Creating Success Around the World with Divya from Jewels of Sayuri

Welcome to
Creating Success around the World

The worldwide blog hop tour, that introduces you to creative people from all corners of the globe.

Every Wednesday our hosts on each continent will introduce you to someone new whose creativity is inspiring! 

Here's how you can take this worldwide tour with us: 

1. You can follow all the hosts to support them and keep up to date with the fabulous posts they will share every week.
2. Then if you are inspired to join, just link up your own blog to make some new international friends (link party is at the bottom of this post).
3. Remember to leave us a comment when you follow us so we can follow you back.
4. And of course we'd love if you added our button to your site to help spread the word! (you can grab the code on my sidebar)

Here are your hosts:

Australasia - Jill @ Creating My Way to Success

Europe - Yaga @ The Shiny Bubble 

The Americas - Suzy @ Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom

Africa - Adepeju at Peekadot

Asia - Me! :)

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My guest today is Divya from Jewels of Sayuri. Divya comes to us from Tamil Nadu, India:

[Janelle]: Thank you so much for joining us here Divya! You make beautiful things and I always like browsing around your site. Can you tell us a little about yourself and your country?

[Divya]:  Hey I am Divya, a freelance fashion designer and jewelry enthusiast. I teach at local colleges, do apparel & accessory designing for upcoming brands, write for online magazines and craft a lot. I am from the southern part of India, Tamil Nadu, a land that is famous for its art, architecture, craft and folk tradition. My mother tongue - Tamil is one of the oldest languages in the world and five of the most important works of the language are named after Jewelry pieces. No wonder my fascination for jewelry!!

 

What kind of items do you make?

I love collecting and creating jewelry - ethnic, traditional Indian, western, recycled -paper, plastic,leather scraps,spectacles- with any and every material I can find. I make floral arrangements and home decor items, sometimes on a whim. I love making cards and gift items for friends and family. As a part of my share alike endeavor I conduct craft and jewelry workshops and post DIY tutorials regularly on my blog. Recently I have started crocheting, so lets see where that goes. 

I can't wait to see you incorporate crochet in your future works. Can you tell us what inspires you? Why do you make things?

To quote a famous line " I am God's daughter and I too can be like him". Frankly, I design because thats what I love doing :) 

And you are good at it! I saw the design you made for the Nine West contest. I love it! Are you currently selling the items you make? 

I mostly sell (my regular beaded jewelry) through word of mouth and it goes quite well. I am just about to complete three years of running my brand. I also do have an online store, Jewels of Sayuri. The online store could do better, but I guess with time, everything will work out just fine. 

With your talent, I'm sure it will! What lessons have you learned in your craft that you can share with others?

Initially when I came from the corporate world, I was so frustrated at brands just copying one another so I wowed to not look at anybody else work while crafting. But now I have realised that every artist needs new ideas and these ideas can also be inspired by works of others as long as the interpretation is ones own and is not just a copy. I have also learnt to share my ideas more freely for I am no longer insecure about them. On the practically side I have been assured that good branding helps in the long run.

What, to you is success? Have you achieved it yet, or are you on your way towards success?

If success is only about money or fame then I can safely claim that I am unsuccessful. To me, success means, the ability to do things that I want to do, at my own pace, with sincerity and honesty and be rewarded suitably for that. I will remain happy as long as it is that way. It also feels nice to be recognized along the way :)

I totally agree with your sentiments and I'm sure there will be more recognition coming your way in the future! So what's next for you?

Another store (Etsy or a blog store) for craft supplies is definitely on the cards. More projects and even a collaboration with other bloggers and definitely learning new techniques. But if I had no financial or time constraints, my dream project would be a design studio, where I could work with artisans to create innovative, quirky Indian products for daily use. It would be a place where interested people could learn about art and craft directly from the artisans. 

That's a great plan and I hope you achieve this dream! Thanks again for joining us here today Divya!

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I know you want to see more of Divya's work. You can visit her at Jewels of Sayuri to check out her amazing talent in making jewelry and other things. 

Now, it's your turn! Tell us something about yourself and link up your post or blog in our party below. We will be happy to meet you!