Justė Vasiliauskienė, who discovered her dream profession: “The invitation is the first to announce the upcoming holiday”

Sometimes in life it happens that you study one subject, but you suddenly become interested in a different activity that engages, fascinates, gives pleasure and overshadows the profession for which you obtained a diploma.

This happened to Justa Vasiliauskien from Lazda, who studied creative industries, public communication, cultural heritage and tourism, worked in the police, but now she is immersed in completely different activities. Justė designs and makes invitations and other nice festive little things. In half a year, she has developed her new business so much that she cannot defend herself from customers.

“Dzūku žinios” talks to Juste about her new occupation, long hours spent searching for the most perfect solution, pleasant communication with clients, people who support her.

– How did you come up with the idea of ​​creating invitations and other work related to the holidays? What started it all?

– My mother asked me the same question recently. One Sunday I was making invitations, my mother was playing with my son Simuk and suddenly asked: “How did you come up with the idea of ​​making invitations?”. And I was surprised when I didn’t know what to answer.

Everything consisted of small details, since childhood I loved handicrafts, drawing, creating, organizing at school, leading events, and later working on the computer, making layouts, editing videos. Perhaps the main event after which I realized that such an activity is a dream profession is my wedding. I organized them all by myself, thought out, combined, created every detail. Then, for the first time, I made invitations, table-name cards, gifts for guests, etc. After changing jobs, starting a family, and having a son, this activity was left aside, but when my husband’s mother asked me to create invitations for her birthday, I felt good, I had a great “escape” from everyday life, I was able to create again, and suddenly the thought came: “Why not try?” “.

Of course, I cannot fail to mention the contribution of my wonderful friend Virginia, whom we met while studying, later we worked together in Lazdijai, and now we both live in Marijampole. She built her own amazing business, Ananas Decor, and kept telling me to try, that I could, so that I wouldn’t push my dreams aside. I constantly watched how she works, strives, invests, I admired her stubbornness not to stop even when things don’t always go well. She was and is an inspiration to me.

– You are a communication specialist. Is what you are doing now with invitations and other festive details related to your profession? Are these also means of communication in a sense?

– In order to engage in creative activities, after graduating from high school, I enrolled in the Creative Industries major at Vytautas the Great University. After the first semester, I felt that I could do more, that what I was getting from this major was not enough, so I completed a joint bachelor’s degree in public communication. After them, I had a wonderful opportunity to work and gain experience in the administration of the municipality of Lazdijai district (as a communication specialist). Later, I enrolled in master’s studies in cultural heritage and tourism, during which I paid the most attention to the knowledge and analysis of the heritage of my native Lazdijai region, but when I had to leave my job in Lazdijai due to certain circumstances, I won a competition at the Marijampolė district chief police commissariat, as well as in the field of communication. Here, the specifics of work and the environment are completely different, the freedom of creativity is limited, so the creation and layout of invitations is a different area, but all the acquired experience and knowledge constantly intertwine and help.

And the invitation is definitely a means of communication! After all, he is the first to announce the upcoming holiday. Very often, the style, colors, and design already betray the chosen theme. Sometimes you can even feel whether you will need to prepare for elegance, luxury, or just the opposite – freedom and simplicity.

– It seemed that people in all areas of life have moved to the virtual space – they don’t write letters by hand, they communicate on social networks. But it turns out that there are people who want to give their buddies and friends original paper works.

When I tried to create the first invitation layouts, I uploaded them to my Facebook page “invite me” and I started advertising, the main idea was to create electronic / digital invitations. I thought that they are very popular now, people are in a hurry, rarely meet, and sending an electronic invitation seemed simple and convenient. However, I soon realized how wrong I was. Girls kept writing asking if I would make real, paper invitations. And I tried, it took a lot of time, tests, tools (from ribbons, paper, cutters, knives, folding tools, wax seals, dies, etc.), patience when it didn’t work, when it looked different in my imagination than in reality. However, I am very grateful to the first customers who took the risk, ordered, gave me the opportunity to create their holiday invitations and thus gain practice.

