Interview with Olina Francova and Jitka Arazimova

We have been friends since we’ve studied at the Secondary Arts School. Coincidentally, we met six years ago and joined forces under a new brand, Franco Arazzi, to design and sew handmade leather handbags - multibags. We both are artists for all our lives, Olina as a iron sculptor and Jitka as a graphic artist. So there was just a small step from art to the applied design.

The most important aspects for us are the creativity, multifunctionality and the minimalistic design. The design process covers heads, hands, paper and pencil, scissors and sewing machine.

Freedom and happiness :-). Honestly, we enjoy the process of creation itself. It is a social extension and design therapy for us. We design andcreate something that is essentially ours, based on our experience and needs. We test each modelpersonally and investigate how to improve it, what to add, what to get rid of... We are surprised how the meetings with our customers enriche us. These meetings are both inspirational and often end up in a true friendship. Here we connect our need for creating, designing and communicating with the social aspect of knowing new people. We are interested in their opinion, needs and life experiences.

Why we try to "cure by design" and to convince the society that the otherness is correct. That good design enriches life. That fashion is supposed to be fun for all: for its creator, bearer, and for ordinary observer. We see design challenges in all life situations, whether they concern us directly or not. We have fun, enjoy and enrich our, and perhaps not only our, lives. There’s no reason to live in a gray world when there are so many colors around! Why bother with different trends or dictates when it is possible to freely create and go on your own path! Everything isjust a matter of personal choice - regardless of whether you are twenty or a hundred years old!

Our every project is a realization of one of our dreams :-)Due to our age and experience we fully enjoy every project and we think that that is the best way how to live.Nowadays, we are shooting our collection in Venice and we are really enjoying that our collection Multibags Rebels just become our fulfilled dream!

We recommend the creativity, empathy and modesty - because those are the rarest skills in the world.The most important in life is the hard honest work which fill you with joy and happiness - awards and renome will come later if you will work with your heart.

Do your work honestly and with passion as well as you can. Then the results of your work will fulfill the rest of your life with happiness and joy - and that should be the main goal.

We enjoy every creative day in our lives - morning is dedicated to social media and communication with our customers and afternoons we spent by desinging of new models..

The good design should sets the trends not vice versa.We extremely enjoy the inventing of new models anywhere anytime - e.g. before felling asleep or waking up, but also during travelling or visiting galleries. We embrace any inspiration but we try to avoid following now-away fashion trends.

The enthusiasm of your customers and recognition of design professional and experts.

We test each model personally and investigate how to improve it, what to add, what to get rid of...

Our most favorite design is the collection Multibags Rebels, e.g. model Vagabondo and Ribelle. We enjoy the combination of multifunctionality and ropes with knots. Our ambition is to create multifunctional bags that will match with their owners and that will merge with their personalities and become part of their lives. We would like to inspire the owners to use multibags according their own fantasy - both for tying different knots and for further experimentation: the rope can be removed from the bag and used when you need to tie something; the bag itself can also be a seat or a pillow...

We enjoy the good design from anyone but there are so many great designers that is really hard to name just one or two of them..

We live in Prague, the main city of the Czech Republic, which is well known for its unique architecture includes gothic and baroque. Culture itself is essential to our humanity.

We believe in original design (to avoid plagiarism) and rules of Fair-trade - no child or underpaid work in the poor countries or wasting of matherials. We make sure that our materials (bovine leather) is from food farm animals where leather is a secondary raw material and not from animals dedicated to kill for their fur. The starting point for us has been a maximum of natural material.

Art and culture enriches and improves our lives. Exploring the design possibilities of objects that were created to carry things has brought up the issue of multi-functionality as well as creations for the physically challenged. In a special nonprofit project we created bags, handbags and backpacks especially for individuals with various types of physical disabilities according to their needs. Our latest nonprofit project focuses on the design of ‘bare head’ hats for women after chemotherapy.

