Mateja Peroša – Slovenian who designs linen products in Britain

“During the pandemic, many Londoners immigrated to Bristol and property prices jumped by a fifth. Many Bristol residents are now leaving because they can no longer afford to live in the city”, says Mateja Peroša. Photo: Dominika Scheibinger

While studying at the Academy of Fine Arts and Design in Ljubljana, Mateja Peroša travelled a lot. Once, on her way to Brazil, she stopped to visit friends in Portugal – and stayed. She first applied for a student exchange under the Erasmus program, and then participated in the European Voluntary Service volunteer program. “My friends and I worked in an environmental group and set up a branch in the countryside, a kind of local development agency. I stayed there for five years and during that time we worked on many projects,” she says.

She and her partner then moved to Lisbon, where she worked as a translator at the Slovenian embassy. “When the embassy was closed and we both lost our jobs at the same time, my family and I decided to make a change. We moved to Bristol where my partner was studying and where we have a lot of friends. It all happened very quickly,” she recalls.

Funding for startups is offered by municipalities, companies, and agencies …

After several different jobs, the interlocutor enrolled in a master’s degree in textile design at the University of Bath Spa, which she completed just during the crown. “In order to get funding for startups, I enrolled in an entrepreneurship course. Namely, they are very supportive of small businesses here, there is an openness to ideas, cooperation and knowledge. In Bristol, money, mentoring and other assistance are provided by the municipality, we also have two major entrepreneurship agencies and many large companies. The southwest of England is very economically developed, with Rolls-Royce and Airbus, for example, nearby. Universities have offices for entrepreneurship and employment that help students, and the industry also offers many opportunities for paid internships. If you look for financing and help, you will find them,” Peroševa claims.

She initially, for six months, received funding for small businesses to be able to start a business, for printed matter, packaging and the like, she explains.

She designs textiles, fashion pieces and home accessories

In June last year, the interlocutor opened her own company, within which she designs textiles and linen products under the Perosa Design brand. She creates patterns on the goods she sells to exclusive stores and also designs her own fashion pieces, especially accessories for women and men, and home products such as pillowcases and bedspreads. He sells these through his website, Etsy and at trade fairs specializing in handicrafts.

As she says, she does not design by season or by fashion, but she wants her products and collections to be timeless. In the long run, I would like to generate half of my revenue by selling goods in bulk and half by designing finished linen products. Currently, the company is not yet making a profit, but the interlocutor reckons that she could have enough income in two years to cover her salary and hire two more employees.

Flax for sustainable and local products

“I try to work as sustainably and locally as possible. So I also chose flax, which I have been working with for a decade. I used to use it for art – graphics, embroidery – but now I order my design in a factory where they weave or print my pattern. I then sew the products myself,” she explains. He currently receives the most orders from England and Germany, as well as the Netherlands, Slovenia and the USA.

“We have flax in Europe, it can grow almost anywhere and it is grown in many countries. They have plantations, weaving mills and sewing shops in Lithuania, and they also work with flax in Belarus, Ukraine, Russia and Austria. The best quality flax comes from Belgium and Ireland.”

Peroša first worked with suppliers from Portugal, but because it is a large industry there and she has small orders, it did not work out. She then started working with one of the factories in Lithuania, but as she says, she is always looking for new suppliers, especially from the Balkans. “I am sorry that the textile industry in the former Yugoslavia has almost collapsed. We used to have a lot of flax, especially in Croatia. I always buy hand-woven linen and hemp cloth at flea markets there, and I’m a little obsessed with them. If I could get some funds to start, I would be happy to plant flax at home in the Primorska region. I would like to work with Lana on all levels, not just as a designer.”

Smaller studio and connection with manufacturers across Europe

The interlocutor says that in the medium term she wants to have a smaller studio and one or two employees who would help her with marketing, sales and business, and she could focus mainly on design and exhibitions.

I would like to work permanently with workshops across Europe, and above all, I would like to connect with a manufactory in the Balkans that offers fair employment to women, especially war victims. “I don’t want to have mass collections, but boutique ones, up to 200 pieces each. I bet on exclusivity and handmade. My products cost anywhere from £ 150 to £ 400. I would like to stock up on smaller art shops and galleries, not department stores,” Mateja says. “I want to position myself more in Eastern European markets, as I am, among other things, redesigning traditional Slavic patterns.”

About the multicultural Bristol, where Londoners gathered during the last pandemic

In Bristol, which has been her home since 2014, Mateja doesn’t know many people who wouldn’t like her. “This is a labour multicultural city with approximately 700,000 inhabitants. Bristol is very open to foreigners as it is an old port where people have always come. It is also a creative centre. I live in a neighbourhood where there are mostly Indian and Pakistani diasporas. There are also many Spaniards, Cubans and Poles, and we also have Somali and Syrian refugees.”

According to her, many Londoners immigrated to Bristol and other cities accessible by train from the capital. “Real estate prices in London have fallen but in our country have jumped by a fifth. Many Bristol residents are now leaving the city because they can no longer afford to live here.”

As Mateja says, she will stay on the island for at least a few more years. She is no longer attracted to Slovenia, but she wants to travel more in the future and maybe where to stay for a few months if she embarks on an interesting project, she added.

Source: Finance, by Anja Zaletel. The complete article in Slovene is available here.