Help set up Karolina Laskowska in London

Liz Denocte is organizing this fundraiser.

Donation protected

Hi friends, colleagues and admirers of lingerie designer Karolina Laskowska and her work!

Our mutual friend needed to fund a cross country move after some life altering changes happened. Moving is expensive at best, devastatingly expensive or impossible at worst. Moving whilst being self-employed and also moving your BUSINESS? And a Museum? Across borders? Customs? Taxes? Nightmare.

After a lot of discussion (there might have been threats of wet fish involved) Karolina agreed to let us set up a crowdfunding campaign for her - a lot of people want to help her set foot in the UK again and we figured this would be the easiest way to do so!

The campaign is set up and run by me - Liz, but all money will go directly to Karolina.

What will your money go to?

Setting up a space to work!

To be able to start to work again asap there is need for the proper space to do so.

Your money will go towards furnishing a studio space and help fund the first months of rent until business starts running again.

Paying the costs of the actual move itself

Moving from Norway to the UK is quite a challenge because things get checked, taxed, probably confiscated etc. - the whole business side of things is very complicated and expensive to move across state borders.

The move itself is already done (Yay!) but there’s still a lot of bills to pay.

Dog treats, probably ;)

Karolina was able to bring her dog Kluska back to the UK and I'd like to think that our donations might also buy a treat or two for the goodest girl.

Goals

What are our goals?

We decided to set our goal to be the symbolic sum of £1500 - this is the sum of one month's rent for the new studio in London!

Update April 15th: We were able to reach our first goal in just one day - thank you so much to everyone, we appreciate you!

If we are able to raise £3000 it will be enough to cover the deposit for the new studio - I'm confident we can make it happen!

Statement from Karolina

Hello! I'm Karolina, designer of fancy knickers, director of The Underpinnings Museum, and general lace obsessive.

The past few months have been tough, to say the least. Following the collapse of a decade's long relationship, I was forced into the very challenging position of having to close my business in Norway and fund my move back to the UK... all whilst having to forgo a regular income. I'm now back in the UK after 7.5 years away and living with family, but my savings have been entirely depleted. Right now, all I want to do is get back to work and get back on my feet, but that's proving challenging with an empty bank account.

My lingerie brand has been going strong for over a decade, and my plan is to continue with it in the UK. I have clients waiting in the wings, I've been working hard on new products and a new collection, and I've found a new studio space. The problem is that there are now certain unavoidable costs related to restarting a business: basics like workroom furniture, equipment, packaging, which I will need to get back off the ground. I've started this GoFundMe on the advice of friends; I'm generally loathe to ask for help like this, but have come to accept that we all hit bumps in the road of life, and that's what community is there for! Any contribution is hugely appreciated; once I'm back behind my sewing machine, please do pop by my studio - I will likely foist a choker/knickers on you as a thank you! "

Statements from friends

Liz:

Why is there a go fund me?

Well - the short and honest answer might be that her friends finally wore her down and nagged her long enough to get one set up - the long and still honest answer is:

We want Karolina to be able to create art and THRIVE again. She does not accept help - especially financial help - easily and considering the circumstances of a cross country move a lot of us (her friends) were not able to help in person - and we would love to help her in some other way.

I can’t wait to see what Karolina will create when she finally had a chance to catch her breath! Actual quote: “TOO MANY IDEAS, ONLY ONE ME”