"The Designer"

Welcome to "It's About Time"!

Today I have the pleasure to introduce you to Ms. Ksenia Dolgova.

Ksenia has lived in the United Arab Emirates for the better part of 21 years. She arrived here looking for a place to get away from cold weather of Russia and found the summer heats of Dubai.

Since a childhood, Ksenia begun toying with the creation of accessories and jewelry. Today she designs leather and crystal accessories and purses/bags from her workshop in St. Petersburg, Russia as well as design prestigious jewelry for her selected customers.

Join me onto this episode to get an insight on the life of Ksenia.

So sit back and relax because "It's About Time" to get started!

If you want to know more about Ksenia you can follow her on:

@axiniafashion

Follow the podcast on Instagram: 

@itsabouttimeiat

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Why would you choose happiness instead of making money? What what brought you there?

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Things are falling in my hands and instead of being happy, I'm like, eh, I want something what excites me, what uh I really like. The first um money in your life made by you with your hands. This is something very special. I got sick with um unknown sickness, and uh my doctor he told me anyway, there is no treatment.

SPEAKER_02 0:35

Hello everybody, and uh welcome once again. Today I have the pleasure of introducing you to a wonderful, wonderful lady who has been a milestone in my life and a guiding light through some dark moments that I had. And uh, we have been together as partners for uh the better part of eight years, and hopefully we'll see many more. So it's with great pleasure. I want to introduce you to Xenia Dalgova. Hi, Xenia.

SPEAKER_00 1:06

Hello, Chris.

SPEAKER_02 1:10

So Xenia's my wife. Uh we married last year, and this is uh the first time I'm actually doing a formal interview of her.

SPEAKER_01 1:19

It is.

SPEAKER_02 1:20

So Xenia, or my love. Um I wanted to I wanted you to tell us a little bit your story. Um what brought you first of all, what brought you uh to the UAE?

SPEAKER_00 1:36

No, to UAE first time I came because of bad weather in Russia. I'm from Russia, and it was uh first snow in November, and I was walking in St. Petersburg getting my beautiful boots all ruined, and uh thinking I cannot live like this anymore. I wanna send sun and sand right now. And uh came home and I started looking for the place what can be suitable with my inquiry. And uh it was uh many countries uh in Europe, it was America, but I decided America is a bit too far. Europe, it's weather is not really wow in November, and uh then I see Dubai and then I check the weather, and I said, like, this is the place where I want to go. Plus, I saw the pictures of um Pam Jumeira, what was still a picture, it was uh is a project building up, and uh I said I wanna go there. Okay, and um after passing uh interview with the hotel, I arrived to Dubai in um three in two or three months, and uh I started my first job as a waitress in a hotel in Dubai in January 2005.

SPEAKER_02 2:59

So you have been here for the better part of uh 20 years or so? Yes, and you've seen a lot of Dubai.

SPEAKER_00 3:07

Yeah, I've seen it in different conditions.

SPEAKER_02 3:12

So when I met Xenia, it was in 2018, and I met her uh through some common friends at uh an event, just a barbecue of my motorcycle club. And from there, our friendship started. I invited her to come ride with me, and we did a lot of kilometers together. Um but throughout all of this, one of the things that uh captured my attention about my wife was that she was a jewelry designer. So, Xenia, can you tell me a little bit more about how did you get into jewelry?

