Everyday luxury, pieces that last, unique items in high quality, less but better – this is the best short description for the brand I introduce you today.

Because everything is ab ovo, the inspiration for a unique Lithuanian brand was taken from an egg. So they call their goods OVO Things. The things are made from the finest natural fibers and materials like cotton, linen, beeswax or cashmere. These are perfect, yet simple items. Things that stay. 

OVO Things was born when 3 creative women living in Vilnius had a great idea together.

Dear Vida, Guoda & Justė thank you for telling us interesting personal background details. And I am so happy,  we have Justė here today to tell us about the story of Ovo Things. Here we go!

Age – Vida 61, Guoda 39,  Justė 41.

Education – Vida: fashion design. Guoda: international communication. Justė: philosophy.

Family situation – Vida single. Guoda: a husband and two kids (13-year son and 8-year old daughter). Justė: a husband and two sons, 13 and 10 years old.

Hobby – Vida: bespoke tailoring. Guoda: music. Justė: photography and interior styling.

What makes you smile – Vida: flowers, pets and other animals. Guoda: music, good movies, books and my children. Justė: husband, mostly; also kids and good desert with coffee (I dream of Danish poppy seed roll or Swedish cardamom bun at the moment).

What you like most – Vida: the sea. Guoda: music, company of good friends or sometimes my own time. Justė: having my own time wandering in the woods and meadows.

What is an absolutely no go – Vida: I never say never. Guoda: parachute jump. Justė: hard to choose, I have many no go’s:)

Your favorite place in your city – VIda: my home. Guoda: Vilnius’ old town. Justė: place where I live called Užupis, the district of Vilnius’ old town with free spirit and creative community.

Favorite country to spent a vacation – Vida: Greece. Guoda: Portugal, but there are still more places I would like to visit. Justė: Lithuanian seaside for summer vacations and many destinations for short holidays: Copenhagen, Stockholm, Porto, New York; also I loved my vacations in Sicily and Toscana.

Favorite song and band – Vida: pop classics, Shostakovich waltz 2. Guoda: I have many of them; the style I love the most is R&B. Justė: it’s hard to tell, I like the music depending on the mood or memories it brings from old jazz or rock classics to pop. Recently I was fascinated by Billie Eilish, I did not expect I could, like my teenager son, listen it that much:)

Favorite designer – Vida: John Galliano. Guoda: Jil Sander mostly what concerns the forms and shapes; Prada – what concerns the traditions. Justė: Finn Juhl and other Scandinavian design icons in architecture and furniture or other home objects.

Favorite piece of furniture. Vida: armchair. Guoda: chair. Justė: all kinds of chairs.

Photo credit: @OVO Things – Vida ~ Justė ~ Guoda, owners and founders

How did you 3 come together?
Me and Guoda, we know each other many years already. We used to be colleagues in PR agency where Guoda worked as project manager and me as analyst & strategy planner. Later we had our firstborns almost at the same time so we had at least one common very important issue to discuss:) Moreover, at that time we lived in the same neighborhood so we used to meet almost everyday for strolling our babies around. We talked a lot on all possible topics so naturally the idea of perhaps doing something together came up later. Guoda knew Vida from work, Vida was famous fashion designer in Lithuania and had many years’ experience of working on her own. She was the one who encouraged to take first step and start doing things.

At first we three talked through what we want our business to be about; and it went super easy (I mean talking about the vision) as we shared the similar view. We knew for sure that we want to engage in making things, to be more precise – to find people who make them properly, preferably in old ways of craftmanship. Those things have to be simple yet well done, some sort of classics in different areas – clothing, accessories, home objects. We decided to make things for home and people, as we put it. We see clothing as things that should last and help people live their lifes, in that reason we always avoided the term fashion as short-term and decorative. (By the way, we have another Instagram account dedicated for clothing, it’s called @OVOThings_clothier with the slogan Back to the Beauty.
So our brand is based on the pillars of craftsmanship, durability and certain aesthetics that should endure, be timeless in a sense (as much as it is possible). For example, our tiny candles burn fast but the idea of using candles and the practice of it is timeless.

