Van Gogh and Pirosmani at the Creatorium: EU4Youth supporting creative entrepreneurs in Georgia

When you browse the Facebook page of the ‘Creatorium’ salon, you will find this little note – “We are creative artists who will paint everything your eye can see!”

Van Gogh and Pirosmani are the Creatorium’s best friends, and blue – the colour of calmness – is their main colour. The creative process is backgrounded by Pink Floyd’s Goodbye Blue Sky, and Vincent van Gogh and Niko Pirosmani provide the conceptual line of their creativity. Their story also fits in a cosmic box.

Intrigued? The Creatorium is an innovative platform for creative business, founded in Gori by Mariam Tsikaridze and Nino Mazmishvili. The young friends have successfully used the knowledge they received at the EU4Youth Entrepreneurial School, and are now trying to expand their business. Turning ideas into reality has already become a business for them.

Entrepreneurial School for modern ideas

With EU support, ‘Art Salon Creatorium’ is engaged in small business activities. After graduating from the EU4Youth Entrepreneurial School course, its founders confidently started to implement their idea on a large scale. And this is the exact goal of the Entrepreneurial School – to support the self-employment of young people, and to help them develop entrepreneurial skills and establish their own place in the business environment. The project serves youth education and employment, and so far, has already helped a number of people in starting their own businesses.    

In the last decade, the number of start-ups created for innovative, original ideas has been rapidly growing. Expert knowledge gained at the Entrepreneurial School helps young people to transform their ideas into business projects. As they go through their training, they see practical ways to turn a childhood dream or a hobby into a business opportunity. This is how Mariam and Nino, the two friends from the Entrepreneurial School, turned their idea into a business.

The right time and place…

“This project meets key business management criteria and is well-suited for the field, which has helped us a lot to raise awareness and take effective steps. The Entrepreneurial School taught us a lot and helped us navigate properly in business. At this stage, we only use bank loans, but we never stop looking for funding sources, and the Entrepreneurial School actively supports us in doing so.”

Mariam is a young mother of three, while Nino is from the border village of Ditsi. For a long time, they created handmade items and accessories that were popular only among friends. Today, they can welcome you at their own office and offer a range of creative products, including handmade souvenirs, painted bags, engraved pictures, gift boxes, albums, portraits, paintings on exterior walls and clothes, and clayware. 

The Entrepreneurial School has played an important role in Nino’s and Mariam’s lives. The young entrepreneurs are looking to expand and develop their business in the future, and hope to achieve this with further help from the project. They have already used mentor’s services, and have received qualified consultations in relation to organisation of weddings and other celebrations from Ia Saginashvili, head of the ‘Kochinela’ design company.

The story of Nino and Mariam, independent and modern young Georgian women, is one out of many and is an example for others.

“You should never listen to negative assessments, but should pursue your aims. You should do your best. We literally started everything from scratch. The scepticism of those around us did not make us give up on our idea, and everything has turned out even better than we imagined and greater things are still ahead.

“Today at the Creatorium you find a creative and positive environment, and we can help you design your interior with our products, created exclusively for you. We can also help you organise beautiful parties and celebrate important dates. We can turn any of your fantasies into reality. Here we are, united by our aspiration for freedom and love of art. A startup for creative entrepreneurship,  Creatorium not only offers creative services, but also conducts art therapy and applied arts classes, where anyone can create art without any age restrictions.” 

All they now need is an end to the pandemic, and people’s trust, which they promise to repay by turning special days into unforgettable memories.

On their Facebook page, Creatorium’s posts are full of positivity.

• While Van Gogh is in quarantine, what is there in the cosmic box?
• A photo album with family or personal stories at different stages of life: let your best day be the best.
• If Van Gogh and Pirosmani visited your studio, what would you ask?
• We are creative artists who will paint everything your eye can see. How did you paint so fantastically? How did you paint?

The Entrepreneurial School is part of the EU4Youth project, ‘Enhancing Youth Education, Employment and Participation in Conflict-affected Areas in Georgia and Ukraine’.

The aim of the project is to enhance the means of subsistence of displaced and conflict-affected youth, to support their active participation in public life, and improve their access to education, employment and participation in entrepreneurial activities.

The article has been prepared and published by “Entrepreneur Georgia” in the Georgian language.