The most important benefit for us was assessment of our collection and our approach to design by the international design experts. And we really appreciate the opportunity to enlarge the impact of our brand to the professional society.

We both are artists for all our lives, Olina as a iron sculptor and Jitka as a graphic artist. So there was just a small step from art to the applied design.

We are both artists and design is all around us - so the path to design was very open to us.

Our "rebellious" multibags are not subject to any fashion dictates – they are as free as their owners.They do not need to draw attention to the social status or the amount of the credit card. On the contrary, they should be an original complement and a functional subject for a self-confident "wearer" who wants to be different and is not afraid to step out of the crowd.

We recommend the creativity, empathy and modesty - because those are the rarest skills in the world.

Maybe connections? We don't know :-)

Creativity and functionality of the design and, of course, the enthusiasm of your customers.

Not everyone should invest into the design - only those who find happiness there. It is a great enrichment of our lives.

It is always important what and for who do you design - you can't do it blindly.
In a special nonprofit project "Handibags" we created bags, handbags and backpacks especially for individuals with various types of physical disabilities according to their needs. Our latest nonprofit project "Chemohats" was focused on the design of ‘bare head’ hats for women after chemotherapy.

Our every project is a realization of one of our dreams :-)
Due to our age and experience we fully enjoy every project and we think that this is the best way how to live.

We enjoy the process of creation itself. It is a social extension and design therapy for us. We design and create something that is essentially ours, based on our experience and needs. We test each model personally and investigate how to improve it, what to add, what to get rid of...
We are surprised how the meetings with our customers enriche us. These meetings are inspirational and often end up in a true friendship. Here we connect our need for creating, designing and communicating with the social aspect of knowing new people. We are interested in their opinion, needs and life experiences.

If we should name a designer from Czech surrounding it would be Josiph Plecnik.

We enjoy the good design from anyone but there are so many great designers that is really hard to name just one or two of them..

We don't want to enlight some single design. We believe that the best aspect of our design studio is the support and help in everyday life to those, who truly deserves the good design but due to their physical dissability they commonly can't reach it.

We don't have an easy answer to that - everyone do the best as he/she could and only the time will show..

We are both artists so we would just continue :-)

Design should not be only minimalistic, plain, clear and nice but it mainly should serve to its purpuse. Sometimes you can meet design just for design - but that is (especially in fashion) useless. That is the reason why we try every design ourselves to ensure that it is truly multifunctional in every way.
What we seem as trouble is e.g. when men design shoes for women. They produce designs which they like to see on women but - due to fact that they can't or don't try it themselves - are those designs commonly very self-serving, practically unusable or even physically damaging. Prove of it can be misshapen feet of our mothers and grandmothers from shoes with narrow toe and high heels. Similar is it with huge and heavy handbags worn over forearms which can damage the vascular system.

We, our customers and happiness of the design process :-)

We don't know if we are great designers - we just know that we do what we love and what fulfilling us. If our design is great will be confirmed by our customers.

Maybe - just a maybe - an obstacle was that we become from a small country with closed designer community. But, we are grown-up girls and we can handle it. :-)

Today there are so many possibilities in design and PR marketing that depends on everyone what he/she prefers.

You can always expect a full engagement and the joy of creation :-)
Of course, we will continue in our non-profit social projects because we believe that it is important.

To enjoy our work and satisfy our customers. We believe that everything else is not so important :-)

Maybe that their design product, which they bought, will suit their needs and brings the joy into their life.

The good design should enriches life. Fashion is supposed to be fun for all: for its creator, bearer, and for ordinary observer. Fashion definitelly should NOT be about profit.

Nowadays, we celebrate the Bronze A'Design Award and think about the future challenges ;-)

So far, our most satisfactory collection is Multibags 5in1 and the success this collection had during the exhibition at the International Fashion Weeks in Amsterdam 2019 and which was now awarded by a Bronze A'Design Award.

We would really love to see the expansion of the slow fashion. Especially the end of abuse child labor, inhumal working conditions and exploitation in the third countries which still many main brands use for their production. Stop being greedy!

