Books, pillows and tote bags
Have you ever wondered what a librarian does in their spare time? They most certainly do not waste their time.
Radina Damyanova was born in Samokov and has been a librarian at American University in Bulgaria’s Panitza Library for a little more than a year now. After she goes home from work, she does not turn on the TV, but rather she brings her needles and starts sewing. She has a small art-page on Instagram called “Chudavnitsi”, in which she displays the creative pillows and tote bags she makes.
“I have been sewing basically all my life as my parents own a sewing workshop,” says Radina when found in her natural habitat, the library, with a book in hand. But she only took on her hobby one year ago, right after finishing her Bachelor’s degree in the South-West University in Blagoevgrad.
“My parents had a lot of spare fabric, cut out to make different kinds of materials, which was almost unusable because of its weird shape. So I decided to turn it into something creative,” shares Radina. “At first, I started making small decorative pillows with different applications on them, mostly animals and scary little monsters. Then, after one of my colleagues suggested that I made tote bags, I started making them as well,” reflects Radina on the different objects she creates. Her art is mainly oriented towards friends and acquaintances, not sales.
The bags and pillows are all hand-crafted from natural materials- flax, cotton, and wool. They are also following the popular “zero-waste” movement. It aims to reduce the amount of waste we throw away from our everyday life and encourages using renewable sources as much as possible.
A tote bag or a pillow usually takes around two or three hours to be made. “However, sometimes it could take even one day, depending on how complicated the application is,” says Radina. She spends around 4–5 whole days a month enjoying her hobby while being off work.
But not all her projects are successful. “I tried to make some characters from Star Wars for some friends and it did not end well. It was awful and I am still scared when I look at those designs,” shares Radina, laughing. However, “I have told my friends that for every holiday during the next ten years they are all getting tote bags,” says Radina jokingly.
Radoslava Kirova, a fellow librarian of Radina’s, shares that her colleague is putting all her emotions and love into her craftwork. “She is even in the process of creating Christmas presents for some of my friends,” says Radoslava who is a big fan of Radina’s art ever since she took on the hobby.
Although Radina enjoys her art, she is not planning on expanding it as a business. She would like to keep it only as a hobby. Nevertheless, she is currently in the process of preparing bags and pillows for two major projects. One of them is a Christmas bazaar, organized by the Vet Clinic in Blagoevgrad on Dec. 14, and the other one is connected with the library but the details are still a secret.
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Kaloyan Sredov is a junior at AUBG, majoring in Business Administration and minoring in Journalism and Mass Communications, and also in Integrated Marketing Communications. He supports independent craftsmen and prefers buying handmade presents.
