Let indie Metanoien Atelier delight you with its gaming inspired embroidery
Into anime and embroidery? IndieBloom have the perfect combination for you with Metanoien Atelier.
The reel thing
Based in Buenos Aires, Argentina (but every now and then you can find her in Santiago, Chile) is Fabiola Pavlich. 'Offering hand embroidery, supplies, kits and workshops.' Anime and craft enthusiasts will be well provided for and fill their needs. Featuring popular characters in both anime and gaming such as Sailor Moon, Kaonashi/No-Face from Studio Ghibli's Spirited Away and Hollow Knight.
Metanoien Atelier came about as a personal account with Fabi always been immersed in all arts and crafts, where about 4 years ago she started embroidering again constantly (she began learning at about 11 years old), as a way of relaxation. 'Over time I began to share my creations on Instagramand people seemed to like it, so little by little I was uploading more works and my account, which at that time was personal, became my work.' Now it's her full-time project after a year and some months.
Not sure what Metanoia means? Fabi gives a definition,
Just when I changed the name of the account I was looking for a change in my life and 'Metanoia' means the journey of changing one's mind, heart, self or way of life, at that moment I felt that it was just what I needed and with time the name remained and now I hope that my embroidery can help to change their new owners in some way, as the technique is doing with me.
Get thready
When asked about her influences and inspirations for Metanoien Atelier, Fabi provides a precise answer.
It's difficult, the truth is I think I've never thought of it as such, I think I have influences and inspirations from various parts, for example I think I like to work in black and white because of the taste I have for black and white photography. On the other hand, Asia in general defines and inspires me, since it is rooted in the entire anime and manga culture and in general, day to day, I really like to look at everything when I go out, see the textures, colours, shapes, etc, I always walk in search of that something that inspires me more.
While continuing with the process for creating her work,
The first thing is to choose the image and see the colour palette of the particular character, after that I have to vectorize the image to have the cleanest and sharpest lines possible, once it's finished I start to see where to add the colour or what illustrative resource I can add and once the design is ready, I pass it to the fabric and the embroidery process begins.
With all this work being done, to complete a design it all depends on its complexity, with results ranging from 3 to 15 days in a row.
Of course, being an indie individual brings up various challenges. For Fabi it's been underestimating details of an embroidery, causing more work than originally expected. This was the case for her Hollow Knight design, however she loved how it turned out, remaining as an anecdote and learning for all new jobs.
Putting her on the spot, when we asked what’s been her favourite Metanoien Atelier design created and why, Fabi responds,
Uff, this one is difficult because each embroidery that I do carries a piece of me with it, but I think that the one with Sakura and Syaoran, which is the final scene of the manga, is a series that has marked me throughout my life.
Through Metanoien Atelier growing, Fabi has connected with many more people who support and send her affection every day, 'I didn't think that this could happen to me and I thank every day for this opportunity.' Hard work always pays off.
Looking sharp
On April 9th Metanoien Atelier's website launched, though for now it's only in Spanish. With a typical working 'day' for Fabi being described as,
I am a night person so a normal day of work begins around 5:00 p.m. where I start to vectorize the new designs, I respond to messages by email and Instagram and around 8:00 p.m. I start to embroider until approximately 03:00 a.m. which is the time I generally go to bed, they are not normal hours, but that is my day to day.
Coping during these COVID times, has been quite a blessing for Fabi and developing the Metanoien Atelier brand.
I think I should thank, in this case, the quarantine. I had nothing to do, so I started to embroider more and more and share my work, I think without this pandemic, without the need to be at home without doing anything else, Metanoien it would not be what it is today, obviously I would like to be able to share with people physically and to be able to do my classes live, but everything that this pandemic is, has helped to make Metanoien, as they know it today, possible.
Looking back, the advice Fabi would give herself when starting Metanoien Atelier would be, 'Cheer up! you are capable of many more things than you think, do not doubt yourself!' 😊👍
The future for Metanoien Atelier sees many new things, for now Fabi is working with CLASS101 to bring an anime character embroidery course to everyone, in English. 'I am very excited about this great project and I hope to continue reaching different parts of the world with my art'. Look out for that.
Many thanks to Fabi for taking the time out of her busy schedule to allow us to interview and feature her work, gracias! For the many anime fans out there (which we know there's a lot), do check out a new and exciting art indie creator living out their dream and creating their passion. Along with the site, follow Metanoien Atelier's Facebook, Instagram and Ko-fi social media pages. Don't forget to keep checking IndieBloom, where we unearth all the latest brands we think you should know about 😎