The founder and director of the Terracotta Studio, Nana Manucharyan, speaks about overcoming obstacles through persistence and creativity.
“I believe that 2020 was the most difficult year we’ve had throughout the entirety of our work experience. We were able to take our pottery to an online platform. To be honest, it was very difficult to work, but thanks to our online platform, we were able to work with over 2,000 children for Artsakh and bring some light into their daily lives,” the founder and director of Terracotta Studio, Arty Chok cakes, and the Bari Kendan program, Nana Manucharyan, told Aravot Daily in an interview.
The Terracotta Studio has been operating since 2010. It was a small group in the beginning, but now it is a large network of workshops. As far as how the small group turned into an organization with many branches, Manucharyan remembered, “In the beginning, our goal was to establish a group where children would be able to create. Since I have experience working with children, I decided to share my knowledge with children and adults in this manner so that we could create together. In the beginning, we called our group something simple: the Terracotta group. Terracotta means burned soil, or hardened clay. To be honest, I could not imagine that the group would have developed this much, but one thing was clear: we had the resources to share a lot.”
In 2020, Terracotta began working on a large mosaic, which is still in operation, but due to weather conditions, work on it has stopped for some time. The mosaic is outside, and it is about the “Lake of Peace,” which the children of Artsakh, Yerevan, and the provinces of Armenia participated in. The program was dedicated to Armenian soldiers. The project will continue as soon as the weather gets warmer. One of the company’s most important achievements was the Arti Chok cakes. The founder said that the production of the cakes helped them to survive, maintain their staff, business properties, and implement charitable projects at the company’s expense.
Due to the pandemic, the work of the studio stopped completely. They did not carry out fashion design classes, and so, something new was necessary. Therefore, the studio implemented a new project: Bari Kendan. Jackets for children and adults were created within the framework of the project, which then fold to become a soft toy with one movement. People with disabilities participate in the project by sewing the jackets. Nana hopes that this project will continue in 2021 as well.
In addition, Terracotta has had educational pottery groups for older age groups for the past 11 years. Anyone above the age of 14, regardless of their profession, experience, and age can learn about pottery from scratch.
“Homemade small chocolate cakes. There are lots of chocolate and oaks in one place, which is why only the best homemade food is used and delicious sweetness is offered to the market instead of superficiality. And if art is very difficult to promote, especially during times of crisis, then those who love sweets can always be captivated by Arti Chok,” Nana Manucharyan said. Then, she added, “It is very exciting that it is possible to get out of a hopeless situation and find new, sweet ways. Unfortunately, a number of workshops closed during quarantine, but we endured at the cost of our flexibility.”
Natalie Mkrtchyan
“Aravot” daily
