Holy Spells | From Waste To Out-Of-This-World Designs
“We started with toys, costumes for performances, and one night Netali sewed her first bag for a party. The next day at the party, she received two orders. The bag very quickly became popular and everyone around began to order it”. Does this story ring a bell in you? That’s how many successful designers get started. But Holy Spells creates treasures with materials that nobody wants. That’s why this interview is a must-read.
Holy Spells is run by two sisters born in Lviv, Odri and Netali, who handcraft one-of-a-kind bags and garments out of recycled materials and encourage upcycling and ethical fashion. What started with music, as they had been making their own music since childhood, quickly evolved into a passion for fashion, designing bags and clothing with powerful designs that immediately captivated everyone’s attention in Warsa, motivating them to launch their brand. Read our exclusive interview with them to find out more.
What sparked your interest and love for Fashion?
Everyone in our family feels fashion, it’s in our blood. Even as children, we watched how our mother made costumes for our concerts, and we watched the process, helped her choose materials and came up with sketches. When we grew up, we started sewing and made our own costumes for parties. We were always different from others, and we especially loved this moment when someone asked us: ‘Where did you get it from? ‘ or ‘who is the designer?’, and we answered with a smile: ‘it’s me ‘. It was cool and it really inspired us to create further, because people liked what we were doing. Also, we really liked themed parties, because you could come up with an original costume.
What do you think you have learned from yourself and from each other ever since you started designing?
We had a very cool experience working with people. We learned the most when we started receiving custom orders and started working with the client. We didn’t learn to sew anywhere, we didn’t learn marketing, and how to sell products, we create our own author’s technique and our own way of serving and selling our own products. Each new order enriches our experience, we non-stop update and improve our products, keeping in close contact with each of the customers.
“Everyone has their own idea of a traditional form. For us aliens, that form is the most suitable. We do not think about why exactly such forms appear in our imagination, instead, we hurry to realize them, without leaving this opportunity to someone else. If we don’t do it, then someone will” – Netali and Odri Tsirka.
What are the obstacles you face nowadays and how do you conquer them?
The only obstacle is ourselves. All possible limitations exist only in our heads. We believe that obstacles give an opportunity to stop, think, look around and find a better solution for the problem. Because there are no obstacles – there are only problems that need to be solved. Therefore, we are always very happy with difficult situations, thanks to them we reach a new level.
What’s your creative process usually like? And how has it evolved with time?
The creative process is very individual, everything depends on the customer and the project, but we take care to create comfort and a pleasant atmosphere for ourselves, this has always been important and constant, and it has a great influence on our work. Music, movies, the aroma of candles, tasty and healthy food, cleanliness around, jokes, all this creates an appropriate atmosphere in which you want to work and create, thanks to this we endow our products with positive energy. We believe that they bring happiness because they were created with love
How do you make sure to stay relevant and committed to your values?
It is very difficult to be a brand that creates upcycling products. There are difficult moments when we cannot find the appropriate material, it would be much easier to buy ready-made materials, but this contradicts our values and mission, so we make great efforts and establish many contacts with a large number of people who give us their materials from time to time and clothes, but we find most of them in vintage and second-hand markets. We strive to innovate all the time, to develop new technologies that will become even better for humanity. All products are created by hand by two sisters from Ukraine who live in Poland.
Are there any particular subjects you love to explore or experiment with within your work?
Yes, we would like to learn new interesting techniques, improve the ones we have, because we really like to experiment, and we are interested in what else we can create. Since we are vegans, we have always liked this idea of creating new materials from various natural raw materials: from fruits, nuts, and plants, maybe in the future, we will make a bag from strawberries, who knows?! (strawberry or banana bag 🙂
What’s next for Holy Spells?
Honestly, we don’t know the answer to this question ourselves, we have a lot of plans and ideas, and the only thing we know for sure is that we don’t plan to stop until we conquer the world!! well and then … the next planet.
All Images: © Cortesy by Holy Spells
+ Words:
Indira Jiménez
Luxiders Magazine
