Asel ABDIKULOVA:

I want to give joy to people

Assel, tell me, where was the start point in your business biography?

After the premature demise of my father, my sister and I had to help my mother. I was 8 years old.My mother worked day and night; she had her own shop for sewing Kazakh national clothes, which employed 15 craftsmen. I looked after my small brothers, did household duties, cooked food and my sister helped my mother in the clothing studio. During the holidays I was sent to the village, where I learned to paint on stones. I loved drawing at school. At the same time, I got interested in sewing.When the masters of the studio left for dinner, I went into the shop and sewed dresses to the dolls, it happened that my sewing used to be broken though my fault. Watching the seamstresses working, I learned how to sew. I am self-made person, no one taught me this craft, because my mother did not have time for that. Gradually I was improving my skills in sewing.After the death of my father, the shop was operating for about 4.5 years and then closed. My mother began to work as a manager in a restaurant. We decided to open a cafe. When I saw how difficult the life was for my mother andsister, I started working. Afterwards, we worked as waitresses in a cafe, and as maids and nannies.Despite the fact that the sewing studio was closed, my mother had her own clients, and she took orders for sewing clothes at home. We helped our beloved mommy.My sister got married when she was 19 years.Hard times began in my life; I worked in different spheres (saleswoman, nanny, cashier). All responsibility for the family lay on my shoulders. When I finished 11thgrade, my brother invited me to be a soloist of the Voyage band. We performed at weddings and at various other events. I sewed costumes for performances myself. For two years we were engaged in such creative activity at weddings. I did not train to be a designer purposefully, but I have always sewed beautiful new suits myself.And one day I received my first order for an evening dress.Even 80 cm from the rest of the material was enough for me to sew a dress for myself. I noticed that everyone likes beautiful dresses, women are interested in it, and I decided to try to draw sketches of evening dresses.According to these sketches, I started sewing myself.I drew on anything; all the school notebooks were full of drawings.Then I went to study for a lawyer, but changed my mind and took up a major of defectologist. It was my sister's profession. My mom gave money for 3 courses of education.But I left the university without telling my mother. I added my savings to my mother's money and invested in my business; I bought materials and founded my online store. My mother found it out and, of course, took offense at me.I was very stubborn in achieving my goal.

Do you produce your own dresses, who is helping you to do that?

I started my first job at home.The first order was made by a girl from Semey, she really liked my dress. My mum understood me, supported and began to help.The number of orders started to grow, we opened the studio. We had an empty premise just close to our home, we gathered the craftsmen, which were managed by my mother.I dealt with orders, sketches, invented templates and cut the materials. Once I uploaded my sketches of dresses to the online store, I noticed that other people copy them. I decided to open my own designer store of evening dresses together with a small sewing workshop. A couple of months later I made a collection, designed the showcases, mannequins and managed the staff.My mother is my most important teacher!She has always told me that any dressmaker can sew, but not everyone is capable to come up with a style, draw designs and sketches, do her own template and combine materials.My mother has always entrusted me expensive materials for decoration with beads, lace and rhinestones. She has always advised me and explained what materials are “capricious” for sewing, that is, they are difficult to sew with a sewing machine and there are special needles for such materials; what sewing machines are better and what features they have. The mom taught me embroidery, because she used to draw Kazakh national patterns.I learned from her a lot about the work of a seamstress, about a variety of clothes and, of course, how to communicate with clients. Herself she used to make the templates.And now I use them in my work and they are a valuable treasure for me.I am grateful to her for everything.Clients of different figures approach us while not all of them are 90x60x90.We help them to hide the defects of the figure and unveil the beauty of each lady.We let them feel “stunning”, we emphasize the waist, elegance and dignity of their figure.