CLEVELAND — An Ohio woman and her partners are hoping to inspire people with the power of art.

What You Need To Know

  • Asira Mathew is the owner of Cre8 Sparks in Beachwood

  • The business is a do-it-yourself studio that encourages people to try DIY projects

  • Mathew grew up in Tajikistan and experienced many challenges before starting the business

It’s a do-it-yourself kind of art project for Asira Mathew. 

“You do a drawing on this piece, and then we flip it upside down, we can transfer it onto the apron or T-shirt, and then you use permanent fabric markers or colors to paint it,” she explained while demonstrating.  

Cre8 Sparks allows her to continue a hobby she picked up at a young age in her home country of Tajikistan. 

“When I was 11, I got my hands on sewing clothes and since then I have been 'DIY'-ing a lot of home decor stuff, a lot of gifting items that I give to friends and family,” said Mathew. 

Mathew said she grew up in a healthy family environment in her home country, until the collapse of the USSR changed everything.

“We would sit on the porch for days in the beginning, and we would listen to the radio station just to kind of make an announcement, what towns have been taken over by the opposing group, and when they would take over the towns they would kill everybody, they would take them in and turn them into soldiers, but then the rest of the families' wives and kids, they would burn the entire towns,” Mathew described.  

After the USSR left the country, a violent civil war broke out. According to Open Democracy.net, the war dragged on for over five years. Between 35,000 and 157,000 people were killed, 37,500 households were destroyed and more than 1.5 million were displaced.

Mathew got emotional while talking about the conflict. She witnessed many of those horrors herself as her family struggled. 

“My uncle was part of the civil war, he went to the war, and a few weeks later, he came home wounded really badly, and the medical system was not even set up to take care of him. So there were people, they were just dying either from too much stress, having (a) heart attack or just physical wounds that were caused from the war,” said Mathew.  

But life began to change for Mathew when she discovered her mother’s sewing machine. The sewing machine led to projects to help pay for food, lifting the family’s optimism. 

“It really boosted my confidence and it was my way of expressing myself at that time. I was able to just through that type of artwork to really release a lot of emotions that I had back then,” said Mathew.  

She would eventually attend fashion school and move to the United States. After getting her business degree, she’d soon team up with Lorelei VerLee to DIY their own business venture. 

“Sparks fly with our imagination. We have more ideas than any human being could ever accomplish. We love coming up with ideas and we work well together. We have different skills and backgrounds, but we have a great synergy,” said VerLee, the owner of Cre8 Sparks.  

And as Mathew continues a successful life here in America, she hopes to use the power of art to inspire those who walk in the door. 

“I hear a lot of people walking in here and say ‘oh, I’m not good at painting or I’m not good at DIY. I don’t even want to try it. I don’t want to mess things up,’ but the truth is that you never know until you try,” said Mathew.