Society makes us believe that we need to decide on our career from a young age but life is unexpected and things can turn around.

 

Katerina Kouzmina was raised in the capital of the Tatarstan Republic, Kazan, where she graduated with a journalism degree and worked at the local TV channel. Looks like a perfect scenario but this is not a story about her journalism career.

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New city, new language and a degree which is impossible to use. This is what Katerina faced after she got married and moved to Italy.

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In the 21st century, we have Instagram, YouTube and other social media platforms but back in 2000, addictive social media platforms never existed, and Katerina’s career became a lost case.

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It was purely by accident when she saw a sewing advert which brought some hope to her. Remembering that day Katerina says: “At the time everyone knew how to cross stitch and do the basic things as we have learned this at school. After seeing an advert I remember how I thought: I think I can do this".

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Couture embellishments were in demand in Italy at the time and after looking at the several adverts Katerina found an atelier, based in Rome. This atelier exclusively created embroidery for the Valentino fashion house.

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“For the first job it was more than enough, the salary was very low but I had a job contract which was more important in Italy. I never even had to talk, I was just looking and repeating after everyone else”. Someone would think that it is impressive to see everything you have created in the luxury shop windows but there was a lot behind the scenes which made it such a hard experience.

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' I was forcing myself to stay at this job, not for money but for experience as it was a very good perspective for me'

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“I remember we were sitting on the chair without raising our head for 8 hours every single day. I was only 20 and physically it was more than possible but at that moment I lived 70km outside Rome. I had to take a train every time and I still remember getting the earliest one at 7.10 am and arriving back home late at night.​ I was telling myself that I need to do this, I was forcing myself to stay at this job, not for money but for experience as it was a very good perspective for me”.

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In Italy it was a period where cinematography and theatre industry were at the peak and couture dresses were prominent. There were lots of fashion houses such as Sorrele Fontana and Renato Balestra. However, they were slowly dying while their owners were still alive.

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Valentino experience opened a door for Katerina’s future. At her 20s Katerina joined Gattinoni, an old atelier which is based in Rome.  In this atelier, she finally got a chance to design sketches for the embroidery rather than doing a repetitive job every day.  

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“We had to make sketches, at the time where was no Pinterest to look for inspirations. Instead, we’ve had a huge gallery where I had different books. I was also spending lots of time downstairs where we have had an archive of unwanted items. It was good to look at the unsold items and to see what kind of embroidery been made already”.

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Like everyone else, Katerina experienced tough periods in her life. Divorce, starting life with a new partner, leaving atelier for modelling for about 5 years.  It was a period where Katerina was not even thinking about doing anything related to embroidery. However, by her 30s she decided to found her own fashion embroidery school in Rome.

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At the time there were no other ateliers for which Katerina could have worked. No ateliers which would have taught Katerina something new and so she decided to share her experiences with people around the world. She had students who work for big brands such as Versace, Gucci, MaxxMara and students who just want to do this as their hobby.

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Katerina showed her strong and hardworking personality after opening up about her breast cancer. She worked during her chemotherapy, at the times where she was supposed to take care of herself.

 

“I am the only person who gives lessons as I feel like people are coming to see me, ask for advice and it would be unfair to have other people doing this job for me. Even now, I am battling with cancer and I want to work fewer hours as I get tired quicker but I had students who came from far away and I just cannot say no to them”.

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She never stands in one place. Graduated from Central Saint Martin’s college in London, learned new techniques at Lesage and Luneville. This allowed to develop her style and collage technique which Katerina is teaching at her school at the moment.

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' You understand at some point that time flies fast, everything and everyone is always running somewhere but you cannot carry away all the money in the world'

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Katerina describes her first attempts in collage art as “awful”. “I have used photographs before and nothing really worked until I have learned how to use illustrations as my work gained a new life with them. I have also experimented with different materials and was inspired a lot by my lecturer in London.

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This collage embroidery works well as a clothes element but nowadays I use them mainly for interior design. It looks very interesting as a table decoration or textile wallpaper. It is macro and I like the scale of it”.

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 Life brought so many unexpected turning points and although Katerina still plans to have masterclasses and teach embroidery, she also wants to have an easier rhythm in life in the future.

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 “You understand at some point that time flies fast, everything and everyone is always running somewhere but you cannot carry away all the money in the world. Everyone should try new things, meet new people and do what makes them happier. It is kind of my solution in life”.