Remembrance of the year Past...

Assalam Alaikum,

Finally a year. A year to the day R. A. Creationz launched the collection "From Chinchi with Love” We complete a successful year Alhamdulillah and so far this has been our most popular collection, MashaALLAH. This was what put R. A. Creationz out there, what got us recognized. For all those wondering about the WE/US I use in posts and statuses. The WE/US stands for me and R. A. Creationz, for me my work is my partner and it is more real to me than anything else.

So how did the year really go...I would be lying if I say it was a success story all through. Life unfortunately does not work that way and neither does success, it's a hard, bumpy road filled with potholes along the way. And yes it requires such a large amount of hard work that sometimes you literally break your back doing it. All through one thing can keep you going and that is a genuine love for what you do. NOTHING ELSE! I am serious. Only a deep rooted love of your work can keep you going through thick and thin. If you don't love your work you might as well give up at the start. My Love for chamak patti is what drives me literally, and that I say is what keeps me going! Of course with generous doses of Love, Support and Care from the Most Amazing Best Friends! And a firm belief in the Divine Plan! I am a firm believer in the Divine plan set by ALLAH Tala, I believe no one does anything and succeeds if it isn't predetermined by ALLAH Tala. I believe in the signs and leaving myself in HIS hands completely. Somewhere at the right moment ALLAH Tala does show the way or eases the difficulties. 

So back to the initial launch! 15th April 2012 (Can't forget this date). A month of creating, photographing, editing, and of course asking for help (My logo was thankfully made by my sister's friend Asym Ali in return for a box of chocolates :P Asym, Thank you so much). Plus getting my best friend to go on a tweeting frenzy to generate enough hypes for the launch (wouldn't have done it without you Anam and with your awesome pre-launch teasers to keep the hype up). I finally uploaded the pictures onto my facebook page. The event was marked by a facebook event so that people join in more. The teasers were repeatedly shared and all my other friend's put to work in tagging and sharing. Mariam, Jiya, Samra, Hiba, Maheen, Saira, Shahwar a big Thank you! I can not forget the guys here, they had to bear the brunt of being tagged in girls stuff but they bore it with grace. Thank you Ali, Waqas, Salman, Hunain, Zain, Habib and Junaid for bearing it!

After all this hype the initial response was amazing Alhamdulillah! People loved the colours, and the unique medium and orders started pouring in.

Then came rebuttal! A particular 'popular' page also creating truck art jewellery, or should I say the particular girl's best friends started bombarding my page with comments of my work being copied. I had to continuously report them for spam and ban them. I wasn't contacted directly because of reason's known only to the 'popular page's' owner. It was always through her best friends and that too with either comments on my work or on my sister's wall, never a message to me. I reported them and kept quiet because at that moment I was just starting out and knew no other way to answer them. A year later I think I need to tell her that had I copied then I would not have been blessed by ALLAH Tala in any way because HE hates cheaters. I chose to remain quiet then and let my work speak and ALHAMDULILLAH it has spoken. I chose to use a medium I had heard of, not seen in totality. I scoured the streets of Karachi for 5 hours with my dad, just trying to find chamak patti, I wasted loads of bangles because I did not know how to use chamak patti. Had I copied I would have known where to get the material and how to use it! And I say this without an iota of pride that I am a self taught artist. I got a medium, I experimented and learnt to use it myself. And ALLAH Tala has blessed me with that work being recognized. MashaALLAH!

After that it has been a story like many others. Sometimes I had orders that made me work into the wee hours of morning and sometimes I had no work to keep me occupied. All through there has never been a moment I doubted my decision to use this medium and work with it. I fell in love with my first roll of Chamak patti and that love affair has just intensified with the passage of a year.

Through it all I am most humbled by the love and appreciation shown by my customers and fans. Each person visiting the page and commenting even a wow on my work makes my day. Your comment is as important as the orders I receive because you take a second out to actually appreciate my work in any way possible. All the testimonials from my happy customers who brighten up receiving their burst of colour in the mail, it gives me strength to go on. *Literally have goosebumps writing this*

People ask me what now? Some want me to delve into truck art kurtas, others want folders, yet others want clutches and handbags and some suggest footwear. Only ALLAH Tala knows best and at the right time all these will be introduced at R. A. Creationz. For the time being A BIG THANK YOU to all of you for the most amazing one year filled with your love and awesome appreciation. And the one thing I hope I never fail to say is ALHAMDULILLAH!

Love,

Riffat Alam

P.S. If you are reading this then you really are one of our most amazing fans who took time to read the post through. Give us the code "15A13" at any order you place with us within this year and receive a 15% Discount!