Success stories

Nanas journey started about 5 years ago when she was searching for a theme for her masters degree at the Faculty of Education - Art Education. She became passionate about reusing textiles, textures patterns and hand-made creations. Nana wanted to change the perspective on what creative material is so she changed the canvas for a shirt and her painting brush for the cotton thread. She started upcycling vintage shirts and sweaters made from natural materials with artistic floral embroidery. This is still the concept she is drawn to today. After applying to the programme and refining her search for a host entrepreneur, she came across Spela Lenarcics, a Slovenian fashion company based in Paris. Nana's host entrepreneur, Špela Lenarčič, started her business 12 years ago and became a stylist, art director and designer so Nana knew Spela's experience would be impactful.

Part of the Nana's activities involved searching for vintage clothes in different vintage shops around Paris. She enjoyed it  very much and  found many silk blouses and wool sweaters for her own upcycling projects, learned something new about materials and had the opportunity to practice how to communicate properly with sellers and owners of the shops. At times, she had to be  and as I had to be very resourceful and as a result she also gained a lot of self-confidence.

The most valuable outcome for Nana was realizing that anything is possible. When living in Paris, she decided to be open to anything. She wanted to connect with people and build new relationships with artists and like-minded individuals. It was easy to meet other artists and creators, to connect with them and talk about future collaborations. Nana loved how, with her host entrepreneur, she could bring their visions together, complementing each other’s work and spreading their common ideas. This EYE exchange gave her so much knowledge about life and relationships. She is grateful to maintain a very good relations with her host entrepreneur and she is sure that Paris is the right place to expand her future business.