Meet Producer Leader Gayane Khachatryan from Talin
Gayane Khachatryan is the founder and director of the Talin Women's Resource Center Development Foundation that was established in 2012. The organization tackles the issues of poverty and gender equality in Armenia, while at the same time promoting Armenian culture and history.
The group's main goal was to help local women living in the regions of Armenia, who did not have higher education, but had handcrafting skills. A volunteer from the Peace Corps, Bryan Bokhart, met the Honorary Consul of Norway, Timothy Straight, who was initiating handcrafting projects in different regions of Armenia, but not in Talin.
After long discussions between Bryan, Gayane and Tim, the Women's Resource Center started to cooperate and partner with HDIF. At the time, the main product that they were producing was crocheted Talin dolls dressed in the national costumes ("taraz") of 12 locations in Western Armenian.
Since the introduction of the “Talin Dolls”, Gayane and her team have developed smaller-sized "taraz" ornaments that have become one of HDIF-USA's bestsellers.
"Our work is all about is getting closer to our Armenian roots with the products we design," states Gayane.
At first, Gayane encountered many difficulties that (in part) stemmed from Armenian traditions that women should not work outside the home. However, she overcame these challenges to reach success little by little. Today, the Foundation’s "Talin Dolls" project employs women from socially needy families in the villages surrounding Talin, including women with disabilities. The women are trained to crochet dolls that wear traditional Armenian clothing and to sew apron, bags and other products made of fabric that feature Armenian symbols and lettering. Each artisan makes a percentage of the profit off every one of their dolls and sewn products that is sold.
Gayane shares, “In my previous work as a translator, I was able to see firsthand the poverty, poor treatment of women, and the sense of hopelessness that pervades daily life. Even though we still work on a small scale, I take pride in the fact that what was once a dream is now a powerful change-making reality.”
Although Gayane is happy with the progress of her organization, it is her hope and self-appointed duty to expand. In order to help as many families as possible, she has been working on the expansion of the product line. Through different experiments and prototypes, she has begun to develop keychains and ornament versions of the dolls fashioned after the traditional attire as well as baby shoes and wine accessories, plus sewn aprons, bags and other items. Gayane is also actively involved in marketing the Foundation’s products, so they reach and appeal to a larger, global audience. This includes developing a website which not only will provide information about their work and cause, but will also feature historical and cultural information about Armenia before the Armenian Genocide.
In addition, the Foundation also collaborates with “Narek” health center to establish a disabled children’s physiotherapy rehabilitation center. Despite the difficult economic conditions in the Talin region, Gayane remains hopeful that the production of handicrafts will lead to improved living standards for her artisans.