Conversations with Natalie Makar

Today we’d like to introduce you to Natalie Makar.

Natalie, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
“My story really begins with a gift I didn’t fully understand yet — a God-given eye for design and a love for making things with my hands.

I spent 12 years as a project manager and toy designer at Tyco Toys, developing million-dollar doll lines from concept all the way to production. I traveled to the Orient, worked trade shows, commercial shoots, and learned every corner of the product development world. I understood branding, price points, manufacturing, and retail. But something was missing.

Out of 29 years of sobriety and a deep love for the Lord, I created ‘I am’ — The Bag with a Message. Each collection carried a theme rooted in scripture. The first was the 23rd Psalm and the Fruit of the Spirit.

I took the brand to mass market — sales reps, production in China, trade shows. I learned what that world looked like from the inside. And then I felt called in a different direction.

For the last seven years I built and ran my own wedding floral business. I learned entrepreneurship on a deeper level — the hard way. And when I closed that chapter, I knew exactly what I wanted next.

I came back to ‘i am.’ But this time on my own terms — luxury, artisan, one of a kind. Things made by these hands, carrying a message the world needs right now. The second collection is ‘iam a remnant’ — bags constructed entirely from scrap fabric, pieces that had been thrown away, joined together to create something whole. That wasn’t just a design concept. That was my testimony.

I have 20 bags already made. Each one a remnant. Each one whole. Each one waiting to find the person who needs to carry it.”

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
“Smooth? No. Honest? Yes.

The road has been anything but smooth — and I think that’s exactly why the work I make means what it means.

The most defining struggle of my life has been addiction. I am 29 years sober. That didn’t happen by accident and it didn’t happen easily. It happened because something greater than me intervened. And every single thing I have built since then has been built on that foundation — on knowing what it means to be at the bottom, and choosing to rise anyway.

Professionally, I learned what it feels like to build something all the way to mass market — sales reps, production overseas, trade shows — and then walk away from it because the scale of it took the soul out of it. That was a hard lesson. You can have success and still feel empty if the work isn’t rooted in something true.

Then I built an entire wedding floral business from the ground up. Seven years. My hands, my vision, my company. And I closed it — because inconsistent income and seasonal feast-or-famine cycles are not sustainable, no matter how much you love the work.

So I have started over — more than once. I have closed chapters that I poured myself into. I have had to walk away from things I built with my own hands.

But here is what I know now that I didn’t know then: nothing was wasted. The design skills, the manufacturing knowledge, the floral artistry, the sobriety, the faith — every broken piece of this road has been a remnant.

And if you know my brand, you know what I do with remnants.

I sew them together and make something beautiful.”

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
“What I do is hard to put in one box — and I think that’s actually what makes it special.

I am a designer, a maker, a brand builder, and a storyteller. I create luxury artisan goods — primarily one-of-a-kind handcrafted bags — under my brand ‘I am a remnant’ by Romans 11:5 LLC. Every piece is constructed from remnant fabrics, quilted, beaded, and assembled by hand. No two are alike. Ever.

What I specialize in is the intersection of faith, craft, and testimony. I don’t just make beautiful things — I make meaningful things. Things that carry a message. Things that start conversations. My bags are witnessing tools. People wear them into the world and doors open — because what they’re carrying asks a question that people want answered.

What I’m known for is an eye that cannot be taught. I see design in everything — fabric, flowers, color, texture, structure. I have industrial design training, 12 years of professional product development, and decades of working across multiple mediums — quilting, beading, floristry, and artisan construction. That combination is genuinely rare.

What I am most proud of is the theology built into my label. The small ‘i am’ represents us — colorful, full of life, full of story. The capital ‘I Am’ on the back is God — black and white, because the gospel is black and white. I designed a witnessing tool into the brand identity itself. Most people spend their whole careers trying to create meaning in their work. Mine was there from the beginning.

And what sets me apart?

Anyone can buy fabric. Anyone can make a bag. But nobody else has 29 years of sobriety, a genuine testimony, a trademarked brand with scripture in its DNA, global manufacturing experience, and 20 finished pieces already made — each one a remnant, each one whole, each one waiting to find the person who needs to carry it.

I don’t have competition. I have a calling.

And I’m just getting started.”

Any big plans?
“The future is something I am genuinely excited about for the first time in a long time. And that feeling alone tells me I’m walking in the right direction.

The immediate plan is to launch the ‘I am a remnant’ collection publicly. I have 20 one-of-a-kind bags already made — handcrafted, each one unique, each one carrying a message. They have been sitting in my home unseen. That changes now. I am photographing them, naming them, telling their stories, and bringing them to market.

The platform will be direct to consumer — Etsy, Instagram, and select boutique wholesale relationships with stores that understand artisan luxury and story-driven goods. I am not interested in mass production again. I have done that. This chapter is about depth, not volume. Quality over quantity. Meaning over margin.

The next collection — Year Three of the ‘i am’ story — is already forming in my heart. The first collection was rooted in the 23rd Psalm and the Fruit of the Spirit — identity. The second was Remnants — restoration. Year Three is about turning toward the light. What happens after the darkness lifts. What recovery looks like when it becomes joy. I believe that message is going to resonate with a lot of people right now.

I am also bringing my floral world into the brand for the first time — botanicals, dried flowers, and natural elements woven into the designs. Two chapters of my life finally becoming one collection.

The big change — the one I am most looking forward to — is simply this: for the first time, I am building something where my talent works for me. Not a seasonal business. Not a feast-or-famine cycle. A consistent, sustainable, soul-aligned brand that funds my life and feeds my purpose at the same time.

I spent decades learning every skill I needed for this moment. Industrial design. Global manufacturing. Entrepreneurship. Floristry. Faith. Recovery.

The future isn’t a pivot. It’s a culmination.

‘i am’ is not a new idea. It’s a promise I made to myself a long time ago — finally being kept.”