About
Me
THE NAME
Tika is short for TINATIN, given to me by my Ukrainian grandma, Alexandra, who, upon meeting my Georgian grandma by the name Aphrodite, a.k.a, Apo, a.k.a. Tina, exclaimed "This is it! We're calling her Tinatin".
These two women had a permanent influence on my life, as one was a source of knowledge, skill, and talent, while the latter was a source of pure, unconditional love.
THE BACKGROUND
I grew up in a cross-cultural family of Russian-Georgian-Ukrainian origin and after the war in 1992, traveled a bit and eventually settled to live in Barcelona, Spain.
My journey to making handbags was long: preceded by education in Economics and Business Adm. (AIU, Atlanta, Georgia) and a career launch at the UNHQ in NY; with consequent studies in Fashion Design in Florence, Italy; four years of work in Costume Design and many more years of work in Fashion Industry.
THE CRAFTSMANSHIP
Essentially, I'm self-taught when it comes to handbag design and manufacture. Learning the craft alone through a slow process of building experience by trial and error preserves my ability to think outside of the box. I enjoy experimenting and discovering new, unconventional, ways to create designs that do not fall into the mainstream fashion category.
Acquired skills in traditional methods of leather artisanship help me find ways to express desired features of unique and personalized designs as if they were a character in a play or a film.