It’s time to tell you who is behind bysolou
My name is Latifa, 50 years old, mother of 2 young girls aged 11 and 13 and happy to introduce myself to you and share my creative universe.
I have always loved manual activities since I was little. I learned to knit from my mom who I always saw with needles in her hands and still does today at 82! She also taught me embroidery, back then it was the fashion for canvas and I can see myself embroidering cushions with this famous cross stitch!
So I went through my childhood and adolescence with these manual activities that I really enjoyed doing in my free time.
What I liked and what I always like is the fact of creating in a universe of beautiful materials, textures and colors ..
Then there was the studies and at that time I put that part of me aside. You had to study, work evenings and weekends, friends, travel so no time to knit! It was also a good time and very nice memories…
After my degree in econometrics in 1993, I started to work as a trainer in sales techniques for a service provider and then became a business unit manager, I stayed there for 7
years.
Then it was 11 years at SFR (French mobile operator) where I had the chance to work in several areas of customer relationship. We are then in 2009.
In the meantime I got married and had two daughters Sofia and Louisa. In 2009 my husband was transferred to Switzerland where his company headquarters are located. Then i leave SFR to follow him and from there started knitting time to time.
From there we started our expatriate life with all the family and from Lausanne we landed in Dubai in 2012 then again in Lausanne in 2016 and today we are in Tokyo since October 2020.
For my part, I had to adapt to this new life, which was certainly enjoyable, but full of change at every step.
Regarding work, I had to find an activity that could be practiced easily where I was!
In Dubai I created customizable jewelry on the mother-child theme “bytifa”. But when we returned to Switzerland in 2012 i was unable to continue the activity since the jewelry was made in Dubai and it was impossible to go there as often as necessary.
So in 2016, I started knitting again, selling a few items in a creative shop “Augustine et Balthazar” in Ferney Voltaire not far from Geneva.
This beautiful creative place is run by 2 great ladies, Magali and Camille who trusted me and offered me to run knitting/crochet classes in their workshop.
And that’s what I did !
At the same time, I also ran knitting workshops for children and adults in coffees or at home.
Today I live in Japan and look forward to being able to organize these workshops. I also love sewing and my next challenge is to discover Japanese art and craft and share it with you through this blog!
See you soon
Sayonara !