SPEAKER_00 3:50

Um all types of accessories and jewelry, including it was uh my um passion from my childhood. I started to bid uh necklaces and bracelets with um simple beads when I was um 10 years old. My cousin showed it to me and I fell in love with that. And uh I made so many. I had uh my hands full on both hands, and uh at that time you maybe in uh Chile. Ah no, you were in Italy already. We in Russia we had this um trend to give uh little bracelets to your friend. So I was giving to all my friends, my friends were giving to me, so we were like hippie style full of uh little bracelets, yes, like the string bracelets with the beads, yes, and then uh I got fed up with um beads because I try everything possible to do with that. And I look at the leather, and um my father gave me uh leather uh gloves. The leather was so rough and uh hard, and uh still I managed to do something with that, and eventually uh, mother of our of my friend she gave me and to another two of my friends who were into that a leather jacket and actually a leather coat. And uh, this was uh an adventure for all of us because it was big and it was a nice piece of leather and it was soft and thin, and we started to create um whatever we could bracelets, necklaces, and um uh eventually uh uh father of one of the girls he asked us to give uh whatever we produced for an exhibition, just to try to see how it's gonna happen. And the exhibition was uh famous in my town. My town was uh very small, but the exhibition was very famous, so the whole town was there, and uh he sold everything in one day. And uh this was my first money what I made. I was 13 years old, and uh I was so excited, and uh, he called us all of us to his daughter to us and said, Girls, do you have anything else? And we didn't, so but the exhibition was for another four days, so the next four nights until three, four o'clock in the morning. I don't know, after homework, we were three of us producing something and um to sell more because it was really it was something for us. First um, money in your life made by you with your hands. This is something very special.

SPEAKER_02 6:36

This is beautiful, and this was during the Soviet Union.

SPEAKER_00 6:39

No, at that time Soviet Union already finished, and um it was right after.

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Right after.

SPEAKER_00 6:45

Yeah, so that's why it was no much um how to call it, not much variety of materials. And um, but uh it didn't um stop us from creating. Compared before and after and now, now there's so many stuff uh you can make from so many things, and it's endless possibilities. At that time it was a little bit limited, but it didn't stop us.

SPEAKER_02 7:13

So you touch very briefly about your little town. I'd like to hear a little more about your little town, where it's located, and how was your childhood there?

SPEAKER_00 7:23

Yeah, my little town, it's apatite, it's Murmansk region, it's uh above polar circle. Uh so the weather is uh pretty rough there. We have um polar night and uh polar day, which is um from October until end of until beginning of March. We almost have no sun. In uh December, for example, we don't have sun whatsoever. It's just becoming bright for a couple of hours and then uh it's becoming dark again. And uh same uh the opposite in summer. Uh sun doesn't go down whatsoever, so it's like two o'clock in the morning. You have to put curtains, otherwise it's um fully uh sunshine, so it never gets dark. It might become um a little less bright because the sun goes behind mountains, but it's still like daytime. And um my childhood was pretty cool. I I will not complain about it, it was fun. Yeah, it started when I was um during the Soviet Union, and um but all these events were happening um for me. I didn't uh see much difference. I remember my parents were struggling about it, uh but as for me, everything was um nice and natural. The only thing was concerning me when I was a little child, the possibility of traveling during the Soviet Union. It was pretty much difficult, especially to certain countries, and they wanted to see the world, and I was thinking, oh my god, how I'm gonna go because uh from our country it's so difficult. But uh from the moment it became possible, I started to travel.

SPEAKER_02 9:14

Oh, this is very nice. And did you like traveling?

SPEAKER_00 9:17

I love traveling, and I think I'm gonna travel till the end of my days.

SPEAKER_02 9:20

Yeah, I believe so. So one of the uh when I was uh driving to come uh today, I was trying to figure out what type of analogy I could compare my wife to, and one of those was just the wind because Xenia is just like the wind, unstoppable and free and everywhere.

SPEAKER_00 9:40

There is many places I didn't see yet. Yeah, I've been counting uh how many countries I visited. I uh I've been counting two years ago, and it was already 70 plus. So we need to add a little more for past two years.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

So let's go back to the jewelry.

SPEAKER_00 10:00

Okay.

SPEAKER_02 10:01

I so you started with accessories when you were a little girl. And then how did that evolve?

