FAQ

What is pouka designs? Who are you?

Hi there, I’m Petra and pouka designs is my creative small business.

I have always been a creative person and done drawing and textile arts from a young age. I would draw on any piece of paper as soon as I could hold a pencil and begged my grandma to teach me to knit at the age of 6.

My mom is a seamstress by trade and so I grew up by the sewing machine. By my early teens, I was attempting to make clothes and did other sewing projects e.g. upcycling old jeans into bags and pouches. I also attended a Burda summer school during my teens, where I discovered a different perspective of garment sewing.

Then, sadly, I decided against studying fashion design at uni and due to poor mental health didn’t do anything creative for years.
As my mental health improved, however, I got back into my creative hobbies and discovered quilting in 2023.
As I rekindled my interest in drawing/painting, I wanted to try different media but realised that it would require too much money and space. So instead I downloaded Procreate and instantly fell in love with digital drawing.

So as you can see, I grew up surrounded by creativity, and want to inspire, teach, and provide tools to others to express and expand theirs.

What makes pouka designs different? What is your purpose? (Mission statement)

I know that I’m not the first one to come up with this business idea and with the amount of people, companies, and accounts on social media it can be confusing and overwhelming.

Whilst so many people start a similar business a year after they buy their first sewing machine, I have 17+ years experience in sewing and fibre arts.
So the mistakes they make, I made when I was 16, and have the understanding of materials and techniques to be able to offer a unique and thorough approach to sewing. (Of course, I am still constantly learning and building my skills too – it’s a never-ending journey which is what makes it so fun!)

I want to teach you analogue skills in an increasingly digital world and inspire you to think differently and take your creativity beyond my patterns and projects.
I aim to create the instructions and structure of my patterns and projects in a way that take intimidating aspects of sewing and quilting away and make it more accessible to everyone.
My art aims to help you celebrate your interests – whether as wall art in your craft space, stickers on your water bottle, or enabling you to create your own projects with digital files.

Most importantly, I want to offer tools and teach skills that help you express yourself and celebrate your interests in a world increasingly trying to control all aspects of life and squashing creativity and freedom of expression.
I want to be part of the movement against AI and living in an entirely digital world. I also want to help break gender-based stigma around arts and crafts (especially fibre arts) which are often dismissed as silly women’s hobbies. Without hand-made skills, most of the world around us would not exist. These are not silly hobbies, they are essential aspects of human existence and culture.

Where in the UK are you based?

I live in Brighton on the South-East coast of the UK and hope to meet you at local craft markets and workshops.

How and where are your products made? Who makes them?

All designs and ideas are dreamed up and realised by me.

I try to make as much of my physical products myself at home as possible, where this is not the case I try to work with UK-based companies whose sustainability and ethical values align with mine.

Whether a product is made by me or manufactured by an external company is noted in the product description.