Walk and share your path
We met at the School For Workers with Youth back in 2008. Lucka was one of our students and for me, it was my first full-time job during my gap year. I could tell from the first moment she was a creative soul. Most of the other people I knew from her city were focused on IT, mathematics or engineering and Lucka was a psychology student. She showed me the tea room in the city and would also share her stories with charming humour. I was always amazed by the lightness she seemed to approach life with.
After I moved on to finish my Master’s degree our ways did not cross until I noticed her Instagram a few years ago. Papelier. Intriguing! I saw she was not a full-time psychologist but also creating beautiful notebooks. Unlike some other accounts which gave me anxiety, hers made me smile from the first moment. To see her progress over the years I knew I had to ask her about her journey. I learned a lot and I hope you will find inspiration in our conversation as well.
Who are you?
What is your story and how Papelier came to be?
When I go all the way back to the first notebook I created, it was during SPM (School for Workers with Youth) where we actually met. When we met our program mentors, mine was Anka Bakalarova and she gave me a notebook to capture my thoughts. I started doing it. It was amazing to write down my thoughts, sort through them and look back at what I used to write. It was important to me at the time. I loved the idea that she made a notebook for me. That was the beginning, an origin.
A bit later, it was me who made a notebook and gave it as a gift to a friend. I don't remember exactly how I found Sashe.sk. I was aware that people are presenting their creations there, but I didn’t know how it all works. I decided to try to take a few pictures of my notebooks.
There was no specific style, it was a bit of everything. I would buy a notebook and adjust it, paint over it. Sometimes I made the whole notebook by gluing pages together. Then I was searching guides on Pinterest, on how to create notebooks. I found a very simple sketch on how to bind a book. Actually, that is how I bind all my notebooks up till today. It was just a small picture and it was not even completely clear to me how exactly to thread the string, but I somehow figured it out and they keep together well. And that is how this idea came to life.
I spent hours to watch if anyone liked what I uploaded. Actually, I spent more hours by refreshing the site to check new likes or if anyone noticed my stuff. It was really exciting when someone commented on it or messaged me. But at that time, I did not have a brand or anything. I just had a profile, like any other. There was no concept.
First step
Do you remember your first sell to someone you did not know?
Yeah. I don't know who it was. But I remember, it was a notebook I bought and painted the pages and its cover. I sold it two times I think. The first notebooks are really funny.
You can really see how I was searching myself. I really wished I already knew how those things should look like. From time to time I created something where I thought: “Ok! This is it! This is what my notebooks will look like!” But I got over it soon and it kept changing. And it took me few years to create a collection, where colors matched. You could see it was my style.
Your own style
What is interesting for me. When you look at others, you can see their style. You can tell this is who they are. But when I look at myself, I freak out. Who am I? I get so stressed out before I even begin, that you won't even find. How was it for you at the beginning? When did you tell yourself, Papelier, that’s it!
When I look back now, I see my expectations on myself are higher now. I think my handwriting is so ugly lately and it takes me even 15 times to get it right. But it was not like that at the beginning. I just wrote it and that was it. What is wrong with me now? Then I look back and I see it I would write things as I used to, now I would not let them pass. How could I do it like this? I think my craft is evolving, and also my expectations. It was not like this always and it was freeing at the same time. I would create something and just upload it.
I remember a notebook, a girl asked me to draw a horse for her on a notebook. The result was horrible and the girl never talked to me again. But I uploaded the notebook on my profile anyway and it was sold quite quickly by someone else. That was also an impulse for me, sometimes our own expectations on us are so strict that we would not even allow others to see what we’ve created. A lot of times I was not happy with my results but I posted it anyway and it got sold. Everything I created found its owner.
Discovering through sharing
If you would not start to share what you were creating at the very beginning, perhaps you would not get where you are now if you just kept it behind the scenes. The process of playing around and sharing was helpful.
I remembered a quote from the book Steal like an artist: “Do something, that is how you find who you are”. That is how it works with creating. Your style, your signature you can only find by doing it. You are forming yourself and searching yourself. I only named it Papelier when it was a bit more clear. When I got to paper only.
How did you create the name “Papelier”?
My friend Kika helped me to come up with it. I wanted to name it to give it a shape. Papelier is a combination of paper and atelier. I loved it and that is it!
Between first step and now
One phase is when I do something I like and I experiment. I put it online to share with people what I made. But now I see you in a phase where you have a brand, you might be thinking about strategies, branding. But how about the time in between. How do you get from beginning to brand? Where was that breaking point?
It was continuous evolution. I continued doing it every year. I was observing the art of other people.I saw it was good to give a face/brand to your creation. When someone sees your product, they know it is from you. It is not just a bit of everything, but they can tell it is you. It has a signature style. Just like when you hear Coldplay and you know it is them.
Looking around
Sometimes we look at people, and we think WOW, interesting. But sometimes we look and see depressed, feeling we will never get there - so we end up more low than encouraged. Does that happen to you?
Yes of course! I feel low when I look back at my Instagram. I love when things match. I started to make collections. I try to keep it in a similar style, because my eye loves it. I want my instagram to have style. I feel annoyed because I don't know how to take good pictures. I feel like I don't know how to create a good community, as I am not as present with my life on instagram. Some of the creators are sharing their work and they are a bit more present for people on instagram. I am not very good at that.
I know what you mean, but I have to say, when I look at your instagram, I love how you share details. You sit on bed and read a book with your notebook and write a thought. I don't see you eating breakfast everyday, what I really don't miss in my life :D but I can see details you share. For me that is a nice balance, it is not too much so I notice when you add something and when it is there I will also read it because it is not that much, usually I see notebooks and not stories. So personally, I love how you are sharing. It is not too much. You can not be always editing stories on instagram. You have to live as well.
One last piece of advice
Advice for someone who is almost there, but they are scared to begin.
You don't have to wait for it to be completely thought through to share with the world. The attitude of the beginner is freeing… You don't have high standards… you are holding yourself by your own expectations but the world has not seen it yet, you don't even know what would be the feedback if you don't share it. On the other hand the artist gets to know herself and builds the confidence by sharing and getting feedback and you shape your art in time together.
Don't wait until it is perfectly finished!
