Dovile B. Metamorphoses to Dovile Bertulyte

Recently, you may have noticed a slight change in my brand name and I feel like I owe you an explanation!

I started using dovile b. as a brand name back in 2012 (almost a decade ago!). I was still studying jewellery at Middlesex University and making completely different work to what I make now. The vision for my brand has really changed over the years. When I first started my jewellery career my vision was a bit darker and eerie, a bit more rock’n’roll and a bit more Alexander McQueen style. This kind of style I found really cool and inspiring, I was making bold little hands and headpieces perfect for catwalks. However, paradoxically as a person at that time I was a bit shy and very self conscious about many things including my accent and being a foreigner (now I find it funny that I felt this way, like I was the only foreigner living in London!)  Anyway, long story short  – I chose to use only the first letter of my surname along with my first name. I didn’t want to overcomplicate my customers with an unusual surname, as I learned living in the UK my name is already rather complicated to be remembered, pronounced and spelled. so this is how dovile b. was born.

With years flying by, finding new passion of hiking and wild camping, my understanding of the world has changed as well as my vision of what kind of jewellery I want to make. I started making a bit different jewellery inspired by nature and things that I saw during my travels. somehow along the way dovile b. started not to sit well with me anymore.

Now in my early 30s and with a toddler on my hands I feel more confident of who I am, my background and my heritage. I am no longer worried that people will struggle to remember or pronounce my name and I am proud of being Eastern European (even though technically we are Northern Europeans, haha). So here it is – the uncovering of the big secret of what the “b” stands for – Bertulyte.

Wondering how to pronounce it?

Bertulyte  – /bɛrtuhˈleeteh/

Dovile – /d̪oː.vilɛ/

But seriously don’t worry if you get it wrong I am fine with it!

Fun Fact about Lithuanian names and surnames:

I often get asked if there is a meaning of Dovile – and no there isn’t, it is a pretty common Lithuanian name for girls born in late 80s early 90s. Lots of people in the UK call me Dove (or Dov) which I find cute and I think it helps people to memorize my name.

Bertulyte is my maiden name – now you would think that this is my fathers surname, but it’s not as straight forward. My fathers and my brother’s surname is Bertulis, but because I was born a girl the surname transformed from Bertulis to Bertulyte (it loses -is- ending). Meanwhile, because my mom is (was) married to my dad she became Bertuliene. The ending -iene shows your marital status. Sounds complicated I know!

Another example is my marital name which is so long I still can’t spell it sometimes. My new surname is Akulaviciene (unfollow me if  I decide to change my brand name to this one day!) My husband’s surname is Akulavicius, but my daughters surname is Akulaviciute. So we basically have 3 different surnames in our family. Now imagine trying to explain this in the airport or our GP!

PS. Due to technical reasons my website will remain dovileb.com. Also I will continue using some of my branding material with dovile b. since I already have it and I would feel very bad binning it!