SPEAKER_00 10:09

Um after I finished school, I completely forgot about it because I didn't see it as an opportunity because um you know I think majority of Soviet uh kids had to go through school, then university, then work. But um what to do, which work. When I finished school, I was very honest with myself and I realized that um I knew only two subjects. It's uh math and uh English. And um with these um subjects to enter, there is no university to enter. If it there is a math, so there is should be it should be um physics or chemistry, if it is uh English, it should be literature or um history. So I was lucky in all of that. And um my mom was insisting that I have to go into university, and it was the only condition for me to leave my little nice town to big city to St. Petersburg. So my mom said, if you will get into university, uh you will stay there. If not, you're coming back. So at that point I was thinking, like, okay, whatever, I just need to stay because I wanted to live in big city, I wanted my independence to live uh all alone. And uh I ended up in um University of Technology and studying chemistry, and um obviously I didn't like it, and um and um I was um kicked out from there. Then I um went to another one, it was philology. At this time I didn't like it um and I um withdrew myself from there myself, and um I went to Japan. It was um my first trip out of uh Russia, and uh I was working uh in Japan in a bar, and um it was very interesting. I think we can do another podcast about it. But after that I come back uh to Russia and I said that I want to go more and more, and uh that's why I ended up in Dubai. I didn't do anything with jewelry, it I totally removed it from my um head. It was like a nice hobby what I had um at school. But changing jobs from bar to restaurant to cabin crew to real estate agent, uh restaurant manager, so I try many different things and uh eventually end up in a situation when I was working as a restaurant manager, knowing that I'm gonna be fired because it was a difficult time in Dubai that year, 2009. And while while they hired me, they told me that they're gonna fire me in some. And I was thinking, what should I do? Because I don't want to work for somebody because I already did it for several years, I didn't like it. And I was looking for that something that I really like where I can dedicate myself fully and to be independent. And um, I don't know how it happened. Suddenly I remember that uh I can do some things with my hands. And uh, from the first moment I thought about it, uh, my head was full of ideas. And uh next day I came to visit my friend, she had a beauty salon, and I was telling her, you know, maybe I can do this, that. And it was a lady at the salon listening to our conversation, and she said, Yeah, yeah, can you make for me something? I'd like to have a necklace bracelet and earrings with uh green and pink color up to your design. And I was like, seriously, she said, Yeah, yeah, I will be your first customer, and uh was excited. I ran to the era to buy some uh beads, leather to whatever I could find, uh whatever idea I had. And uh I made the set and she bought it, and yes, she was my first customer. And uh I started to build up oh my god, I can do this, this, and I started buying um some materials and I started uh producing some things, first for myself, then for my friends, then it became more and more. And then another friend of mine said, Why don't you do an exhibition? And um, exhibition came up. It was uh in um Buffy Mall. And I did my first exhibition, and it was quite successful. And I was like, Oh my god, I can uh I can do that. And then this time came, and uh I got opportunity to start making it as a real business. And um I hired a lady who was helping me. I teach her everything, and I was paying her salary, and uh we started to produce and creating things, it's the best part of it in uh in uh jewelry for me. But then became a question where to sell all that, how to pay salary. I need packaging, I need marketing, I need this, this, that. And I understand no, I'm not ready for that. And uh, I got scared of responsibilities, and uh I said, like, no, no, no, I'm not doing it. I wanna keep it as a hobby, whenever I wanted uh to enjoy myself, that but to do it uh like uh 24-7 uh and with all responsibilities I don't want. So I stop and I didn't do anything for two years, I didn't think in that direction, and um eventually I realized that okay, I cannot continue like this all my life, I have to do something, and I was choosing do I want to work for somebody? No. At that time I was very good at real estate because I was um working for seven years in real estate, and at this at that time real estate started picking up. I said, like, yeah, I know how to do it, but does it make me happy? No, do I want to do my make money and not to be happy? No, and what made me happy to create things.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

How did you come to that realization about the relationship between happiness and money? And why would you choose happiness instead of making money? What what brought you there? Because many people are always chasing the money, chasing the money, chasing the money, and obviously throughout this process they tend to forget about what brings them joy. So what happened to you? Why do you reach that maturity where you could see that happiness was important, joy was important?

