Fátima di Santis, Brazilian handbag designer, did an interview with me last month. We already published on the GEVACRIL Lifestyle@Acrylics Blog, as well as on my personal blog. Fátima has great designs, unique and creative. Surely this blog will tell more about this designer in the future!
Enjoy reading the following interview!
KIKA: You are a fashion designer. Why did you choose this profession, and how came your specialization on handbags?
Fátima: I started getting interested in fashion when I was still working as a hair stylist in São Paulo, but because I didn’t have much time left I couldn’t study at that time. When I moved to Curitiba my friend had a sewing machine and a roll of fabric, the more I tried to work with the machine the more enthusiastic I got, and started feeling like really learning it. In the beginning I used that same roll of fabric for everything. I tested until the fabric was used up.
My friend’s uncle, who is a fashion designer, was moving his atelier and he gave me some pieces of really nice material, I got very happy, because the material was really “Haute Couture”. So my first bag was done! The design was simple but the composition was sensational in my opinion. I was in love with my bag. Then I got a partial scholarship for a fashion course at SENAI, it was great and I learned a lot and so I became a Fashion Designer.
Bags are important accessories, I love making them and I love wearing them, I also adore Haute Couture and I want to make clothes too.
How do you create your designs?
My inspiration sources are infinite. When I am cooking for example I get some ideas looking at the shapes and colors of the vegetables, then I make a paper draft and try to realize the idea. When I am in my atelier I get inspired by the materials I have. In general it can be anything: shapes, arts, cinema, TV… I am always seeking for something new and testing different things.
What is the speciality about your patterns?
I love colour compositions and using different materials. I am very happy with my work. I have a good partnership with a furniture designer who donates all his left over materials to me and I make beautiful pieces out of them while having low costs.
Since you are a Brazilian, what do you think is the typical Brazilian part in your creations?
Brazil is multicultural, it is colourful, beautiful, charismatic, open to the new, emergent, rich and above all sunny. Yes, there is a lot of Brazil in my creations!
While producing your handbags you have a focus on environmental issues as well. Can you explain us a little about this?
Many times, quite frequently, I use materials that normally would be thrown away (80% of my bags are made by using left over fabrics). So I am doing something good to the environment and at the same time I gain something with it. It is really fulfilling, but it is not always possible to use left over materials, because I am focused on the “exclusive”.
What does the expression “individual style” mean to you?
It means to have your on style and opinion without corrupting yourself. I love the fashion world, I can impose my style into the fashion and change it. I use the fashion, it can dress me and also help me but it won’t change me.
You are selling your handbags basically on the Brazilian market and you are now exploring Europe. Can you tell us where our fashion girls and boys can find your bags?
Actually, I have friends from many different countries and most of them have my bags, so they are in Japan, New Zeland, the USA, England, Scotland, Argentina, Germany, among others.
The fashion girls and boys can find my bags on my Blog and they can place orders through my e-mail.
What’s your next step?
To learn other languages and improve the ones I already speak, English, Italian and French, and then: Conquer the world!!
Thank you Fátima!
Kristina, thank you very much!
Merci beaucoup!
Gracie!
Dankeschön!
Obrigada!
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More about Fátima di Santis:
Blog: http://fatimadisantis.wordpress.com/
Contact: fatimasantis(at)yahoo.com.br
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