Lana: “I learned that even broken things can become beautiful again”

A yellow dress can brighten Lana’s entire day. She can transform old jeans into a backpack. A broken washing machine is simple challenge for her waiting to be solved. The 43-year-old woman from Zagreb moves through life with endless persistence and creativity, always searching for beauty in unexpected places.

“I get bored of sadness,” she says laughing. “So I always need to create something, fix something or make something better.”

Lana is a psychologist, a mother of two and a passionate DIY creator. Over the years, she taught herself how to sew, repair furniture and even fix electronics through YouTube and Pinterest tutorials. Her home is filled with objects that others once threw away, but that she transformed into something entirely new. We use to call this reintegration.

“Absolutely everything on my terrace came from garbage,” she says proudly. “I love looking at something people abandoned and imagining what it could become.”

Together with her son, she turned old jeans into a handmade stool with pockets for popcorn and television remotes. Old kitchen cabinets became terrace furniture. Discarded cushions found a second life. But for Lana, creating is about much more than sustainability or decoration. “When my hands are busy, my thoughts become calmer,” she explains.

Learning to breathe again

Lana’s passion for rebuilding and creating started during one of the hardest periods of her life, after leaving a violent marriage. “At that time, I felt completely lost,” she says softly. “Like I disappeared.”

Her terrace became one of the first places where she slowly started reconnecting with herself. Over several evenings, she painted every detail on the walls by hand with a tiny sponge. “That terrace became my therapy before I even realized it,” she says. “While I was working with my hands, my mind slowly became quieter.” The process of restoring discarded objects also changed the way she viewed herself.“ Maybe that’s why I love recycling so much,” she reflects. “I learned that things people see as broken or worthless can still become beautiful again.”

A new birthday

One memory still stands out clearly in her mind. Lana remembers the exact date and time she first truly felt love for herself, June 12th, at 5:15 in the afternoon. “I was sitting on my terrace surrounded by all the things I had made,” she says. “And suddenly I felt this warmth spreading through my body.” For the first time in her life, she says, she felt completely connected to herself. “It felt like a new birthday,” she smiles. “So every year on June 12th, I celebrate it.”

Today, Lana hopes to combine creativity and psychology in workshops for women in the future. She believes creating things together can help people reconnect, both with themselves and with others.

“We don’t need more perfection,” she says. “We need more empathy, acceptance and love.”