If beauty waited many years in a drawer, would you set it free?
I did…
The drawer held the patterns of my grandfather —
a woodcarver from Transylvania.
He could not travel the world.
War and communism made it impossible.
Now his woodcarving patterns travel through textiles —
carrying stories of freedom, belonging, and renewal.
From That Drawer, A Whole World Grew.
I’m Meli, an economist turned designer, anthropologist and explorer.
My work sits at the intersection of culture, craft and macro-level thinking.
Through textiles, patterns and stories, I study how people create, belong, and express freedom — and how heartfelt projects grow in a world shaped by economics.
Enter. Wander. Begin again.