Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Viktoria Dmitrieva. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Viktoria, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

It took some time for me to learn how to turn my hobbies into a business. I love to spend time in the forest, learning to identify plants, listen to their stories, discovering their medicinal gifts and admiring their resilience. I wanted everyone to appreciate the biodiversity that is scattered throughout our local ecosystems and see it preserved in beautiful mementos.

I work with snail shells, acorn caps, local Ontario flora, alcohol inks and resin. It took me time to find my voice as an artist and find a niche on which my products would be different from other local artists. Having a unique product makes is easier to apply to stores and markets.

I think the learning process is a necessary journey that takes time. Throughout, I improved from my own mistakes and failures. The time it took was important. Perseverance is absolutely essential to any bit of success. That is true for my craft, however as far as my business, a crash course in digital marketing and SEO optimization could have saved me a lot frustration and headaches.

Viktoria, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?

I started collecting, drying and cataloging different plants, lichens, mosses and mushrooms that grew abundantly in the ecosystems around Ontario. As my collection started to grow rapidly, so did my desire to share it with family, friends and strangers. It was important to get them excited about the world under their feet that is often neglected. Keepsakes was a perfect vehicle and resin was the ideal material. I started combining my paintings with plants in resin, and stumbled into a new full time job. Wilderkins was born.

I work in tandem with some organizations in Toronto, creating a line of jewelry that is gathered from their site, as a way to connect the visitors to a place. My custom work ranges from preserving plant parts into tiny magical worlds fitted into rings, earrings, pendants and nightlights.

I try to work with local business when supplying my findings, such as copper from local plumbing stores and snail shells and acorn caps to create the perfect frames for my designs. My business cards are crafted by a Canadian company Botanical Paperworks. They print the card on seed paper allowing my promotion materials and packaging to be planted so they grow local Ontario pollinator-friendly plants. This allows me to give back to the ecosystem I gather from.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Preservation of the local environments and natural biodiversity is always in the forefront of my business. I am hoping to create connection and inspire conservation for the native plants of Ontario. There is beauty in the wild that is worth preserving, keeping the wild areas thriving is essential.

I try to keep my materials and products local to support local businesses and utilize as much found material as possible.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

The most rewarding aspect of being creative really comes down to doing something that brings you joy, and hopefully it comes through in my work.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @wilderkins.creations