If you follow me on Instagram you will know that I recently ran a giveaway with The Handmade Favour, a London based brand whose lovely botanical copper frames beautifully finish off table settings for gatherings, weddings as well as simple dinner parties. The brand was founded by Roxana Gutila, shortly after she married the love of her life in her home country Romania last year. Roxana and her now husband Alex had handed out botanical copper frames to their wedding guests and were struck by their positive response. They soon realised that the favours would probably appeal to a wider audience and therefore decided to build a business around them. In the interview below Roxana (who has been one of my closest friends since university) and I chat about the production process, why The Handmade Favour is unique and things to keep calm as a creative business owner.

Hi Roxana, thanks so much for taking the time to talk to me today! I adore your botanical copper frames, I still have the one from your wedding! Can you tell me a little bit about the production process?

Of course. All our copper frames are handmade, from start to finish. We cut sheets of copper and make the frames out of them, and then we cut the glass. We collect and press all flowers and plants, it takes about two weeks until they are completely pressed and dry. The next step is to place the pressed botanicals between the panes of glass and add some finishing touches. Although it sounds easy, there is a lot of work and time involved in the production process. A lot of care and love to detail go into our products, something which I believe you can feel once you hold a frame in your hands. We offer two different sizes of frames, smaller ones that can be handed out as favours but also bigger ones that can be used to decorate the home.

What sets The Handmade Favour apart from other businesses?

We value and are inspired by other creative businesses but do believe that our approach and our focus on weddings and gatherings in one of a kind. We want our audience to see The Handmade Favour as something that adds emotional value to their celebrations. The frames are lovely keepsakes, not the kind that are being forgotten or left in a drawer but the ones that can actually be used to decorate the home and thus, constantly remind one of a special event.

We both work in the fashion industry during the day and run our creative businesses on the side. I fully understand how stressful that can be sometimes. What are your tips or tricks for keeping calm and level-headed as a creative business owner?

Agree, when you have a full-time job and run a business on the side, is not easy at all, however if you are passionate about what you do, the extra hours spent on your business always pay off. To keep calm and level-headed I would recommend the following:

1. Try to find opportunities that help you make your business grow but at the same time make you happy, for example, an Instagram account. I post photos of my favours every day. Styling the images gives me pleasure and calms me down. It is also a chance to get more creative.

2. No matter what kind of creative business you run, you still have to be organized, especially the accounting part. I know, it sounds a bit dull but collecting and storing all the paperwork together from the beginning will help you tremendously at the end of the year – and it will keep you calm.

3. When I feel overwhelmed by time and situations, I go for a walk. This helps me to reconnect with myself and focus on my objectives. Never let go, everything will fall into place if you believe in you and your goals strongly enough!

What’s next for you and The Handmade Favour?

I constantly think about how I could extend our range and turn The Handmade Favour into a beautiful and calming place where people can enjoy natural, handmade products. In fact, we recently introduced hand rolled beeswax candles that come in three sizes. They smell amazing!

Where can people find you and your business?

People can find us on our website, on Facebook and Instagram. Feel free to email us (contact@thehandmadefavour.com) or drop by Backyard Market on Brick Lane, where we sell our favours every Sunday.

How would you describe your perfect heiter (cheerful) moment?

It’s quite hard to choose only one. My husband, family and friends are very important to me and make me cheerful every time I'm with them. I also find joy and peace in nature. I love standing in the grass barefoot, eating cherries from the tree and listening to the sound of the summer rain falling.

I hope you enjoyed this little interview with Roxana from The Handmade Favour as much as I did! The giveaway on Instagram is now closed. You can still check out @heitermagazine and @thehandmadefavour though.

Interview & images: Katharina Geissler-Evans, heiter magazine

I am sitting at my desk, thinking about the concept of new beginnings and how, for me at least, Heiterkeit (which is the German noun for cheerfulness/joy) plays a large role. Over the years Heiterkeit has impacted my life in many ways. It helped me to put myself first after a long period of not taking my own needs seriously. It helped me navigate change and embrace new beginnings rather than fearing them. I would even say that my philosophy of finding and celebrating joy gave me a new lease of life, especially when things around me didn’t feel joyful at all. Like many others, I’ve faced situations that left me feeling overwhelmed, worn out and sad. Still, I’ve tried to focus on small heiter moments so that I could keep going and take one step at the time. A story that always reminds me to do so is the one behind heiter and how it all started, and that is the story I’d like to tell you today.

Let me take you back to late 2015. Being a twenty-something, I tried so hard to do it all. I felt like I needed to prove that I was good enough: to myself, people around me, work and university. To give you more background info, back then I worked full-time for one of the biggest fashion retailers in the world. In the evenings and on Saturdays I attended university. I wanted to perform well and show that I was capable of succeeding at both. At that point, my husband and I had a pretty toxic living situation too. We were never sure if we could (or wanted to) stay in our flat. On top of that, relationships around me were breaking, simply because I wasn’t able to invest time in them. I was constantly stressed, tired and the word self-care was long forgotten. I felt like I was running down a never-ending road, up until my health began to fail. From one day to the next, I was incapable of writing; a nightmare, given that I was in a writing job and that I had to work on my final university project. I had to stop everything I had been doing.

The doctors couldn’t figure out what was wrong with me and I was forced to take a break for several weeks. My employer told me that they wouldn’t pay me anymore if I didn’t return to work any time soon. My tutor at university implied that I would fail my year if there was no improvement. I tried to come up with solutions and seek help from others but nothing seemed to work. I was devastated and fell into a deep depression. I couldn’t see a way out of my situation and all I wanted to do was give up.

One evening I found myself on the bathroom floor, crying. I can’t remember exactly what changed in that moment but I suddenly realised that I was the only one who could get myself out of that rut. I was the only one who could make myself better.

That night I made the decision to enjoy life again. I went to bed and slept properly for the first time in weeks. The morning after I took myself out for coffee, bought myself beautiful flowers and went for a long walk along the river. Once back home, I watched a movie that made me laugh and the day after I immersed myself in a creative activity. It took me a while to unwind and unlearn what seemed more important at that time in order to have fun and be playful. After a few days I felt like my old self was coming back. I was happier and my health began to improve. Looking for and enjoying moments of joy made such a big difference, those moments had given me a new lease of life. I was so amazed and excited about my experience that I wanted to share it with others. That is how heiter magazine came about, and that is the reason why I think Heiterkeit has added to my life.

Don’t get me wrong, my life is not perfect. I still struggle to strike the right balance between working & carving out enough time for people I love. I still struggle to keep in touch with myself and plan in time for self-care. I even struggle to be focused on Heiterkeit sometimes, but I remember. I remember how I felt back then and what got me out of it. I remember, and that helps to be aware of heiter moments, even during a pandemic, climate change and other shocking happenings, even on the days I feel like I am failing as a mum, wife and business owner. I remember, and that makes me appreciate lunch with my boys and hearing my son giggle. It gives me energy when helping others through my heiter work. It makes it easier to stop & admire our garden, and it reminds me to consciously enjoy that first cup of coffee in the morning.

You might wonder why I am telling you all of this. Well, it’s because there are a few things I’d like you to remember too. You can be heiter, even when things around you don’t always go right. You can be heiter, without having to try hard: Heiterkeit is achievable. All you need to do is open your eyes & heart and allow yourself to let heiter moments in.

Words: Katharina Geissler-Evans, heiter

Image: tobetold

Let Roxana do you a (wedding) favour: interview with the founder of The Handmade Favour

How to worry less and enjoy life more: how I found Heiterkeit