SPEAKER_00 17:15

I have no idea. I don't know. At that moment when I was choosing what to do, uh I remember my real estate experience, and I was also running for money. That's why I actually participated in uh real estate at that time, because everybody was doing real estate. I joined in 2008, just before the crisis, but I survived all the crisis, and I finished when it was 2015. But uh I remember very well my last deal, what was super easy. I didn't have to do anything. I just received a phone call and I sold apartment over the phone. And um, my manager called me and he said, We received some money, we don't know what it is for. And uh I said, Is this this much? He said, Yeah. I said, like, oh my god, I just sold apartment over the phone. And um, oh congratulations, my manager, he was so happy, and I'm like, okay, now I have to run to do all the paperwork. And um, the amount was uh quite good. I could do nothing for the next six months, and still I was so instead of being happy, I was so upset that I have to do now all this paperwork, even though I'm uh saving for the my life for the next six months. And uh at that moment I thought that something's wrong. It shouldn't be like that. Things are falling in my hands, and instead of being happy, I'm like, eh. And uh I remember that moment, and that's why when I again um put myself um like in the that I have to do choices, I remember that situation and I said like okay, yeah, I know how to do it, but I don't want. I want something what excites me, what uh I really like. And um I understand that this uh jewelry I can do not only jewelry, whatever things to create, I can do endlessly. I will never get okay, I don't want to say never, but uh I don't think I will ever get bored from this because there is so many um so many different materials I can work and uh it I'm creating not only jewelry, I'm creating leather accessories, bags, I did clothes, I did uh hair piece, and uh I love to do also interior design, I like to do paintings, and uh it's all um about creating things, creating atmosphere as well. So it's all related, everything related to beauty. I I love.

SPEAKER_02 20:05

So we went through your real estate period, and then there is a very nice story that you tell to our friends, uh, which stimulates a lot of very beautiful conversation. Could you tell us about your fasting?

SPEAKER_00 20:20

Oh, my fasting. Yeah, I'm fasting now. Yes, you are yeah, uh first time I tried to do fasting when I was, I think, about 19, 20 years old, because I was uh working in a model agency, and um they told me that you have to lose weight. And uh I heard about this radical method just to do fasting, and I said, let me check what it is. So I did check, it was a doctor who put some needles in uh my um ear, and uh he told me that uh whenever I'm so hungry I have to massage uh one of them and it will kill my hunger and keep uh drinking water. So I did fasting for two weeks. It worked very good. I think I lost like seven kilos. I was super happy. And when I came for casting, my uh agency director was shocked. Not only everybody, like what happened like two weeks ago? You were something, now you are this. What did you do? Nothing, I didn't eat anything. So it was a cool experiment. Um, but in uh one week I gained everything and um plus and more. Yeah, because of course, from the moment I started to eat, uh it's um the most important process in fasting is to get out from it because to do not eat anything, you just don't eat. And um to get out from that, uh you need to start slowly, slowly. And uh, this is you have to stop all the time, otherwise you will jump on food and uh eat everything and uh Good if you're strong enough, your stomach will survive, but you can end up actually in hospital. So, but it was my first experience, and um uh in 2018, it was a very interesting year in my life, um, changing everything. And um I got sick with um unknown sickness, and uh, my doctor he told me he gave me um uh encyclopedia and he said read these two pages. Some you have something from here, but uh I don't know what exactly. And um anyway, there is no treatment, so I'm so sorry. And uh I very appreciate this guy because usually doctors send you here, there, try this, try that. So he didn't do any experiments on me. He said, like, I'm sorry. And I came home and I was thinking, like, okay, so nobody can help me. It was doctor number five, by the way, it was not the first, just whatever. And um in the morning I woke up and I remember my fasting experience, and um that I was reading about it a lot actually, and I read that uh fasting can treat cancer. And I thought that okay, if it can treat cancer, my unknown disease it will treat for sure. And um with these thoughts I stopped eating and um yeah, my life started changing on my own eyes. Uh I started I was getting uh kind of um uh bumps under my skin, and uh they were getting uh self-um-infected, and uh, so I it required uh surgical procedure, and it was happening on all parts of my body, including face, and uh with I didn't know next morning I wake up where I'm gonna have new one. And from the moment I started fasting, everything got stopped. So whatever I had, it was there, but uh nothing was coming new. And uh after that, actually a few of them disappeared by itself. But uh anyhow I had to do a few surgeries and I did. Uh, and uh I said the doctor that I'm not gonna take any uh antibiotics because I haven't eaten like I don't know for two weeks already. Um so total I did um 22 days, and um this period was also interesting, not because it was a healing period uh for my body but it's a very interesting period for my mind because um when you don't eat uh your mind working differently and uh differently, it's clear you have no laziness, you don't have work tomorrow, or I don't want. Everything becomes very easy. In these 22 days, I did so many things what I couldn't uh do in six months. And um I just woke up and your day started. There is no breakfast, there is no coffee, there is no, I don't know, I didn't I even didn't need to brush my teeth because um there is uh no any ador, there is nothing uh on your teeth because you don't eat. So you just uh drink water, brush your hair, and you're ready to go. So I really like to do it once in a while since that time, um, because I'm not a very sportive girl, and you're cooking so good. So I have to deal with that, and uh, this is how I'm dealing with that. So last year I was fasting as well, exactly at the same time. Yes, and I think once a year for two weeks it's um good ratio.

