At the beginning of my creative journey, an interesting story happened to me, and today I’d like to share it with you.
Before the “Sleeping Princesses” collection emerged, I experimented a lot, creating a variety of collections. One of them was an animal-themed series, where I didn’t stick to a single style. Each piece was unique: black monkeys with beads, pink rabbits, colorful elephants and giraffes. However, the most popular item was a snow-white bear brooch.
There was one peculiarity: at the time, I was working with a very soft polymer. When I removed the bear from the mold, my fingerprint would often be left on it. After much practice, I managed to make it almost invisible, placing it discreetly between the bear’s hind legs.
Then, one day, I received another order for the brooch. This time, it was from an older woman in Chernihiv. She was a fan of handmade items but always preferred to shop offline. Yet, the little bear captivated her so much that she decided to take the plunge. She spent a lot of time asking about every detail (size, clasp type, packaging, additional photos). Later, she revealed she didn’t have a bank card, so she asked her son in America to pay via PayPal. On top of that, the package took an unbearably long time to arrive.
Finally, she received the brooch… and was terribly disappointed when she noticed the fingerprint. “It’s not exactly defective,” she said, “but it’s not perfect either.”
I felt awful about the time spent messaging back and forth, agreeing on every detail, and yet leaving her dissatisfied. I offered to take the brooch back, but she declined. Needless to say, it left me with a heavy heart.
Fast forward five or six years. By then, I had started showcasing my art objects all over the world—Moscow, Shanghai, Miami. One day, a client, who had been following my journey and achievements, requested that I intentionally leave my fingerprint on her piece as a signature.
This small evolution over a relatively short time made me smile. Without that first client from Chernihiv, I might not have fully appreciated the request from the second one. 🙏