– How do you decide what design invitation or other attribute of the celebration is needed for one or another customer?

– Usually there are two options: either the design is born unexpectedly in my head and the customers like it, or they give very precise, strict instructions about what and how they want, expect and wait, send several samples and say that they like the colors in one sample, the layout of the text in the other, in the third, a wax stamp with gold thread and would like me to create one original invitation from all of them.

– What is the communication with the customer like until the final version is created?

– I have been making invitations according to orders only since November, but I already had various experiences with clients. It takes a lot of time and patience to coordinate all the details. Sometimes the bride just writes where and when the wedding will take place, the date, names, tells how many pieces are needed, and leaves the entire creative process to me. However, we usually coordinate, consult, and correspond with each stage more than once and more than five times. I create a computer model, send it for review, receive comments, correct it, print it, photograph it as it looks in reality, then look for paper, photograph it again and show it to the customer, coordinate and find where to buy ribbons, ribbons, and send wax of various colors for stamps. Several times the coordination took longer than the actual production of the invitations.

– What is the volume of the orders? How long does it take?

– The smallest order is 5 units, and the largest one is 46. I would say that the average number of invitation units would be about 25. And it is practically impossible to count the time, the layouts of the invitations are very different, so the production time is not the same. The first stage – work on computer layout can last from half an hour to several hours for one layout. Sometimes half an hour is enough to cut the invitation cards, but when I make flip invitations, with three text cards and a pocket, ribbon or die, sometimes it takes a whole weekend. Not forgetting that I always have an almost 2-year-old baby next to me who needs constant attention, so I usually work when he is sleeping. And the most savior is my relatives, parents, brother, aunt, friends, who sincerely support this activity of mine, encourage me when I am not successful and stay with Sim whenever possible, so that I can calmly make invitations for the most beautiful holidays.

– What was the most difficult order that required the most work and time?

– Just recently, I made really unique invitations, which required a lot of time when laying them out on the computer, printing samples, trying to fold and cut them. More than a dozen sheets of paper were ruined before the final result was achieved. A young woman wrote to me, who is from Spain, but found her love in Raseiniai. She is a flight attendant and asked that the invitation should reflect Spain, Lithuania, airplanes, so I created a “slide invitation” (English) version. It’s very hard to describe, if you’re interested, videos and photos of these invitations can be found on the Invite Me page.

– What makes you happy and what saddens you the most in your work?

– One thing is most gratifying – messages from customers with thanks and nice feedback. I send the invitations and breathe a sigh of relief only when I received a reply that everything fits, I like it, it arrived safely. It is very important for me to fulfill all expectations, not to disappoint, to make happy after receiving invitations to such important holidays, then I know that the sleepless nights at work were not in vain.

The invitations I design are very simple, made at home (I only use printing services for the best quality and resolution). I don’t have special techniques, equipment, tools, sometimes I would like to use imprints, plexiglass or foil them, but everything in small steps. There are certainly more than a dozen representatives of this activity in Lithuania, professionals whose work is wonderful and exceptional, but then the price is appropriate. And I constantly try to improve, monitor trends, create new layouts and designs, and the most important thing is to listen to the wishes of customers, hear and fulfill even the smallest requests. I have already produced about 1000 units. all kinds of invitations, I must be doing something right.

In my mind, I remembered the invitations I had made, the successes and failures, but most importantly, I realized how much support and wonderful people surrounded me. We are always in a hurry, we are running and we don’t have time to say thank you. So, thank you very much to my parents, relatives for the time, help, encouraging words, recommendations, attention on Facebook, where every like, share, certificate is so important when starting a new activity.

– If you had to create an invitation to the anniversary of the city of Lazdia, what could it be?

– It is a complex question that requires time and born ideas. I know that the invitation would not be overloaded with pompous glitter, but would be characterized by naturalness, simplicity and convey the natural beauty of our land.