Join the art theraphy session and explore your hidden talents!

Good day. I am Hasmik Margaryan, the founder and director of “Telik” NGO in Ijevan, a beautiful green town in the north of Armenia. Our group of women are now specialized in weaving a special type of rug called “shulal” that was common in Tavush region. We were able to revive this tradition through our hard work and with a big support of the Tavush Diocese of Armenian Apostolic church. Ijevan used to have a big rug factory during the soviet times, so rug weaving is not new to us. 

We host our guests in this beautiful center, located in a new building with ornate wooden balconies in the heart of Ijevan. Besides the rug making, we also do embroidery, sewing and crocheting. Many people come here to learn this craft as an art therapy, they can learn it on a small model and then take the final result with them, or join our women on the big looms. The actual work on the big shulal rugs takes over three months, while our guests can learn and do the small versions in a few hours. 

We do not perceive this as a standard job with fixed hours. We have creative freedom, mutual understanding and psychological support here. Women who join our group are somehow empowered, they are able to find a work-life balance here, sometimes you can see our kids visiting us after their school or if there is no one to take care of them, they spend their time in our center and get creative as well. Our children grow together and they are a part of “Telik”. This is like a big family for us.

We dream of having a bigger space, with separate studios for each craft, to have many orders that will bring us stable income one day. We want to stay and work in our homeland instead of leaving abroad. We strive to develop good networking and one day have our boutique shop in Yerevan, so that more people know about us, and this unique local production.