know how to fight with your own conscience – just let me know!:) I’m tired to give everything away for free (just joking!)
By the way, we have one lookbook. But why did I never publish it? Will do it shortly!
– If I ask for a headpiece with New Zealand symbols, what would it look like? Just curious what do you think about this country:)
– Well… I have to discuss it with my mum first! But the first ideas are kiwi-bird (wonder, if I can buy it?), green grass, hobbit’s leg… Aren’t those all stereotypes? But my mum recently learned to make such a cool stuff out of polymer clay that we can do anything! And what would you add?
– Wow! I need a kiwi-bird headpiece now!
And would you buy Anna’s headpiece? And for what occasion? And for what price?:)
