My name is Agnė. I am a mom and a feltmaker. I am also a daughter and a sister. I am a friend and a teacher of crafts as well as a neighbor and a dreamer. I live in Lithuania – my homeland in which I’ve been raised and brought up. I got interested in handicrafts when I was a little girl because my mom and grandma had always been either knitting or sewing. I used to touch all sorts of embroideries and other fabrics made by my grandma: different curtains, pillow cases, napkins, etc. Even before going to school I could crotchet and knit easily. My mom’s aunt lived in our village and had a few sheep. She sheared them and later spun the wool. To use her spinning-wheel (under her guidance of course) was some amazing experience to me. So this experience from my childhood gave the beginning and ground for my today’s occupation.
I studied the Lithuanian philology in university. After my studies I worked in a state-owned company for a couple of years, got married later and had two daughters. Motherhood brought some new dimension into my life. I had a unique possibility to listen to the real desires of my heart. It is during that time that felting came into my life. First I found some felting works on-line. I got interested in the possibilities of the technique and started searching for more info on feltmaking. At that time this craft of felting had just begun in my country. Me and my colleagues learnt it independently by analyzing the works on-line, trying, making mistakes, sharing our experiences.
As my daughters got older, I went back to my job as a social worker. I cherish the time when I got to raise my baby-daughters because it was those two years that helped me to decide what I really want to do in life. With the arrival of my third child – a lovely boy – I decided to use the possibility to stay home on maternity leave to realize my dream – to felt and even make a living from feltmaking. That’s how my works come into being – in the midst of the kids’ chatter and joyful noise.
There are three important things in my life: God, my family and my felts. The Bible says that God made man according to His image. I believe that God gave every man the ability to create. One was given a paint-brush, another – a hammer, yet another – a wheel or a sewing machine or a computer. God was pleased with what He created, we read that “Then God saw everything that He had made, and indeed it was very good” (Genesis 1:31). I think that this delight while looking at the works of our hands is what gives us the sense of fullness. All people should do their best to find an area in which they could thrive and reveal their creative powers. Such occupations should inspire and fill the monotony of daily life with new ideas and joy.
Today I work together with my husband: I felt slippers, scarfs, shawls and smaller items, compose new products, communicate with clients, prepare parcels, and Robertas makes cat beds, makes all the necessary tools, prepares the workplace and enhances the felting technique. We are a great team and we love working at home where at the same time look after our 3 kids. It is definitely hard to coordinate all the activities when you are a mom and a worker – especially during busy holiday seasons. But still I am very happy that our children are actively involved and always with us.