Ukraine mother pins her hopes on brooches for new venture

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By EMMA MERCHANT emerchant@wokingham.today

A YOUNG mother from Ukraine, now living in Wokingham, is turning her creative hobby into a small business.

Oleksandra Dryzhyruk makes brooches from tiny beads.

She originally created them just for fun, as presents for close friends and family.

The first ones she produced were yellow and blue, the colours of Ukraine’s flag.

Oleksandra says: “I’ve enjoyed making things ever since I was at school, so when I came to England it was a release for me to be able to create with beads.

“I started making brooches, and gave one to my host family’s mother.

“I didn’t think about selling them then, but when she wore it, a lady asked her where she could buy eight just like it.”

With Oleksandra’s family suggesting that she should start to sell the brooches, she began posting pictures on Facebook, and now has a small business, making and selling brooches to order.

“I know brooches are not for everyone, but people have said that these make unusual gifts for special events.

“They can be inspired by different birds or flowers, for example, but I make them according to people’s preferences.”

With St Patrick’s Day on Friday, March 17, people have suggested that Oleksandra might like to make brooches in the shape of the Irish shamrock.

“They take several hours to make,” says Oleksandra.

“I work on them when my little boy is in nursery, or when he is asleep in the evenings.

“On a good day, I can make one in a day, but recently when he was cutting a tooth, that wasn’t so easy.”

When she lived in Ukraine, Oleksandra ran a similar small business, fashioning individualised beaded fasteners for babies’ soothers or dummies.

The young entrepreneur has recently moved into her own accommodation after spending six months with a host family in the borough.

“My host family has been so lovely,” she says.

“I was very stressed when I arrived here in July, but Rebecca and Paul helped me with everything.

“I arrived with just one bag – and my young son.

“We had nothing, so they took us to the Cowshed to find clothes to wear.

“They explained the system to me, helped me to fill out all the forms, and even took us on holiday with them to the seaside.

“They have given my son and me a wonderful start to living in England, and we have become very good friends.”

Oleksandra comes from the East of Ukraine, around one-and-a-half hours drive from the Russian border.

When the invasion started she made her way to Poland, before coming, finally, to the borough.

“So many Ukrainians have lost everything,” she says.

“Their livelihoods, their homes, even whole cities have disappeared, flattened.

“And it hasn’t stopped, so we have to keep talking about it.

“I want to thank all the people