SPEAKER_02 25:52

Okay, so you're gonna do two weeks this time.

SPEAKER_00 25:54

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 25:54

Very good. I'll help you out. Yeah, as best as I can.

SPEAKER_00 25:59

Yeah, bring me water.

SPEAKER_02 26:01

So, very nice. And uh one of the things that I really, really appreciate about my relationship with you was how you have helped me process um a lot of the insecurities and emotional difficulties and turmoils that I had from childhood, all the little what's it called, traumas and whatnot. And uh in order to do that, you have been studying.

SPEAKER_01 26:29

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 26:29

And you have been studying diligently because I have seen you constantly reading and attending online seminars, classes, and physically as well. Could you tell us a little bit about uh your studies and uh what you have gained from them?

SPEAKER_00 26:47

Sure. Um in 2008, it was very interesting year for me. Um I went to India and um India. 2018. 2018. Yes. Ah, yeah, 2018, sorry. And um many things was happening in India, particularly one I had a vision because I visited um Osha Oshram for three days, and uh something happened. Um I didn't take any drugs, any alcohol, nothing. And I had a vision like um a moment from Avatar movie where the tree, the water, the leaves, everything is uh connected, everybody connected, and uh so that moment will describe very much my vision. So I've seen something very similar. And uh I felt um endless uh love, happiness. Um I don't know how to describe it. It's uh you're like on the cloud, floating, and everything is just amazing, uh beautiful, harmony. I don't know, all this word put together and multiply by 10. And um I was so happy, so delighted I come back and um I was loving everybody, telling uh spreading the love uh on each and everybody, smiling and telling like what world is so wonderful, and then slowly it started getting fading away, and uh more and more and more, and one day it's faded away completely, and I realized that life is so miserable, I cannot continue like this. What is this? I don't know. The four months ago I was so happy, flying, and now I am almost on the ground, I don't want to do anything. And um I again start asking myself, like, what is this? I don't want to go to India every four months, it's like uh to get my dose of uh I don't know, uh, harmony and happiness. I want I wanna keep it uh always, and uh I'm sure I was sure that there is a way to keep it, and um, but I didn't know what it is. And uh I had a friend, uh, actually, she um suggested me a beautiful method called um ideal method of Teutch and by Teutch. Uh Teutch is uh family name of um uh Maria Joel and uh Chimpion Kurtoj, their husband, they were husband and wife, they already passed away, but they created uh amazing method um connecting um talking, they are talking about psychogenetics, so they are talking about uh genes, but um uh not in a way of um like we are giving uh to our kids some um physical genes. They're talking about psychics, so whatever was happening in the life of your parents, your grandparents, your grandgrandparents, um they are saying about four generations after you, you are carrying this um how to call it little suitcase of different emotions, and you even don't know about it. Uh, it's uh in our subconscious, and um in certain situations you react in certain ways, and sometimes you don't really like your reaction, and um you don't understand from where this reaction came from. But this reaction came actually from your grandgrandfather or grandgrandmother or from your mother, it depends on the situation. So by looking at the life of your parents, grandparents, uh wherever relatives you know, and more events you know, you can uh find the patterns what are repeating in your life.

