A Conversation with Goldwork Embroiderer Biserka Raičević
Biserka wove her love for creation into her dreams and became a goldwork embroiderer. Although she worked as an economist for most of her life, she pursued the traditional crafts she learned in her youth as a hobby.
She devoted over 18 years of her life to finance. However, within her, creativity, an artistic soul, and romance were simmering, leading her to finding a new passion. She opened a boutique for wedding dresses and formal gowns and successfully managing it for many years.
Biserka merged financial affairs with the beauty and romance of wedding dresses, and then combined the precision of the former and the creativity of the latter into goldwork embroidery.
“For goldwork embroidery, it takes three hours to finish ten centimetres of fabric. It requires great love, precision, perseverance, and accuracy,” explains Biserka.
Her new skill is intertwined with the support of the European Union since Biserka acquired her knowledge through a workshop organised as part of the ReLoAD project.
“Perhaps fortune arrives in one’s more mature years, and now I have discovered the profound love from my childhood, the love for goldwork embroidery,” said Biserka.
Her greatest support comes from her family—her husband, children, and grandchildren.
She is also proud of the professional recognition she received for the special contribution to the preservation and development of Montenegrin goldwork embroidery. Her message to women and girls is simple:
“Change your profession and find something that fulfils you. Happiness is the key.” Biserka believes that every stage of life carries its own beauty.
These years, beauty means spending time with her family and doing what she loves and what fulfils her.
