My Story

Some dreams take time to find you. This one has been quietly building for years.

I'm Sasha, born and raised in New Zealand, but my family heritage is Croatian, from this island, Hvar. I'd visited a few times growing up and even lived here for three months at the age of 18. In 2023, at 23, I bought a one way ticket back with no expectations, fell completely in love with the country and decided to stay.

The years that followed were some of the best of my life. I lived all over Croatia — Split, Zagreb, volunteering on a farm in a little village outside Pula — experiencing as much of this country as I possibly could, learning the language and connecting with my culture and the place my family is from.

This time and freedom also led me to travel to many countries all over the world. On my trips back to New Zealand I got to connect with boutiques across the country sharing my passion — selling my handcrafted jewellery and crochet pieces, stocking them in boutiques there and in Australia — using every free minute to explore my creative side. Travel, creating, figuring out what I wanted to build with my life. It was all happening at once. All from the decision to leave New Zealand after university and take a step into the unknown.

This is now my fourth summer in a row living on Hvar. When a store space came up on the island I jumped at it. I could finally have something of my own.

At 25 I'm opening my first store and it's all coming together so fast. Everything I make with love in one place — handcrafted jewellery, crochet shoulder bags, seashell clutches which are my new favourite thing to create, original Croatian art tees and prints, alongside curated natural fibre fashion and accessories from independent European brands I genuinely love. And the piece I'm most excited to bring to life, a charm bracelet bar where travellers can sit down and build their own bracelet from country charms I've designed myself. Places they've been, memories they want to hold onto, a piece of Croatia to carry home.

I know what it is to wander this earth and want to collect the places you've been. That's exactly what this store is about.

With Love Hvar is more than a store. Come find us in Stari Grad this summer, I'd love to meet you and hear the story of how you got here too.

With love, Sasha

Follow me on Instagram to see my of my journey.