SPEAKER_02 30:46

That's what they call programming. The programs.

SPEAKER_00 30:49

Yeah, you know, many systems they call it different programs, you can call it codes, you can call it destiny. So depends uh in which system uh we are talking. But yes, it is um, and uh once uh you are able to identify this program code or whatever, you are able to change it instead of going same times and doing same um things being not happy. You identify it one time, you understand where uh it's growing from, and uh you how to call it rewrite it on the or write your own, and uh your life is um changing um beautifully.

SPEAKER_02 31:30

Yeah, I I have experienced some of these uh changes myself, I have seen them in you, and I have seen some of them in myself as well, simply by going back into my family lineage, discovering where I come from and learning from my parents and my siblings, even everybody uncles, parents, grandparents, and what they've done, and noticing certain patterns. And once you notice them, you're right. It is a very interesting uh um concept, and and uh it is easier to change.

SPEAKER_00 32:09

Yeah, but I wanna add something uh very important um point um in what makes different um ideal method of Deutsche. They're uh doing uh their studies based on the Bible.

SPEAKER_01 32:25

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 32:26

So there is uh faith involved, and this is the main point. Because many like psychological disciplines. I my Russian English here it's difficult. So they talk about behavior of the parents and grandparents, but uh these people particularly they um uh pointing out on um Bible, not only Bible actually. They're using Bible, Torah, and the Quran. So all the this um holy books, and explaining why all this happening with um your uh grandparents' parents and so on, up to you, uh with this point. So this is um and I believe myself uh absolutely in that without faith you can live, but um it's a bit different life, and um most probably difficult life. I don't wanna say it is, but um yeah.

SPEAKER_02 33:32

It is. I can I can attest to that. I lived a big portion of my life without faith, actually rejecting faith.

SPEAKER_00 33:41

Yeah, and so many people doing that, um, and me myself as well. I I didn't reject faith, but I couldn't understand what is this. I was baptized when I was six years old, and uh I was asking my mom um about it uh why did she do what it was, and uh I understand that she cannot give me clear answers. She was doing like everybody were doing because many people they're doing things um just uh because they've been taught to do like that. And uh my case was the same. And um since I was six, I was already understanding what's happening. I was not a baby, so I remember the whole procedure. To be honest, I didn't like it at all.

SPEAKER_02 34:25

I didn't like it also when I was baptized.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

Yeah, and um I started to look at this more close, like what does it mean for what? And um um I started to understand what is God, who is God, and uh it's not related to religion. Uh all uh religion they're talking about the same thing, just uh different um languages. And um I can say that I have my own religion if I can say so. Yeah, I believe in God, and um but I cannot say that uh I am uh Christian Orthodox even though I'm uh baptized.

SPEAKER_02 35:07

I understand you completely.

SPEAKER_00 35:09

Yeah, I'm not following rituals at least for now. I don't know, maybe uh one day everything will change, but so far it is uh like this, and um I'm uh happy with uh my Jesus, and um I wish everybody to be happy with their Jesus.

