Meet Erika Sándor a top-notch jewelry designer, writer, and teacher living in Amsterdam.
She
opened her Etsy shop "The Storytelling Jeweller" in 2015. This unique
shop features beading tutorials and kits that are fresh, fun, and
creative. Erika is a world traveler and her adventurous spirit, beading
expertise, and passion for teaching helps her transform experiences
into beaded and written memories.
Her designs challenge the most
experienced beaders to use their skills in ways that expand their
creativity, at the same time beginners are invited to push themselves,
grow their beading skills and to simply have fun!
Erika
offers professional, beautifully detailed tutorials and kits. When you
purchase one of her tutorials you will receive easy-to-understand
instructions and clear illustrations that are available via instant
download.
Erika is never more than an email away to answer
questions or assist you in finding materials for your project. She also
encourages you with”virtual” open arms and thinks of you not as a
customer, but as a friend and fellow beader, so she does everything she
can to ensure you are successful. As an added bonus she tells a short
story with some of her tutorials, which gives you a bit of history,
insight into her life, or an interesting fact that she decided to share.
Erika also makes teaching licenses available for purchase.
Interview with Erika
How long have you been beading and how did you get started?
I
was beading all my life I suppose, but I got serious about it during
the last year of my university studies. It was in 2008/2009. I was under
a lot of pressure when preparing for my double major and writing my
thesis, and beadwork was a perfect way to ease the stress. Funny, but
when I passed the last exam, I already knew that I did not want to be a
teacher or an art historian. A friend and I decided to open the first
bead shop in Slovakia. After two years I went solo and managed the shop
for 4 more years.
I loved the project a lot, but last year I
decided to sell the business and turn to jewellery making as a full time
job. Currently I am living in Amsterdam. I write tutorials and soon I
will start to teach beadwork again!
What moved you to become an Etsy seller and then a member of the Etsy Beadweavers?
Etsy
is a great place to offer our handmade goods, and the Etsy Beadweavers
Team is the perfect place to exchange ideas, learn and grow together!
What other ways do you market your kits and tutorials?
I blog and show off my work at:
https://www.thestorytellingjeweller.com
Recently
I started a series of articles on the theme “How to take better
pictures about jewellery” and I have a regular series: “Face to Face”,
where I introduce designers, jewellery makers, and creatives. If you
like the idea and would like to get featured, don’t hesitate and contact
me at:
Erika@thestorytellingjeweller.com!
I have a Facebook page at
https://www.facebook.com/thestorytellingtutorials/ and an Instagram account at
https://www.instagram.com/thestorytellingjeweller/. I look forward to seeing you there!
Have you made use of the EBW Instagram page?
Yes, I love Criss’s idea and really appreciate her work with it!
Why do you call yourself “The Storytelling Jeweller” come from?
The
world is so beautiful around us! I enjoy travelling to new places,
getting to know people, reading and learning about everything around me.
Then I transform the impressions into beaded and written memories.
The beaded memories are available as finished jewellery and beadweaving
tutorials in my two Etsy shops, and the written one are waiting for you
on my blog at:
https://www.thestorytellingjeweller.com
How would you describe the type of jewelry your designs produce?
I
make two different kinds of jewels. I like to call the result of my
bead embroidery “character jewellery”. They are more than fancy
accessories. Most of the time they are bold and colourful, sometimes
incorporating surprising objects – coins, stones and even a coffee spoon
in my latest big necklace, the “Safekeeper” made for the Battle of the
Beadsmith competition. The Storytelling Jewellery is for women who are
not afraid to talk about their thoughts and world view. Who cherish
life, are optimistic and have a respect for themselves and those around
them, too.
The beadwoven pieces, which are turned into
tutorials are experiments with shapes and colours. Besides the classic
shapes I like to use the new two (or more) holed beads, too. When I wear
them, people are often surprised to learn that they are not made of
readymade components, but of tiny beads. I like to challenge myself
while designing, and then challenge my students and learn together.
What is your design process when creating/writing a tutorial?
My creative process in a nutshell is the following:
MAKE A MESS
There’s
no fun without bending rusty, good old conventions and a bit of chaos,
and there’s no creativity neither. In my case it comes with three messy
bead mats, half a dozen notebooks for sketches and a handful of pink,
red and turquoise pens to fill the pages.
PLAY
Developing a
flash into something legit and reasonable requires questions,
experiments and mistakes. The fear of feeding the “UFO-box” containing
UnFinished Objects can nurture and kill ideas, too. Playfulness
eliminates the worry about it.
PUSH UNTIL PERFECT
Looking
for the perfect place for every tiny bead and redrawing the tutorials
until they are the easiest to understand. In the meanwhile, I am
grateful for every question and suggestion, and try to learn something
new every day.
Your love of detail is evident in all of your
tutorials, how would you encourage someone who may be intimidated by the
intricacy of your designs to challenge themselves?
I intend to make
the tutorials as easy to follow as possible. I work in a professional
vector graphic program to draw the diagrams, and my friend Zuzi
proofreads them to make sure they are easily understandable.
However,
it can of course happen that somebody encounters a problem. I always
do my best to help the beader in need. At first I try to explain it
better in an email with photos, then in a video. In case of further
trouble, it’s possible to schedule a Skype-call to bead and work on the
pattern together. If nothing, not even a one-on-one session works,
then I offer a full refund for the tutorial. But that was never
necessary so far ☺
What has been the most difficult part of offering tutorials and kits in your Etsy shop and what has been the most rewarding?
The
most difficult part was (and still is) to improve my time management – I
think that’s the key to success besides determination and motivation.
The
most rewarding part is to see the tutorials come alive. It’s great
when I get to see the finished pieces. Each one is different, even if
it was made from the same pattern – marked by the beader’s favourite
colours, beloved combinations etc. I encourage beaders to show me the
result of their work, and I am happy and proud to share them on my
Facebook page
www.facebook.com/thestorytellingtutorials.
What tips or advice can you share?
Be
consistent and be professional! Try to learn, improve, better your
skills constantly. And not only your beadwork, but also your skills and
knowledge regarding marketing, taking pictures, writing engaging texts
etc. Hard work will pay off after all. Good luck and have a nice,
creative day!
Get a behind-the-scenes look at Erika, and see some
of her finished pieces such as the “Safekeeper” which is an amazing mix
of found objects, unusual objects and beautiful beading. by visiting
her website and blog at:
https://www.thestorytellingjeweller.com
Erika
Sándor is excited about the journey of life and she invites you with
open arms to join her as she tells her story through beautifully crafted
pieces of art. It’s true she is the storytelling jeweller, but she is
also the sharing and caring jeweller!
