In May 2023, Oksana Plakosh won the #It`s_Craft regular creator competition. The 37 years old woman has been working as a math teacher at a school in Uzhhorod district in Zakarpattia for 16 years. How she combines her love of teaching science and needlework, why she gave up embroidery, what is the peculiarity of the prototype of her creative product, what is a "samchykivka" and how it became an important moment in her creative career - read on in the interview for #It’s_Craft.

  • How did you combine a mathematical mindset with creativity? Tell us about your career path

 

  • In fact, there is no division into "techies" and "humanitarians"; this myth has already been dispelled.  If you really want something and make an effort, you will definitely succeed. I've always done needlework. My late grandmother knitted, embroidered, and knew how to make patterns. When I asked her how to do it when I was little, she answered: "That's how it's done - you just pick it up and do it" (laughs). That's how I started trying different needlework.  The first time I embroidered an embroidered shirt was in 2010, and it was probably the only one in Uzhhorod, because I came to the city day wearing an embroidered shirt alone in front of so many people. Then I continued embroidering and got interested in knitting. 

  

  • How did you start tafting?

 

  • Then came Covid, distance learning, constant work at the computer, on the phone, because these are children. Then we had to work remotely again because of the outbreak of war, and then we started educational projects. And everything is online, online, online... Last summer I bought fabric for a new embroidered shirt, but my eyes no longer allowed me to sit down to embroider. My eyesight deteriorated. But I wanted to do something.

And quite by chance I saw such a technique as taffeta. There is a couple from Kharkiv who started a small business during the war to create taffeta carpets. I followed them on a social network, looked at what they were doing, and realized that it suited me. Then I studied entrepreneurship in the first wave from UWE Hub. It was a three-month course in the fall of 2022. I made it to the final, but I didn't pitch, because they didn't fund the cost of materials, only advertising, and I didn't have a finished product at the time.

Then I became a finalist in the educational project "The Long Game" by Promprylad Renovation in Ivano-Frankivsk. I went to the Bootcamp with the idea of creating not just a carpet, but one that would be both modern and carry Ukrainian authenticity. I really liked the Petrakivka painting, which is well-known in Ukraine and abroad. However, Petrakivka combines an extremely large variety of colors, so it is not as possible to reproduce it as I would like. While looking for new ideas, I came across Samchykivka painting.

To produce taffeta carpets, you need to invest heavily financially, and it is not a cheap pleasure. After working in the educational project, she received money for it, which she used to buy the rug itself and everything else she needed for production.

 

  • How did you come across the Creator Contest and why did you decide to participate?

 

  • I saw Ms. Viktoriia as a lecturer in a program for farmers' startups. Since I live in the countryside and my husband had an idea to create household composters with technical equipment, I took part in it. There I also heard about #It`s_Craft, so, having already had the equipment and the opportunity to make a creative product, I remembered this project. I practiced on 2 rugs at home and applied. Since it was not just a carpet, but a carpet with Samchykivka painting, I received a call back and won. It was a nice cash bonus that I spent on yarn.
     
  •  What are your future plans?
     
  • At the moment, I can't say that I will leave education because of tutoring. Children are our future and I want to be involved in it through them. I do have some free time outside of work. I'm currently working on two children's carpets, but I prefer samchykivka painting. By the way, the design of my carpet is an original drawing by the People's Artist of Ukraine Kateryna Hneusheva, and I used it with her permission. At the end of 2016, there were only 4 masters in Ukraine who kept the secret of painting with this particular technique. A course was then created with the assistance of the UAMAZE art initiative to teach people this craft, because it is worth it and is equated with the intangible heritage of Ukraine.
  • What would you wish to all Creators?
     
  • If this thing is yours, this direction is yours, then you will feel it. Never give up! I can't count the number of times I've been rejected: in business networks of rural women, from the Long Game, and 5 more times... They're not interested. But in fact, if you enjoy it, there will definitely be someone who will be interested. And most importantly, don't forget: "Take it and do it"!