About

A childhood nickname or a life calling?

I could now say that my calling was  even in my childhood years. Always carrying around my little plastic bag, decorated with some of my mum's sewing accessories like ribbons, buttons and safety pins, stuffed with all of my hobbies and interests I was having at that time: drawing, creating, sewing, embroidering, crocheting, knitting... With all that crammed in, I was ready to go anywhere. No wonder I was nicknamed Pupa Franca! (By the legend from The Northern Croatia, Pupa Franca was a woman who carried all of her stuff with her, whereever she went)...

Since then, my path was diverse. From the General Secondary Education to the Fashion Design at the Faculty of Textile Technology, University of Zagreb, Croatia and various design courses, from working as a Shopwindow Designer/Decorator in a private company for many years, to finaly discovering what I was meant to do. Now, when I think about it, it is funny how I knew it all along, but needed to grow in many ways before comprehending it...

Today, Pupa Franca is a small business, runned by its owner and creator, Matea P. Rajsek Hrestak, focused on designing and making fashion & home accessories, always inclining to both, traditional and modern in order to evoke the past in the contemporary expression. Looking ahead with traditional arts in my background, I'm trying to keep those beatiful handworks defy industrialization and uniformity, also endeavoring not to let them fall into oblivion. My job is more a life calling than a job, since I live it each day through, enjoying each step in the process and do not get tired of doing so. I can finaly say I sincerely love what I do for a living and thereby have a lot of fun!