So maybe my passion for creating a life based on things you make with your own hands came from there. I quit my job as teacher in the year 2000, and up to now I'm a full time self-employed artist. It looks like my ceramic "passion" was very "infectious" - my wife Kremena got the "clay bug" from me soon after we married, she started making pots and other objects in 1997 - 1998, and in the year 2001 she ended her teaching career too. That was the official beginning of "Golem Design Studio.
Q: Are you self-taught?
Pretty much. I was apprentice in the studio of some big scale potter for one year, in 1998-1999, but we was making large pots and dishes there, nothing related to beads.
Q: Can you tell me a bit about the early days of Golem Design Studio?
Here is our almost official “Business history” :-)
Up to 2002 our studio was split between the basement and the dining room a.k.a. “Studio room” at that time. The prize from the Bulgarian American Enterprise Fund” competition together with some bank loan was fully invested in the building of a real studio, attached to our house. We put a lot of work and efforts in this project, so finally in the late autumn of 2002 we was able to move in the studio which really increased our productivity and possibilities. Currently we have one big studio room, around 320 square feet where we are spending most of the days, and
attached to it a smaller kiln room where we fire the ready items.
Some more history - How the brand “Golem” started:
In the year 2000 I won third prize in a competition called “Best Young Developer of the year”, organized by the Bulgarian American Enterprise Fund.
At the final stage of the competition each participant as part of the presentation of the project should present the brand name for the business that they are starting. I was running out of time, there was just few hours for brainstorming about the name. I was trying really hard to
figure what name will work best for us. Even with almost 0 business experience at this time I understood that once you start developing some brand name it's really important five or more years later this name still works good for your business. At the end of the evening I remembered the legend about the Golem of Prague.