Janire Román Díaz

My name is Janire, “insatiable researcher of dangling inventions”. I studied interior design in the Basque Country, when I finished these studies, I immersed myself in the world of Fine Arts and I moved from Bilbao to Barcelona.

With my Independence under my arm, I began to wander through life, absorbing teachings, getting to know materials and learning to work with them, always in a self-taught way. After brief but intense contact with jewellery and ceramics at the Escola de Cerámica de La Bisbal (Girona), I enrolled in an Artistic Jewellery Degree at the EASD of Valencia. I made the last year of this course in Portugal at the ESAD Matosinhos, as part of the Erasmus Exchange Programme.

In 2005, and with all this acquired knowledge, I started experimenting with leather, a material that is still the basis of my designs and shapes the soul of Sebastiana Guk. Sebastiana Guk is my brand where I create leather accessories and whose aesthetics are influenced by diverse artistic movements, colour schemes and classic lines but with contemporary finishings.

I believe that crafts have always been in my destiny, it is what I am, and it is what I like.

My business objectives are:

One of my goals, and perhaps the most ambitious, is to become an established brand in the Leather Accessories’ Design scene.

In 2022, I expect to launch my website in order to build a webshop to offer my products both to local audiences and customers abroad.

I am developing a new line of products which I expect to become a highlight and a “must” of Sebastiana Guk.

My learnings from the Crafting Business Programme:

I became aware that I own a business and as such, it needs to be taken care of properly. During these few months, I have managed to acquire organization skills to manage diverse aspects of my company.

Also, I realized that this company has an even deeper meaning: it is my life project, so I must feed it with love and coherence, in addition to strategy, communication, economy, and marketing. Only in this way, I will be able to reach the purposes I dream of.

I learnt that to transmit this love and coherence, a lot of hard work is necessary. If I am not able to do everything by myself, I need to hire services from external workshops to delegate part of the processes.

Even if sometimes I get stressed out and feel like quitting, I have managed to take a deep breath, stop for a moment, change my perspective and take up again, and remember that I have what it takes.

In summary, I could say that this course has empowered me and has given me tools to consolidate my business.

My 5 top tips that I have learnt on this journey:

1. The price of the product should allow you to continue with your business.
2. I am not selling just a product, I also sell a particular style with a developed design, an idea, and all of that has a price.
3. You must be constantly evolving and feeding your brain with new ideas.
4. Communication is essential, if you don’t communicate, you don’t exist.
5. If I want my project to stand out from the crowd, I have to offer a product that stands out and use communication tools to transmit a coherent message.