I decided to officially launch a small business Ninox only recently, in 2022. I thought - if I don't try to realize my dream from my youth to create beautiful clothes, it won't happen by itself, it's better to try, and in case of failure - I'll learn from my mistakes to I go ahead, I would regret more if I didn't have the courage to try.
Creativity is a state of mind that accompanies me all my life, starting with my childhood, the summer holidays spent at my grandmother's in the north of Moldova, when I got the first skills to embroider with silk and sew on my grandmother's Zinger machine. I still have it, this centennial Zinger sewing machine that was given to my grandmother when she was 16. All the women in the family possessed traditional manual skills. Grandmother became a famous milliner/ modiste in those days. She sewed exclusive dresses, made silk flowers, embroidered, painted. In her old age, when she could no longer sew, she wrote poems and drew scrapbooks for all her grandchildren. Another grandmother Anica, also from the north of Moldova, taught me the knitting and crochet. She had a huge wooden loom in the house and wove carpets, wall hangings, traditional towels. My brother and I were also trying to weave, but the loom were much too tall for us and we couldn't reach the pedals with our feet.
The greatest impetus for my creativity comes from early childhood spent in my wider family, where everyone in three generations had the talent to paint and this ability was not considered as something unusual or special.
I grew up in a family of scientists biologists, and I also followed this path and became a molecular geneticist. However, after the fall of the Soviet Union, when science and scientists no longer had value in the wake of market economy’s accession, I had to dramatically change my profession and life to face various challenges, and first of all to be able to raise my children. Being a mother of three children, at the age of 35 I did another high education -Master studies in transition economies in the Netherlands and following that I worked for 25 years in Moldova in international development cooperation.
Even so, I found time for creation only at night when I had little space for respite.
I love to learn new things and my curiosity about various pursuits is never-ending. Over the years I have developed skills in various fields and this has always inspired me and charged me with positive energy. My skills evolved and I learned different techniques of sewing and embroidery, Romanian lace, Vologda embroidery, crocheting. More recently a hobby of making handmade jewelry appeared, I mastered French Luneville embroidery, and learned the art of textile dolls.
My biggest dream ever was to create exclusive Haute Couture dresses with their refinement, style and elegance. I am constantly drawing new designs. I designed and sewed almost all the dresses I wore, I sewed for my mother, my children and my friends. In my creations I am very inspired by the Art Nuveau current and Japanese graphics / engravings.
The name of the Ninox brand also comes from my history and that of my family. As a student at my first university, majoring in biology, I was passionate about ornithology, I did research and very delicate and thorough drawings of birds with pen and ink.
Bufnița a devenit o pasăre totem deja pentru familia mea și copiii mei, ce simbolizează înțelepciune, curaj, rezistență.
The owl has become a totem bird for my family and my children, symbolizing wisdom, courage and resistance. My great surprise was to learn that thos little owl sitting alone, in the wind and frost on the top of a fir tree, is called Ninox (Ninox scutulata), which has connotations with my childhood name Ninock.
I often felt like that little bird on the tip of a thin twig.
Ninox scutulata, Photo courtesy of National Geographic
Over the years of my professional activity in international development cooperation, which covered a vast spectrum of fields, I have been dedicated to the protection of human rights, especially the protection of the rights of women and girls. I became an advocate for gender equality.
My desire is to encourage and empower girls and women to know their rights, to be independent in decision-making, and in an economic sense, active in social life, to choose their studies according to their vocation, to find a decent job, to be protected from any form of violence. In this sense, I would like my creation to contribute to this goal, giving them self-confidence, joy and soul harmony.
Wisdom, courage, stamina!