How did you get the idea of creating your own company?
Me and Guoda both were tired of office-bound job, wanted to have more time for our families and ourselves. I wanted to do more real stuff, actually making things instead of consulting (the latter proved to be easier than running your own business:)) Also I was longing for some aesthetic fulfillment I was feeling I was deprived of in my previous job; now I may carry this in full scope while taking pictures, styling, packing and participating in creation process of products, packaging, as well as marketing them.
Vida as a clothing designer also wanted to change the way she has been working at that time. She was fed up with never-ending machine of fashion business to create ever new collections, ever new items seeking them to be extra interesting, original or conceptual. She saw no point of doing it anymore and wanted to make just good clothing for people to wear.
So we three decided we can work towards this together.

Why have you decided to produce candle holders and beeswax candles?
Candles were on our list of things we decided to engage in from the very start next to other. But soon they gained some popularity and gradually took their position as the main product (next to clothing as our second group of things). So we followed their way as it is said in our slogan “This is the way of things” (smiling). Although there is a story in Guoda’s family as her grandparents used to craft candles so this may be some reason why we came up with the idea of candles in the first place.

Photo credit: @OVO Things – the production of beeswax candles

I can imagine, that the creation process of handmade candles should be very exciting. What are the difficulties, challenges and highlights?
The first thing is important to note that we do not craft things ourselves, with the only exception of clothing as Vida is a fashion designer and some tailored items are hand finished by her. What we mainly do at OVO Things is this: we initiate the creation of the product (often we are authors of the design, too), we coordinate and finance the production and then market the product to sell it for a customer. Our job is to think of the thing and then to find someone who could make it the way we see it: who work with natural materials, who uses hand work or hand finish at least, with old techniques, preferably, or adapted ones. This way we have found candle makers, metal casters, ceramist, carpenter. Or we work together on the product as then we learn of the possibilities and specific features of the craft. We work as mediators, facilitators and promoters of the craft. We shed some light of making things in old ways where handwork is involved on high scale. So we create a product and the look for small manufacturers or crafters that know their skill well to accomplish the idea.
We pack candles into boxes ourselves, also trim them. Other products are also packed by us in our studio, then packed for private customers or shops in bigger quantities. We do photoshoots, tell stories about the things. We design, brand and market the products but many hand work is under these labels, too. Every item goes through our hands.

Photo credit: @OVO Things – the production of beeswax candles

What is your source of inspiration?
Nature and its seasons. This year we had no proper winter in Lithuania, it was so strange and unsettling; I feel nature’s impact to my mood and wellbeing very strongly. Everyday is also my source of inspiration. Traveling. Creations by talented people you can spot in books, magazines or on Instagram. Feedback of customers

Could you please describe your brand in 3 words?
Nature-inspired, handcraft-oriented, non-mass.

For your silver prints you use an old photography technique. This sounds very interesting! Could you please tell us more about it?
Silverprints are made by photographer Emilija Petrauskienė who actually is practicing doctor, photography is her hobby. She uses technique called wetplate collodion and this is the method from which the whole photography started in the XIX century. To describe it briefly, the image is being projected on metal plate coated with silver nitrate. Later the image is transferred on paper with the help of chemical reagents in the dark room, similar to the process of film photography. Emilija not only takes pictures of the plants, she also growths them in her garden – all those gorgeous roses and tulips, lavender and mint and many many more.

Is there any story connected with OVO Things you would like to share with us?
In the beginning of our brand there were several similar cases when people from Lithuania saw our candles in some boutiques while traveling abroad (at least once it happened in Paris) and were about to buy it as a souvenir from that country without realizing it was a Lithuanian product before they noticed that written on the package:)
We were taken with great surprise of the positive response in Maison&Objet we were taking part for the first time last year.
Supporters across Instagram are always heartwarming experience.

Photo credit: @OVO Things – the production of porcelain canele candle holders

What do you wish for OVO Things in the coming years?
in the current light of pandemic the only wish is to hold on and save businesses of ours and those of individual crafters or small manufacturers we cooperate with during this situation and upcoming crisis. Next to that we are always up to new things, also constantly working on improvement of our processes.

Thank you so much for this lovely interview and a wonderful collaboration I enjoyed so much.

I wish you all the best for the future plans and dreams.

Sunny greetings from France,

Arminka aka Petit Sourire

 

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In Collaboration with Ovo Things