Ully

"I create apparel inspired by our Indonesian culture. This makes me feel very proud.

"I was born in South Sumatra, the first of four children, to a simple family filled with love. My parents named me Yuliana Fitri, although I go by my nickname, Ully. My mother worked as a merchant and my father was a construction labor. They loved us so much. But my father was strict with us children so that we wouldn't become dependent and spoiled.

"Today, I'm a wife and mother myself. My husband is from Java. He helps me organize my workshop and also takes care of the photography and creates content for social media. We are blessed with a daughter to complete our small family. And being a mother makes me a better person. Motherhood has changed the way I view everything and my daughter is now my main concern. I am incredibly happy to have her.

"When I was away from home in college, our economy was unstable. But for an apparel maker like me, the worst crisis I faced was when I had just started to work for myself. In 2015, my small workshop collapsed and I had to sell my house to keep going. I'll never forget it. Another time, I was unable to pay a debt collector and my motorbike was impounded.

"But there is so much to love when working with apparel. I especially love to create designs and do all the design for my collections. Our culture is my inspiration and I also follow the fashion trends. We use traditional textiles such as Java's cotton lurik, a traditional hand-spun, handwoven fabric once reserved for the use of rice farmers, who were much respected. We also rely greatly in Indonesia's legendary ikat weaving, in which both warp and weft threads are tie-dyed before placing them on the loom. It takes a lot of skill to create the motifs with this technique.

"My husband and two assistants help me create the prototype. Then a total of four people assist in making the collections. I am so happy to share my work with you."