Written by Nana Mghebrishvili
Coquette is a brand run by two young girls. At the beginning Maiko Gagua and Tsitsi Bodokia made accessories for themselves which garnered a lot of appreciation. Two years ago when the girls graduated from the institute, they decided to start a handmade crafts business. Now they have a little shop in the trading centre GTC which they have been running for a year.
“I can proudly say that we didn’t have any problems at the beginning of our business,” said Maiko Gagua to The FINANCIAL. “More people came to our first exhibition than we expected. Now lots of people know about our brand.”
“We mainly work on headbands and brooches,” said Tsitsi Bodokia. “Their average price varies from 20 GEL to 50 GEL.”
“Most of the accessories take one day to make, except for necklaces,” Gagua added. “It’s quite hard work but very pleasant at the same time. We import some materials for accessories but their price isn’t very high. An accessory can be created from a simple material which costs just 2 GEL. But it needs such hard work that the final product may cost up to 100 GEL.”
A kind of innovation in the handmade accessories business was using miniature porcelain vessels as materials. Tsago Kanchaveli used them for the first time in Georgia. In spite of this innovation, it took a while to become actively used on the market, which is quite big and competitive, she says.
Tsago Kanchaveli studied art at London St. Martin’s school. She has had her own brand of accessories for two years and a shop in the cinema Amirani. Most of her works are brooches.
“I love brooches and that’s why I mainly make them,” Kanchaveli said. “It’s not just me that likes them, but other people also do and they are often in demand. The average price in my shop is 30 GEL. The materials needed for each accessory cost about 20 GEL. But I make some necklaces which need materials of 80 GEL and more.”
The creating process of some small accessories can take only 20 minutes for her. But she has been working on one accessory for three days. Coming up with new ideas takes more time.
“Sometimes I work on new ideas for up to 24 hours,” Kanchaveli said. “I try to make outlandish accessories. In my business the main criteria of success are individualism and new style. My attitude toward this job is creative, then comes the commercial aspect. It is a profitable business.”
“I was a student and my family couldn’t afford to pay for all of my needs and wishes. I tried but couldn’t find an adequate job for myself as I was still studying and lacked enough free time. After long thought I decided to make accessories out of clay and sell them,” said Natia Beridze, 23.
Natia Beridze has loved making things by hand since childhood. She also paints. At 16 she started working on clay. At the time Beridze made accessories just for herself and her friends.
“After my decision to start,” she said, “I made two earrings and one bracelet and left them in the market near my home, in the Digomi district. The prices were quite low: for the earrings - 6 GEL, and for the bracelet - 10 GEL. Surprisingly enough, all of them were sold on the first day.”
Later Beridze started intensively working with clay. The more accessories she made, the more she sold. And she increased prices a little: rings - 8 GEL, earrings - 10 GEL, bracelets - 15 GEL, and necklaces - 20 GEL.
“Now I have a full-time job and don’t have time for handcrafts. Very rarely when I need extra money, I make several accessories and sell them in the same shop. I almost never have financial problems. I know that if I lose my job, I have my favourite hobby which brings me money at the same time,” she believes.
Ana Dolidze, one of the beginners in the handmade crafts business, also claims that handmade accessories bring in money.
“My accessories cost from 5 GEL to 30 GEL,” Ana Dolidze said to The FINANCIAL. “This business can’t pay for all my needs, but it does bring in enough money for daily expenses.”
Dolidze is 23 years old and has a small family: a husband and two year old daughter. Because of her small child, she can’t work. That’s why Ana started working on accessories. She mostly makes brooches, frequently using Indian stones. She promotes her accessories on the internet. Dolidze runs a facebook page Anidolidze.ge and has had a few buyers through the internet.
“My main problem is that I lack time,” said Dolidze. “If I had more time, I’d make more accessories, as it’s a very pleasant process for me. I feel a great sense of happiness when I see someone wearing my accessory.”
“It’s a type of job that you can enjoy whilst making money. The handmade crafts business is quite optimistic,” she added.
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