SPEAKER_02 35:28

So I want to go back now to something a bit more recent, which is um our trip to Italy, okay, and how uh it started. How how well you were already working in the jewelry industry, but all of a sudden I'm involved into it too. Okay, and so I remember the first time I met you, you were designing jewelry for a factory here in Dubai, and you created some beautiful collections, and that's where you started your brand as well, Axenia. Uh, and then throughout our relationship, uh we met uh uh a wonderful person who has become family to us, uh Nino, who took you to Capri.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

Oh, you should take next podcast with him.

SPEAKER_02 36:20

Oh, that would be amazing. Well, we'll talk to him. Let's see. So from Capri, you were exposed again to the world of luxury, the world of uh jewelry, and particularly with Nino to a world that I didn't even know existed.

SPEAKER_00 36:35

It's no world of luxury, it's a big world, considering that we've been living with Nino in a 15 uh square meters room together, a sharing uh bathroom and uh dividing room with um a rail with the clothes, yes, and I was sleeping on um a little sofa. Uh it was luxury, yes, in Capri for six months. And um yeah, from where to start? How did you end up in jewelry business? Because of you, no, I know because I was looking at you painting your miniatures with uh one hairbrush, sitting, I don't know, hours looking with this um glasses um magnifying. And um, I was struggling with um my jewelers who I was working because they couldn't do what I wanted to do. And um I told you, let's go to learn because I knew that you will like it.

SPEAKER_02 37:43

Yeah, this is uh I I don't want to say I was trapped, but I have to be very honest. I'm very grateful that you dragged me to Roma.

SPEAKER_00 37:54

Yeah, I find that uh Nino find that's cool. I've seen it, I liked it, and I said let's go. And you were, remember, you were hesitating, yeah. What if it knew what and I insist, I said, no, I'm going.

SPEAKER_02 38:07

Uh actually, the way she convinced me, she just looked at me and said, What are you gonna do? And I had honestly speaking, I had nothing better to do. So why not?

SPEAKER_00 38:20

Yeah, and um you were the best student in the in the school. Nobody believed that you didn't touch jewelry in your life before.

SPEAKER_02 38:34

So we went both of us to Roma for about three months to study at the Academia dell'Artiografe. Were you specialized in what?

SPEAKER_00 38:42

I specialized in goldsmith. I did a little bit of um wax carving. I did a little bit of stone setting, but it's not my thing.

SPEAKER_02 38:52

It's okay, that would be my thing. At least something I can do. And so from that moment on, and we learned also, both of us, we learned uh cut design.

SPEAKER_00 39:01

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 39:02

Which uh I I feel it was very helpful, particularly because uh it allowed you to see how the process works.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 39:10

And and I keep practicing so we can sit together and design jewelry, which is what you like to do the most.

SPEAKER_00 39:18

Yes. I'm very happy in creating. I have um employee at home.

SPEAKER_02 39:24

Yes. So um jewelry and what is today your favorite um gemstone? That is not really a gemstone. I'll rephrase it. I know that you love pearls. And everybody can see what you're wearing today. Yeah, your earrings of your creation, it's a beautiful ring, and the other ring also created by you. Um so you love pearls?

SPEAKER_00 39:55

I love pearls.

SPEAKER_02 39:56

How?

SPEAKER_00 39:57

No, thanks to uh Nino, he introduced us uh to his sister, who is um dealer of uh pearls for more than 20 years, and um just uh one day I was uh lucky enough to be invited to help her and um to understand pearls because before I was very indifferent, and um from the moment I start to learn pearls, I was falling in love more and more because the moment you understand things it becomes more interesting, and uh yes, I love pearls. I'm afraid to do uh how to call it uh gemstones because they're so many, and um variety are endless. So let's let's uh stick to pearls for now.

SPEAKER_02 40:51

Okay, okay. And uh thanks to Pinella, you have been attending uh the Hong Kong Jewelry exhibition.

SPEAKER_00 41:00

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

Could you tell us a little bit about that?

SPEAKER_00 41:03

Um first time I went to Hong Kong it was 2019, and uh when I entered the hall, I was almost crying because um uh I didn't expect it to be so big, and uh I couldn't see the beginning and uh the end, even though the exhibition is going for five days. Or no, it's a little longer.