We try to be optimistic - so hopefully to something better then now :-)

That depends - sometimes it takes dozens of minutes, sometime days, sometimes even weeks or months ;-)

With pencil, paper and scissors.

The common credo of our studio is that good design enriches life and connects people who share the same opinion.

It should be that the good design sets the trends!

Traditional :-)
Technologies are still going forward so we never know when we will start or end.. For example, in the future may be possible to replace the traditional materials by the fully ecologic ones, without the enviromantal strain.

Just our own minds.

We play with animosity of used materials, we experiment with shapes and forms - not to mention the magical realm of colors, light and darkness. We take it all in, we shuffle it in our minds and initially we just shamelessly entrust a sheet of paper long before we dare to grab a incisor and to irreversibly define the future shape in the material. Then there’s only the pleasure of making.

We would ask them how our design serves them and what would they like to improve on its functionality. We really appreciate the feedback.

That is amazing! :-)

Yes, we believe in cooperation - that people should help and enriches each others instead of rivality. We are only once in this world.

There are many of them and their opinion is very important to us.

Our designs are not influenced by any design books but we are oftenly influenced by books about life. One of those which affects our lives in general is definitely A Confederacy of Dunces from J.K.Toole. We really love this book :-)

Years of practice :-)

When we truly think about it, we would like to meet the receantly deceased Czech architect Jan Kaplický who won the dedicated architectural competition in 2006 to the new building of the planned Czech National Library. Hopefully, the human malice and envy which prevented this idea from realization will be overcome one day.

We are very enthusiastic that our designs are so highly evauated, especially because Italy is the country of the top design.

Color: black-red;
place: whole world;
food: see-food;
season: spring, summer and autumn;
thing: all the most amazing thing in the world;
brand: brand is not important, only quality is :-)

Our young customer shared her experince with us: She went through a supermarket when a nice young lad went against her. She was a looking at him, he was looking at her. When he was passing her by, he looked into her eyes and said: "Hmmm, Multibags from FrancoArazzi - right?".

We are motivated by our life - our approach is that life is fun.
And thanks for every new morning :-)

Yes - a designer, but also a garbage collector, an astronaut and a shepherd :-).

We don't know - we care what will happen in 10, 20, 30 years from now.. But what we are afraid of in the coming years is as G.Santayana said: "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it”.

Please remember, that the good design should enriches all lives - the designer's, creator's, bearer's, and even the ordinary observer's life.

The common credo of our studio is that good design enriches life and connects people who share the same sentiment. Creating design in moments when majority of creators say that nothing new can be done completely enchanted us. Exploring the design possibilities of objects that were created to carry things has brought up the issue of multi-functionality as well as creations for the physically challenged. In a special nonprofit project we created bags, handbags and backpacks especially for individuals with various types of physical disabilities according to their needs. Our latest nonprofit project focuses on the design of ‘bare head’ hats for women after chemotherapy.

Our multifunctional handbagsare not subject to any fashion dictates – they are as free as their owners.They do not need to draw attention to the social status or the amount of the credit card. On the contrary, they should be an original complement and a functional subject for a self-confident "wearer" who wants to be different and is not afraid to step out of the crowd.

We enjoy the process of creation itself. It is a social extension and design therapy for us. We design andcreate something that is essentially ours, based on our experience and needs. We test each modelpersonally and investigate how to improve it, what to add, what to get rid of...We are surprised how the meetings with our customers enriche us. These meetings are both inspirational and often end up in a true friendship. Here we connect our need for creating, designing and communicating with the social aspect of knowing new people. We are interested in their opinion, needs and life experiences.

We don't want to enlight some single design. We believe that the best aspect of our design studio is the support and help in everyday life to those, who truly deserves the good design but due to their physical dissability they commonly can't reach it.

Our first design was a multifunctional handbag-backpack Cuscino which was inspired by a pillow.

