Jan D'sa ARTE Artisan of the Month

• Tell us a bit about yourself (name, location, affiliations, and personal stuff).  
  My name is Preethi Janice D'Sa. I'm known to all the art/craft world as Jan D'Sa and
  the name of my jewellery line is Janys Di Couture.
  
  I lived in Abu Dhabi for most part of life but a few months ago moved to Dubai to take
  on a new (and exciting!) job.
  By education I trained to be a research scientist in molecular biology from the UK. However,
  my career has taken its own path and the creative part of me has become a very serious
  aspect of my job.
  Since childhood I've always been creative in different areas and have won prizes in singing,
  art, craft, writing, music, performing arts  etc
• What inspires you? Where do your ideas come from?
  Anything and anyone can inspire me. My brain acts as a repository and stores interesting
  information and one day, bits of different information unconsciously come together and
  then voila! Ive an idea forming.  My ideas also can form in my dreams and I also get solutions
  to problems in my dreams (sometimes).
  
  

• Greatest claim to fame (with respect to your craft)
  Fashion/jewellery design: I was the finalist in the Swarovski abaya competition held at the Bride
  Show in Abu Dhabi in Feb. 2008. I was so proud to see the model wear my one of a kind haute
  couture design on the catwalk. The abaya is made of 100% Swarovski crystals and crystallised
  elements and is very expensive and time consuming as I did all the crochet work on my own.
  That was a great feat for me considering that I've not studied fashion design or jewellery design. 
  The abaya is for sale. I was also interviewed by an international magazine just last month.
  Writing: With respect to writing, I've written countless of articles , all of which have been
  published in the last five months in various magazines, from local to international.
  
  
• Where were you born? 
  I was born in India, but when I was 26 days old, I came to the shores of Abu Dhabi with my
  parents who were already living in Abu Dhabi. So i would say I'm a third culture kid.
  
• How long have you been doing your craft?
  In general, i've been doing art and craft since childhood. During my teens I concentrated
  on artwork and some amount of writing (fiction and poetry). Regarding jewellery, Ive been
  creating the same for the last 4 years. I've been doing serious writing (non fiction) on and off
  but did concentrate on it for the last 5 months. Fashion design and creation, for the last 5
  months,  for the sake of the competition. But who knows it could develop into something serious.
  
  
• How did you learn your craft? 
  I suppose I inherited them from my mum who is quite talented and used to sell her paintings
  in her days. I was to learn later that my maternal grandmother used to create beautiful
  jewellery. As for graphic and web design and writing, well they are all inter-related I suppose.
  I studied them on my own. I developed my writing skills really well during my Masters Degree in
  the UK, when we had to research and write articles, papers and thesis in a methodical manner.
  That has helped me when it comes to interviewing people.
  
  
• Favourite film of all time?
  None at the moment.
  
  
• What was the last CD you bought?  
  The Namesake
  
  
• Are you married?  
  No, Im a happy single lady!
  
  
• How long have you been in the UAE? 
  All my life, except for when I was born, and when I went to India to do my Bachelors
  degree and the UK to do my Masters degree .
  
  
• How long do you intend to stay in the UAE ?
  Very difficult to say really. I moved from Abu Dhabi to Dubai. And this new job is quite
  exciting and I get to travel across the Middle East (as well as abroad sometimes) as I
  manage the region for the communications aspect. So I could be in the UAE for a long,
  long time.
  
  
• Do you belong to any other groups? 
  Yes. I formed Abu Dhabi L'Atelier when I was living in Abu Dhabi which helps the
  Abu Dhabi artisans to communicate with each other and if interested to join the ARTE fairs.
  
  
• What are your favourite materials?
  For jewellery - gleaming crystals and intricately designed glass beads, and shiny semi precious stones
  For writing - laptop, and a great qwerty keyboard and wireless mouse.
  For clay work - clay that doesn't stick to my hand!!!
• What is your favourite colour?
  Depends on the season of my life - Right now it's a lot of white with black and red.
  
  
• What are you reading right now? 
  Awaken the Giant Within - by Anthony Robbins
  
  
• Any tips on selling handmade stuff? 
  Have your smile awaiting to greet the customers, don't take grumpy customers' comments
  seriously. Have a great day at ARTE and speak to your customers about your unique work.
  And don't forget to chat and encourage your crafty neighbours too..
  
  
• Apart from creating things, what else do you do?
  After creating things like mentioned above, the only thing I want to do is sleep!

How can ARTE be improved? 
Perhaps to observe what the market is for which kind of goods at a particular amount of time. Also wondering if ARTE would benefit if we had a jewellery@ARTE just like we have a PAPER@Arte. Time Square Centre could have 4 sides of the atrium designated to a particular activity - one could be paper@ arte, the other jewellery@arte, the atrium could be for art@arte so on and so forth. Something to discuss!

You can contact Jan at janysde@gmail.com.

or see more of her work on the website www.janysde.com