The Treasure Chest: The Story Behind Mira Creations

I have been making beaded jewelry as a hobby for a long time, now and then giving away earrings, bracelets, necklaces and other crafts as gifts to my friends and family. With their encouragement and help, Mira Creations started its journey. I named my business after my mother, who was my greatest inspiration. 'Mira' is a part of my name too (if you just take out the letters a-n-d)!

My mother was a multitalented person. She always had some half-finished art or craft project in her hands. From the time I was a teenager, I became her assistant for many projects involving painting, sewing, needle work, knitting, paper and paper mache. But one thing I was never allowed to touch was her craft storage chest. It was an ancient heavy metal trunk from the pre-WWII era, full of craft supplies, and I loved to imagine what treasures I might find inside.

Eventually I earned her trust and was allowed to explore the storage chest. Among the expected brushes, paints, and embroidery hoops, I discovered an intriguing box shaped like a ship, full of jewel colored seed beads and glass beads of many different shapes and sizes. I had never seen my mother do any projects using beads, so I was amazed to discover them in there. I later learned from my mother that they were left over from bead embroidery projects done by her mother, my grandmother! My mother had inherited that trunk of craft supplies from her mother and added her own things to it.

I also found a few small incomplete beading projects, like coin purses. After carefully examining the projects, I figured out a basic beading technique on my own and surprised my mother with a newly made coin purse using supplies from her own craft chest! That was my first ever beading project using a right angle weave, though at the time I did not know the name of the stitch. Eventually my mother’s eyesight became poor and I, her loyal apprentice, started to finish some of her projects.

Two decades later, after marriage, two kids, and a couple of major intercontinental moves, my family finally settled in Canada; a place very far from my origin, both geographically and culturally. On one of those early days, during all the craziness of settling in, I found a few community courses on jewelry making. My old passion (or should I say the little bug of craziness) flared up! I signed up right away, learned new techniques, and perfected them with practice. After months of dreaming about starting a business, I finally took a leap of faith and two years ago, my baby Mira Creations was born.

Many people ask me what my design style is, and if I had to choose one word to describe it, it would be 'eclectic'. When I am in ‘creative mode’, I experiment with shapes, forms, and colors, to create eye-catching designs that you wouldn't see everywhere. People all have unique bodies, personalities, and lifestyles, and even the same person might like to wear different styles on different days, depending on their mood. I believe jewelry should be a celebration of this diversity, and act as an outer reflection of our inner self. Nature is another strong source for my inspiration, and I enjoy creating designs that capture its vibrant beauty and serene harmony.