Georgian startup companies – Flying Painter

Last week we wrote about AlterSocks, one of the most successful startup companies in Georgia. Today, we are going to tell you a story of the Flying Painter.

Flying Painter is a Georgian clothing and accessories brand which according to the brand concept, creates each piece as an art project. Every single one of their creations has a story of their own. We will take a look into the stories that the Flying Painter has to tell.

The company was established in 2016, when the founders of Fabrika decided to invite one of the owners of the Flying Painter, Eka Ketsbaia, to open an atelier store in place of the old clothing factory. Eka invited other creators, Bobo Mkhitar and Natuka Vatsadze and thus the Flying Painter was born.

The brand focuses on delivering social, political, critical and romantic messages to the public and they utilize the language of fashion and art for this purpose. All the clothes that are manufactured in the atelier are ready to wear and tell stories that many might not have heard before.

The name of the brand, Flying Painter, was inspired by the work of the Georgian modernist painter Petre Otskheli, who was killed during the Great Purge. The painting was created by Otskheli in 1936, for the film "Winged Painter", which was directed by Leo Esakia.

We met with one of the founders of the Flying Painter, Natuka Vatsadze, who told us interesting facts and stories about the brand.

What’s the story behind the creation of the Flying Painter?

In 2016, one of my dear friends, Eka Ketsbaia, was invited to Fabrika to use the space for her new ideas. This place was full of old clothes. As you know, it used to be a clothing factory, called “Nino”. We wanted to use those old collections for something, but changing them would not do any good, because it’s very risky to work on old fabric. So, we decided to leave the old collection as it was. It amazes me that the clothes that were popular 30 and more years ago are still very trendy and fashionable today.

I think the main reason why Eka invited me and our other friends to work with her was that we really enjoy doing this work. Also, working with your own friends is a lot of fun and everything just seems a lot easier.

When we first came here, this place was full of dust and we did not have any money, so we had to do everything on our own. We cleaned every inch of this place with our own hands, and to be honest, it was a little fun, because we were doing this for something that we really love - art. We worked very hard to clean this place for 10 days.

3 years ago, we started working on a new collection. We had a very little budget for fabrics, maybe like GEL 1000, which is almost nothing. We had only one tailor, who also was a constructor. But thankfully, in the beginning, Fabrika had a good policy, and we didn’t have to pay much for this place.

What can you tell us about your collections?

When we started making our first collection, we did not have a plan of what we wanted to do. In the end, it became something that you not only wear but something that helps you to tell a story. It happened very naturally.

Our first collection was “Karamaniani”, which, I’m very glad that remains as one of our most popular collections even today. It was inspired by the Persian heroic epos. "Karamaniani" is dark-colored clothes for daily wear. Every single piece has unique details that are not repeated on the other models. The phrases from the poem are embroidered on dresses and coats.

"Karamaniani" is created for heroes and reckless travelers, it tells stories from far away. There is still a lot to tell with this collection, and we can’t wait to continue working on them.

During the ruling of King Erekle II, it was a very popular poem in Georgia. We would very much like to make it popular for new generations as well.

The second collection is called Paco. Very colorful and popular collection, which is also connected to our history. Pieces that belong in this collection have Georgian Constitution on them. Other than Constitution, in the pockets, you can also find instructions on how to behave during police raids or when you are taken for undergoing drug tests.

In the 90’s, the political situation in Georgia was very strange. During this time, police illegally planted drugs in the pockets and extorted money. Some parents were cutting off the pockets of their children’s clothes. Instead of cutting the pockets off, we decided to put the constitution in, so people can defend themselves if something like this happens to them.

The other collection is called “Ruler-belt”, which comes from a famous phrase "tighten your belts". During the economic crisis, this was the phrase that expressed the tight budget.

We also have a collection called “Global Warming”, and everything with this label is made with recycled fabrics. We chose the name Global Warming, not only because we used second-hand fabrics that are considered eco-friendly, but, because the Khrushov rule, the phase that is often referred to as the warming in the USSR history, was characterized with the warming of relations between USSR and other countries. Some of the people from the Soviet countries even had a chance to see the outer world. Because of this, clothes and culture started to change too.

But because of making a situation better with others, the relationship between USSR and China became worse and silk bedspreads even more coveted.

In the epoch of Global Warming and ecological catastrophe, we have created a new collection made of the once carefully saved fabrics, saturated with the smell of mothballs and velvet carpets removed from walls long ago. “Global Warming” is dedicated to global love – humans, nature and the beautiful animal, deer.

We also have other very interesting collections, “Black Cat”; “Mze”; “Religions Sweatshirts”; “Soviet Vintage”. All of them tell their own unique and beautiful stories.

The messenger has also talked to one of the employees, Lali Razmadze, who told us – “I’m very lucky that I ended up working here. It’s very hard for women my age to find themselves. We were born in a time when everything was drastically different. The environment at the Flying Painter is very intellectual, rich with new ideas and knowledge of history. Their views are very close to my heart, and I’m very happy to have the comfort of working here.”

We will continue to showcase other interesting stories likes of the Flying Painter, that are so important for the growth of the Georgian economy and the popularization of Georgian products around the world.