Hello, hello! Remember my outfit post with that awesome green hoodie? :) It was handmade by Blütezeit Berlin, the indie label I want to introduce in this blogpost! :) Back in spring, I got to know Kristin, the label's owner, and she suggested a cooperation. I was invited to visit her in her shop and studio, I chose two great handmade pieces of clothing from her label, tooks lots of photos and then I asked her lots of questions about her work so that you and I can get to know her better. Since Luloveshandmade is an indepentent label, too (although I'm currently more focused on my blog than on selling handmade items), I find it always super interesting to get to know more about other people's work. :) So here's what I can tell you about Blütezeit Berlin. 
Kristin Jacob, the owner and founder of Blütezeit Berlin, is a fashion designer who came to Berlin in 2005 in order to become an Assistant of Fashion and Design. Afterwards, she studied fashion design at the University of Applied Sciences and in the meantime, she has already been starting her own brand. In her spare time, she loves travelling, reading, skateboarding, and yoga and of course, making clothes. Almost everything in her wardrobe is made by herself. Since the beginning of this year, she is a mum. Being a mother now is her most important job and the best thing which could have happened to her.
Are you curious about how she got the idea to found an independent business? :) Kristin has known for more than ten years that she wanted to work independently one day. When she was sixteen years old, she was the intern at an advertising agency and has been sitting in front of the computer for eight hours a day. From that time on, she knew that this was not what she wanted to do for the rest of her life and that she needed more variety. The good thing about being self-employed is that it is often up to you how much you earn, because it depends on how hard you work. You can organize your day on your own and it´s always exciting because you never know what´s coming next. Of course, this is exhausting, too, she told me, because even in her spare time, Kristin thinks about work, too. 
How did Blütezeit Berlin come to life? Well, Kristin told me that creating clothes has been her hobby for a long time. At the age of thirteen, she has been sitting at her mother’s sewing machine for the first time and then she started making clothes herself. Because her own wardrobe was too full because of all the clothes, she started selling them on DaWanda. When people started to buy them, she went on with creating new designs. 
Kristin is the mother of a little daughter and being self-employed better allows her to balance motherhood and work. At the moment, she takes her baby daughter to work with her and it is made even easier because her studio and shop (which she shares with another designer) are at the same place. But off course, she currently works much less than before, because she enjoys the time with her baby and this inspires her a lot. What is really great is that in the future she then wants to design Blütezeit Berlin clothes for babies and kids.
When I asked Kristin about her favorite thing about designing clothes, she told me that she loved making cuts, looking for new fabrics and especially seeing the new design on the model or customer, seeing how good it fits and looks. When developing a new collection and starting the design process, she first chooses the colors of the collection and then she looks for inspiration. Next, she starts looking for fabrics and makes the first sketches. The new collections are always a mixture of old and well-liked designs and new color combinations and styles. Then Kristin starts sewing the first clothes of a collection and step by step, all the pieces are created.
What I also wanted to know was if Kristin had any advice for other people who want to become self-employed and want to found their own indie business, especially a fashion label. She told me what was most important is to be passionate about your work, because you are going to work a lot! Moreover, it’s not bad to have some knowledge about running a business, because most of the time, you will rather be a businessman (or woman :)) than a designer. Like Andy Warhol once said, “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”
So inspiring! I always love hearing other creative people's stories and I'm always super impressed when people like Kristin spend their life with doing what they love!What is more, I love the two pieces of clothing I was allowed to choose (the outfit post with the sweater can be see here and the outfit post with the dress can be seen here) and I especially love the cozy green streetstyle hoodie (on top of this blogpost), it's so comfy and still so pretty and super carefully made and totally worth its price! :)
If you now have become curious and want to have a look at all of Kristin's other pieces of handmade clothing, you can visit her website and shop and see more:
Blütezeit Berlin website & shop
Blütezeit Berlin DaWanda Shop
Local store with some selected items: Duncker Strasse 86, 10437 Berlin
Have fun visiting her (virtual or local) shop and thank you again, Kristin! :)
Lu
P.S.: If you also have your own (indie) business and want to be introduced here in the course of a cooperations, simply email me to luloveshandmade(at)web(dot)de. :)
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