Dressmaker and businesswoman Daina Rapsa
Latvian-born Daina Rapsa was interested in clothes making when she was a young girl and dreamt of starting her own business. She worked in the textiles industry in her native country in Sweden, but not until she moved to Finland was she inspired to set up her own company. She now owns a dressmaker’s shop in Helsinki and makes tailor-made clothes for her customers.
Daina Rapsa, 32, studied clothes and fashion design in Latvia. After her studies she worked in the Almia clothes factory, first in southern Sweden, then in Riga and finally in her home town of Valmiera. For four years she was factory supervisor.
“Even when I was still at school I made designer clothes for my relatives. In Sweden I was able to see how fashions are designed in a real professional context. I was able to work in a team of fashion designers.”
Rapsa arrived in Finland seven years ago. Her husband’s mother, who was an Ingrian Finn, had established contacts in the country, but it was tough all the same for an immigrant who did not know the language.
Rapsa looked after her children at home. When they grew up she applied to do a vocational course. The employment office urged her to change occupation, but Rapsa wanted to earn her living as a dressmaker. The family moved from Riihimäki to Helsinki, and Rapsa got trainee work at a dressmaker’s in east Helsinki.
“At work I realised the importance of knowing the language. A dressmaker in a workshop is a job where you provide a service, and in which you communicate by speaking. I studied learning Finnish and got on a course for immigrants with dressmaking skills. Part of the course involved trainee work at a dressmaker’s.”
“I believe in the future. I have been planning to expand the business.”
There Rapsa got to see the everyday existence of an entrepreneur and made useful customer contacts for the future.
After the course she took the plunge and set up her own business in Kallio, in Helsinki, a dressmaker’s called Studio Daina. She was granted start-up cash for the first 10 months of the operation, but after that Rapsa was on her own.
"As to start with I didn’t have any of my own customers, I did subcontracted work for other dressmakers. Gradually customers began to discover my shop and there was enough work. My reputation probably spread by word of mouth because I hardly advertised at all.”
Rapsa makes made-to-measure clothes and does repairs. She takes in, shortens and alters clothes according to the wishes of the customer. Customers often bring the cloth along with them. If not, Rapsa and the customer together try to think about a pattern and what sort of cloth to use.
Studio Daina is open weekdays until 6 p.m., though Rapsa also works on Saturday. She goesoff buying fabrics and sewing supplies and accessories. Now and then she takes a shopping trip to her former native country of Latvia.
“I have made a lot of really lovely clothes. The best things about my job are definitely the fact that I can realise my own ideas as an entrepreneur and also being my own boss.”
Rapsa is constantly developing her skills and is at present studying styling and colour analysis. Once a month she goes to theory classes in Hämeenlinna and she studies other subjects on a teleworking basis.
Text and photograph: Anu Likonen, Jukka Vuolle and Nanni Akkola
The Ministry of Employment and the Economy