Life and Work with Lisa Bittan

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lisa Bittan.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Lisa. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I started out my work life as a tax and bankruptcy lawyer and later stopped working to be a stay-at-home mother. When my son grew up and went away to school, I wanted to start working again, but I wanted to do something completely new and different–something that I loved.

I always had a huge passion for beautiful fabric and hand-made craft and I have always loved to travel the world. Just before my son left for school, we took a trip together to India, and it was magic. I was completely entranced by the huge array of beautiful textiles I saw, and and by the romance of Indian culture. The day after my son left for school, I returned to India to start my business, and haven’t stopped since.

For the last 11 years, I have spent about 4-5 months of each year in India. For the first few years, I traveled all over the country, “sourcing” products — buying all the beautiful things I would find. As time went on, I decided I wanted to make my own collections, so I started collaborating with the wonderful Indian artisans I had been meeting along the way, I like working with them in the field. I do not simply fly over to India for a couple weeks, give an order, and come home. I like to explore the process and possibilities. Often, I work for many months at a time in small villages, exploring how to use their embroidery, dying and printing techniques to create new products with a more contemporary and western feel. I am very much a ‘journey is the destination’ person.
My collections continue to evolve over time. and the collections now include clothing and accessories, and home products — pillows, bedding, table-top items (tablecloths, napkins etc. and all sorts of other hand made the craft.

Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Keeping a low overhead is the most important ingredient in my business. That means learning to live simply in India and in the USA, when necessary. It also means often doing all kinds of work. You learn by reducing operating costs as much as possible, one is able to take risks and explore new possibilities in production and also enables one to ride out bad times.

Patience and tolerance are also key when working in a different culture. I started my business just before my 50th birthday. I think my age has been a huge advantage to me in India. In many of the villages where I work in India, women are not always considered to be the equal of men. But in my experience, the people in India respect age more than people do in many western cultures. Often, I feel that I can overcome a general prejudice against females by being older, and presumably more experienced and wiser. Now, at age 60, many of the people I work within India are completely fascinated that I even work at all — at my “advanced age”. I think that young women who starting working in this type of setting — where there is a very entrenched and different culture — should remind themselves to be patient and tolerant because it will take a long time to change ancient and deeply entrenched values and customs — one must learn to be disciplined and resilient and not take too personally the words, which might be considered politically unacceptable in the USA.

Please tell us about Ya Living.
I like to make what I think is beautiful and made by hand. I like to constantly develop new types of products, and explore new techniques. I also like to do “custom” work for a client and help them create and realize THEIR dreams. My work is an ongoing adventure and education.

Sometimes this is not the most profitable way of conducting a business. And it is not the ideal way of developing one’s “brand” or “scaling”– two of my least favorite words. But it does give me enormous freedom and enables me to continue learning and exploring, and working on my “passions”.

I am proud of having a “niche” business that is constantly evolving and engaging, and where each collection is very different from the last — in style and in content. I am happy that customers are surprised when they walk in the door. I want my customers to share my adventures and explorations… it is a treasure hunt for all of us.
I also like to support handmade crafts because many arts are dying.

I also try to eliminate all waste. I take all of my excess fabric scraps/waste.( from cuttings) and create new, smaller products out of products out of the so-called “waste”… i.e., pouches, cocktail napkins, hair scrunchies and so much more. The new products become part of the “: Living Scraps” collection.

There’s a wealth of academic research that suggests that lack of mentors and networking opportunities for women has materially affected the number of women in leadership roles. Smart organizations and industry leaders are working to change this, but in the meantime, do you have any advice for finding a mentor and building a network?
Anthony Bourdain’s words really speak to me. He said, “If I am an advocate for anything, it is to move. As far as you can, as much as you can. Across the ocean or simply across the river. Walk in someone else’s shoes or at least eat their food. It’s a plus for everybody.”

I do believe that, whether it is finding a mentor or just about anything else — go out into the field and keep opening yourself up to opportunity — talk to people who share your interests and aesthetics.

Contact Info:

• Website: yaliving.com
• Phone: 310-569-2929
• Email: [email protected]
• Instagram: 2 instagrams: Lisabittan Ya Living
• Facebook: Yaliving

Image Credit:
Elizabeth Daniels – Elizabethdanielsphotography.com

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