Introducing Katia from Plushka Design Studio. Where every item is handmade!! From her home in the Sydney, New South Wales, Katia hand makes all of her amazing creations.
Find out why Katia started creating and why she is so passionate about the value of handmade.
Tell us about your creations and your handmade process.
I am a self-taught designer and maker. I primarily work with pure new wool felt making play food, decorations during festive season and letters/numbers sets to make play educational.
Being very passionate about cross-stitch and crochet, these crafts make their appearance every now and then in my creations. I design and hand-stitch my handmade goodies in a small home based studio in Sydney.
Tell us a bit about your journey to becoming a handmade artist.
Being of Russian heritage, making things by hand has always been something my family did. I started attending cross-stitch classes when I was 12 - that’s where I felt happiest. My heritage is woven into everything I make, including my business name.
Every Sunday I watched my grandmother bake, ‘Plushka’ - a sweet soft pastry, sprinkled with castor sugar - it has a pretty heart shape and has been my favourite.
I chose to name my handmade business Plushka Design Studio a symbol of my love for everything made by hand and it sounds so soft and squishy, perfect for all of my felt items.
What is your inspiration or where do you find inspiration?
Different collections had their own little story. For example, my felt play food range started in the lockdown. I wanted to make produce box for kids to play with, like the fruit & veggie boxes we were getting every week. It was fun coming up with all the designs and then spending hours in the play kitchen, ‘testing’ my new range.
I love when Christmas is approaching and I can get all of my patterns out to make traditional puddings or Australian animals inspired range. This range has been heavily influenced by my customers. When I get a request to make a platypus or a Galah bird, I always eagerly jump into the sketching. Coming up with a design and then tweaking it to make it work with felt is the tricky, but also my favourite part!
Where did you learn your craft?
I had a brief introduction to sewing by my mum, we always decorated our clothes together and that often sparked my imagination. I taught myself all the tricks about working with felt and designing my own patterns.
Why is handmade artistry so important to you?
It’s extremely important to me to keep everything 100% made by hand. It would be so much easier and faster to get a sewing machine out and put my designs together but isn’t life already fast enough? Hand stitching is what I am passionate about. It connects me to the art of making that has been passed down for generations and reminds me of the art of a slow living.
There is nothing more unique than hand stitched items - they have a part of artist’s soul. I believe, when you surround yourself with such items, not only you make your home uniquely yours but you can feel the artistry.
Katia is a much loved member of the Madeit Collective, posting regularly in our Facebook Group ~ The Ultimate Artisan Gift Destination ~ and sharing her new creations as they are released. If you haven't connected with Plushka Design Studio already, make sure you join our FB Group and say hi!