SPEAKER_02 41:33

There's two.

SPEAKER_00 41:33

Yeah, there is two together, so they're eight or nine days together, but uh it's not possible to visit everything and to see everything, even though I was going every day. And um yeah, so I decided next year I will prepare myself, I will do designs and I will buy stuff for my designs because otherwise I wanted uh everything, but also there is a very um good uh stop point to the budget because uh you can spend on gemstones everything.

SPEAKER_02 42:08

Yes, yes, very good. So pearls, gemstones, gold, jewelry. Where do you see yourself in the near future?

SPEAKER_00 42:25

You are asking, you're doing my techniques. Yes, I'm learning. I understand. Um where I don't know, somehow I feel myself in Italy, uh, hopefully in um my own castle. And um half of the castle can be um Airbnb or a little hotel where you will cook uh breakfast and dinner sometime.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

As long as I get barbecue as well.

SPEAKER_00 42:55

Sure. And um there is uh maybe a little shop or maybe a little studio where I'm teaching something because I can teach actually many things, but um related to um beauty and um what else? That's it.

SPEAKER_02 43:18

I think uh it's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 43:21

I like the idea.

SPEAKER_02 43:22

It's a good idea.

SPEAKER_00 43:24

Okay, so I guess we'll need to go to Italy and find the castle. No, it's in ten years. It uh doesn't mean that we have to go now. We'll find it when we find it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 43:37

Very cool. I would like I would like now you if if you could remember any moment that you like to share with everybody or and with me.

SPEAKER_00 43:50

Um before that's okay.

SPEAKER_02 43:56

Okay, that was uh difficult. Difficult yet the moment you passed that struggle you felt stronger, you felt more in control. So a difficult moment in your life uh which made you stronger, in your opinion, in your vision, in your mind.

SPEAKER_00 44:23

No, all difficult uh moments in my life, it was a point of growth. This is for sure. We are learning by hitting our head on the floor when we're learning how to walk. So it's uh what also counts. But I think the changing, like the most uh significant, uh what I will always remember, unless I don't know what's gonna happen, it's that um awakening moment in India. And um what uh actually forced me, forced me, what brought me to go and get study, to understand uh where I'm coming from, um physically, from my um parents, grandparents, and all, but the most important spiritually. Who am I? Who we are, why we are here. So I start asking all these questions and I start finding uh answers. And um so life changed into adventure because before that it was mostly survival, because I came to Dubai all alone, um trying new things, new jobs, new people, people from everywhere. But um mostly it was uh of course it was a lot of fun, but it was a lot of struggle too. And um at that time I didn't think about uh my soul, what is it, how it is, what for all that. And um, and uh it was I think natural my um my uh failure in uh 2018 because uh I needed to find solid ground, and uh I found it. So I find my faith and uh things start changing and keep changing and uh keep growing. It doesn't mean that I don't have any struggle, but now it's not struggle, now it's adventure.

SPEAKER_02 46:25

Yeah, the concept of adventure is something I'm learning from you as well. Yeah, and probably that's why also I accepted to go to Rome with you and traveling with you, because traveling with you is intense.

SPEAKER_00 46:38

Some of our traveling schedules are a bit uh no, don't forget I am ex-cabin crew, so uh for me planes it's like buses and uh I'm catching them easily.

SPEAKER_02 46:51

Right.

SPEAKER_00 46:52

So no problem.

SPEAKER_02 46:55

Very nice. Well, um, I think uh we got a good look at Xenia Dalgova, the creator. Okay, so I want to thank you so much for taking the time and being with me.

SPEAKER_00 47:09

Thank you, Murmur.

SPEAKER_02 47:10

And and hopefully you'll be with me tomorrow and the rest of the days as well.

SPEAKER_00 47:16

My love.

SPEAKER_02 47:19

And uh thank you.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

Thank you.