Our designs are made from bovine leather - a traditional material that is used for years and ages with beauty. It can be recycled easily when worn out. We used a thick boat rope for the handle as it enables simple knots tying and re-tying.

We extremely enjoy the inventing of new models anywhere anytime - e.g. before felling asleep or waking up, but also during travelling or visiting galleries. We embrace any inspiration but we try to avoid following now-away fashion trends.

The most important aspects for us are the multifunctionality and minimalistic design.

Freedom and happiness.

The uplifting moment is when our customer call us with a new method how to wear our multibag which we didn't even predict. We are surprised how the meetings with our customers enriche us. These meetings are inspirational and often end up in a true friendship. Here we connect our need for creating, designing and communicating with the social aspect of knowing new people. We are interested in their opinion, needs and life experiences.

Enthusiastic customers and recognition from the design experts and specialists.

In general - the creativity and functionality.

Original design (to avoid plagiarism) and rules of Fair-trade - no child or underpaid work in the poor countries or wasting of matherials. We make sure that our materials (bovine leather) is from food farm animals where leather is a secondary raw material and not from animals dedicated to kill for their fur. The starting point for us has been a maximum of natural material.

Freedom of creation, original design and hopefully slow fashion.

The most important exhibition this year was during the Internation Fashion Weeks in Amsterdam 2019 where we had a great success. With this collection we participate at Design Days Reichenberg 2018 and Prague Design Week 2019, and we really enjoy our runway show in the beautiful interior of the Lucerna Hall in Prague (all events in Czech Republic).

We don't know.. As the famous Czech writer Bohumil Hrabal said: "It is in me as in the goat."

Our style is based on creativity and multifunctionality.

We live in Prague, the main city of the Czech Republic, which is well known for its unique architecture includes gothic and baroque. Our main benefit is the great culture which suround us, yet the con is the fact that as a small country we are facing the preference of friendship than the quality of the design. But maybe that is not challenge just a small countries but any closed society.

We don't work with them at all.

The basic is to choose someone handfull and creative. But we hardly can suggest anyone to the big companies.

At first there was nothing, just an idea. At the end we hold the finished handbag and we look forward to its journey in life. We play with animosity of used materials, we experiment with shapes and forms - not to mention the magical realm of colors, light and darkness. We take it all in, we shuffle it in our minds and initially we just shamelessly entrust a sheet of paper long before we dare to grab a incisor and to irreversibly define the future shape in the material. Then there’s only the pleasure of making. We have respect for natural materials and we also want to give them a new life. We feel how they speak to us and we want to share this experience with people who like it.

At our atelier, our most favorite ones are the handmade iron coffe table, old medical cabinets around the walls, old boat lamp as a chandelier, amazing glass-stone drinking glasses from Czech designer Alena Matejka etc.

We enjoy every creative day in our lives.. And due to the lenght of our life we can really appreciate it :-)

Don't take yourself too seriously - follow your creativity and share your happiness, we live only once.

It doesn't matter what do you for living - it should be joyfull, fulfilling, creative and careful to your surrounding.

Creative original idea - and to try your every design on yourself!

Creativity, empathy and modesty - because those are the rarest skills in the world.

Hands, paper with pencil, scissors, ...

All our time is dedicated to our designs - and we really enjoy it!

That depends - sometimes it takes dozens of minutes, sometime months :-)

"How did you came up with such an idea?"

Meetings with our customers enriche us, they are inspirational and often end up in a true friendship.

They are self-confident individuals with original thinking, looking for a playful, extravagant fashion accessory.

We prefer any innovative design around us.

Nowadays, we celebrate the Bronze A'Design Award which is very valuable for us and think about our future challenges ;-)

We both design and work together as a team. This cooperation is very inspirational and interesting.

We always have something in-progress :-). That is what we love the most about our work.

olina.franco@seznam.cz

We would like to add that a person, who can focus on a creative work of her/his own, is the most blessed person in the world.