The magic of being a Artisan

The magic of being a Artisan

Being an artisan goes far beyond making a piece, an object or a manual work using your main tool: your hands; being an artisan is a person who has a vision that surpasses the thought or the objective of some material that can be sensitive to a transformation; an artisan uses a set of acquired or natural skills that he takes advantage of and executes every time he observes in his environment a piece that he can transform.

I am an artisan, since I was a child I felt a great attraction to create something with my hands, when I first saw my aunt knitting a rug, I begged her to teach me, so I took the crochet needle and taught me to hold the thread, I began to make the chain stitch naturally, as if I already knew how to knit. Little by little my aunt taught me the different knitting stitches, and within a week I had made my first mat for a cup holder that stayed with me for many years.

Due to the circumstances of learning, I finished my high school, I began to study what today is my profession and later a second university career, which made me move away a little from the crafts, although always in my night shift, in the quiet of the night, I was ready to knit garments for me and my friends.

As time went by, I discovered a new skill: jewelry, creating costume jewelry using different techniques, tools and materials: starting with plastic, resin and acrylic, to natural stones, Swarovski crystals and silver threads.

Developing your skills as a business

When we take seriously to take as a life course the craft of a craftsman, whatever the skill that is performed, it is important to take into account many variables that will allow us to achieve success in the near future. Among them we can highlight:

1. Choice of raw material suppliers, all of us who work in crafts, know what it means to have "quality of our products", that is why, if you are just starting or learning an art, use low cost materials; once you master the technique, do not skimp on investing in quality.

2. Spend time on your social networks; Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, among others, have made tools available to entrepreneurs that allow them to eliminate barriers of distance and formality, changing the way of doing business. Invest in knowledge, some graphic design and content creation.

3. Build customer loyalty, transform them into multipliers of your brand; offer incentives, offers and prizes for loyalty, this will allow your products to reach more people.

4. Love and enjoy the process, remember that it is the dream of your life, your life passion.

Craftsmanship and feelings

Whether we make a handmade piece for ourselves or for someone else, feelings are intimately linked; sometimes I have had to stop for a moment, take a shower, light an incense and start again, because of the immense emotional charge that I have had, to the point that the natural stones have broken in an unusual way, my hands start to sweat or tremble which prevents the details to be perfect; that is when I decide to stop, relax and continue a little later.

I remember that on one occasion I made an exclusive necklace for a person and I was so happy for the reason that I would wear it, that when my friend saw the final result, she cried with emotion, to the point of telling me that the angels had guided each of the elements; it was a very emotional moment that I keep with great affection and every time I do something, that instant comes to my mind.

Happiness is based on doing what we like and sharing with those we love the most, may your inspiration guide your hands and creativity be infinite.

Thank you for joining me in this publication, I hope to see you soon.

I'm @leticiapereira and all images belong to my family album.

Instagram: LettyEPereira

Translated with www.DeepL.com/Translator (free version)