Catherine Makogon

Kateryna Makogon from Lysychansk, Luhansk region. The businesswoman has been creating soft toys for ten years. It was originally a hobby, but now successfully sells them through online platforms abroad.

Kateryna started creating "wolf", a fox and a tiger ten years ago. A psychologist by profession, Kateryna studied at a local art school. But before that I tried myself in different techniques - painted stained glass, decorated objects. Gradually, she came to the conclusion that she was interested in repeating the "portrait" of a pet.

“Stained glass windows could not be sent to customers, and there were no local orders. I decided to create collectible toys. She created the first portrait toy as a gift for her husband. It was a portrait of his dog from childhood. I posted it on social networks, that's how orders for other animals started, ”says Kateryna Makogon.

Now the master creates realistic sculptures of animals - they are the same size as in nature, all the proportions are preserved.

Kateryna sometimes spends a whole month creating such a toy. She always makes an individual pattern, develops a frame, buys faux fur with airbrushing for future sculpture in Germany - so her work looks as realistic as possible. She makes some orders from photos of animals, sometimes she looks for an image to show customers her capabilities.

“My work is painstaking, it takes from a week to a month to create one sculpture. Therefore, they are expensive. My main customers are Europeans and Americans. They decorate their houses with such sculptures, there are collectors who collect such toys. It can also be located in shopping malls, photo areas, ”says Kateryna.

Such a sculpture of an animal costs 1-2 thousand euros. To sell it, Catherine uses various online sales techniques.

"I run my blog, I work with distributors, bloggers, I post my work on Etsy. Now I plan to go to Ukrainian marketplaces with them, I want my toys to be known in Ukraine as well, so that my sculptures adorn large shopping or entertainment centers in our country. ”

There is another area that she is developing - conducting courses on making collectible toys. Kateryna trained as a craftswoman in China, Taiwan, Ukraine, Russia and around the world via the Internet. She is currently developing her online school with the support of USAID mentors.

Kateryna Makogon's Facebook page - https://www.facebook.com/artsyndychok