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Telik Crafts
Based in the northern city of Ijevan, once home to one of the largest rug factories in the Soviet Union, Telik Crafts is a social enterprise dedicated to empowering local women by enhancing their creative skills and providing employment opportunities through traditional Armenian weaving and embroidery.
Stella Ghazaryan
Getahovit village, Tavush Province
"Before I joined Telik five years ago, I was busy raising my children and tending to our home. It was here that I learned how to weave. Learning was easy for me, and I understood that I really enjoy weaving. I decided to join Telik’s collective full time because the environment here with the other women is very warm and welcoming. Weaving not only helps me to forget my worries, but it’s also a way to create additional income for my family."
"I remember my grandmother always weaving rugs when I was a child. She primarily wove deghankunj rugs at home [a traditional 20th century Armenian rug style from the Tavush region, specifically around Ijevan and Berd, translating literally to ‘yellow corners’]. Her sister also wove rugs — I remember she would often weave rugs with deer in the compositions, which is very typical of our region."
"I feel very relaxed when I weave. I find it easier to weave without a map or an image to follow. I prefer to weave with my imagination. When I’m not busy weaving a carpet I often use leftover scrap threads in the studio to create new pieces, or to repair worn or damaged textiles through embroidery, or I simply paint. This space and community is very important. I come here every day with great pleasure to work with the other women. The work that’s done here, the art that’s created here… Art is an avenue for self recognition, to better know and understand yourself."
Liana Ghazaryan
Ijevan, Tavush Province
"My grandmother was a rug maker. I remember her corner in our home where she would weave. She wove deghnakunj rugs, always changing the ornaments and colors a bit with each new one. My father was also a painter. Seeing both rug making and painting growing up, I fell in love with both artforms as a child. I didn’t weave growing up but I did paint with my father, and he never limited my artistic expression with painting. He always let me use his brushes, paints, and canvases — he even let me paint the walls of our home. All the walls of my childhood home are painted as high up as my arms would reach as a child."
"When the time came to choose an area of study in university, my father wanted me to become an economist. But I wanted to study applied arts, and as always my parents did not limit me. My university years were wonderful. I studied carpet making, embroidery, tapestry making, and painting. I graduated in 1999 and planned to work, but instead created a family. By 2017 my children were grown and had their own lives — I have two grandchildren now — and so I decided to find a job to stay busy. But local schools would not accept me as an art teacher because I did not have a background in education. I was disappointed, and I don’t know if it was destiny or not, but I met Hasmik, the founder of Telik, and she gave me a chance to prove myself."
"At Telik I have the opportunity to express myself, I’m not limited here just like I wasn’t limited as a child by my family. I come here every day with great pleasure. Yes, it is my workplace, but I don’t just work here, I relax here, because art is a form of therapy. In these walls you disconnect from the rest of the world. All your problems disappear. We’re not just coworkers here, we’re like a family. We share our concerns and worries, we give each other advice, and all of that stays here among us, it doesn’t leave these walls. It’s been a couple years now that we’ve been living like this, so to say. This is like a home."
Armine Vardapetyan
Ijevan, Tavush Province
"Both sides of my family were involved in crafts. My grandfather’s mother was a rug maker in Achajur village. We still have her rugs at home, and she gave all her grandchildren her handmade rugs as gifts. My mother’s mother, meanwhile, was a knitter and embroiderer. I learned carpet weaving thanks to Telik. My daughter is 9 years old now, and she’s already woven her third small carpet. She comes here after school and practices alongside me while I work. She loves it too."
"When someone doesn’t come to work for whatever reason, it’s not the same here in the studio. In reality I come here for the environment, to interact with the other women. It’s amazing here. We do what we do with love, and as a result our weaves are of quality. I hope others outside of our town will see and acknowledge our work."
"Weaving is a source of relation for me. When you’re tired, or upset, or in a bad mood, or worried about something, carpet making soothes you. When I weave I am fully ‘in’ the carpet. Nothing can bother me or even crosses my mind when I’m working with the threads. I love it."
Lusine Movsesyan
Ijevan, Tavush Province
"I started making carpets when I attended university to study applied arts. There I learned how to weave carpets and tapestries. As a child I always loved to paint and draw, but there were no rugs around growing up. No one in our family was involved in rug making when I was growing up."
"Before I joined Telik I was a housewife raising my children. Now, through Telik, my daughter knows how to make carpets as well. I love making carpets. I feel relaxed when I weave. I sit in front of the loom and I forget everything. Weaving has a huge role in my life today, I love it."
"There’s a different type of warmth here at Telik. Every day is very interesting here. I guess that warmth comes from the other women here. We all really love this collection that we created with The Rug Code. We were very excited to work on these shulal flatweaves and to see the final outcomes. The idea is great, and it gave me the freedom to weave without following a map. I don’t like to plan ahead of time, I prefer to just start weaving, and each step of the process comes to me naturally as I work."
