We were lucky to catch up with Mario Janakis recently and have shared our conversation below.
Mario, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?
My love for fibers and textiles started with my grandmother, Dolores, who grew up without a lot of money. Her family lived in a poor town and, to make matters worse, there was another girl named Dolores whose father owned the local tavern, making their family the wealthiest in town. This Dolores wore the most beautiful clothing every day, and my grandmother thought to herself, “I want beautiful clothes too.” So she taught herself how to make them. She practiced. She took classes at night. And she became a fantastic dressmaker, always making sure that her daughters felt loved and beautiful in the clothes she made for them. I started sewing because of my grandmother’s passion for it, and I quickly became interested in other types of garment construction and design techniques. I started with crochet, learned about embroidery, and now I even spin, dye, and weave my own fabric. In spite of all the crafts I do, I’ve never been instructed in any of them. All of my learning comes from practicing intently and making lots of “mistakes.” Those moments when something doesn’t go quite as planned are the most valuable for me because it gives me an opportunity to think critically about why something turned out the way it did and how I can improve it the next time. My drive for learning about fibers and textiles comes from wanting anyone who wears or uses my art to feel beautiful in who they are.
I feel lucky that I had such a great example in my grandmother of someone who not only was so passionate about what they did, but also gave their love and gifts so freely to other people. She only saw me at the start of my journey, but I wish she could see how far I’ve come in continuing on what we both love.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.
Sure thing! I’m based in Pittsburgh, PA and I work with all crafts related to fibers and textiles, so things like crochet, knitting, sewing, embroidery, weaving, dyeing, and even spinning my own yarn. All of the techniques are related in some way, so learning one really lends itself to learning another. I had been working with yarn and fabric since I was young, but what really inspired me to start taking my art more seriously was my time living overseas in Japan. For three years, I lived on a tiny, remote farming island in southern Japan called Kikai. While I was living there, I began to appreciate the crafts I was familiar with in a different way. Starting with the same materials, the end result looked different than what I was used to in terms of colors, complexity, and style. Even the attitudes of people toward handmade items was different in that imperfections were celebrated and everything didn’t have to be perfectly symmetrical. This started a paradigm shift in my mind about how my art looked up until then and how it could be different but still true to who I am. I started my brand, Shiawase Koubou, because I wanted to bring those experiences back with me to Pittsburgh. My work now focuses on the idea of simple elegance, which shows up through earthy colors, subtle designs, and natural materials.
How did you build your audience on social media?
I used to be a teacher and I love helping people learn things, so most of my videos are not so much about the finished pieces and what I made. It’s more about the “how.” I like to talk about the behind-the-scenes work of why something looks the way it does or how a certain pattern got its name. Anytime someone asks me a question on a video, I always try to make a response video actually showing and describing to them what they want to know. Not only is it really fun for me, it helped build my community as well and provides a place where people can feel comfortable asking questions.
My best advice is to lean into who you are and what you have to offer. I think I’m a very technical, academic person, and I’m not afraid to get technical about the inner details of what I’m working on. Anyone can make a video about “here’s what I made.” I think a lot of people are more fascinated by the “here’s how I made it.”
We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?
Yes. Something I’ve had to unlearn is that age does not automatically equate to skill level. I had always assumed that if someone was older than me, say a 50-year-old person who is knitting, that means they’ve done it a long time and they’re amazing at it. That might be true. Or, they could have just started learning yesterday! I used to get intimidated by seeing older people in my field of art and thinking “Wow, they’re so much further ahead than I am.” I would be hard on myself because of that and get discouraged. But I unlearned that by taking a look at myself; I’m learning new skills and techniques all the time (and I always will be). We’re all works in progress and we’re all on different paths, so there’s no need to compare yourself to other people, especially those who look like they might be wiser and more experienced. Who knows? Maybe they just started learning a new skill like me!
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