"New knowledge gives a huge number of opportunities to achieve their goals. The main thing is that we have started to act by opening a business space for masters of folk and applied art, and the new experience we have gained is spreading in this environment like a chain reaction," says Tajigul Kurbanova, a participant in the Handmade Exports project organized by Orlan and USAID.

12 masters of decorative and applied arts took part in the Handmade Exports-2022 project from the new creative association "Design Plus", four of them reached the final of the competition supported by the Secretariat of the National Commission of Turkmenistan for UNESCO and the City Hall of Ashgabat.

– Thanks to this support and the Handmade Exports project itself, which gave us the opportunity to be seen and appreciated, we participated in such major events as "Ashgabat – the city of design", the international exhibition "Design 2022" and the forum "Design without Borders" and many other events. And there were active sales everywhere – that is, it is not only the popularization of folk art, but also business success," says our interlocutor.

The acceptance of a number of their representatives into the ranks of the Union of Artists of Turkmenistan was also a recognition of the important role of applied artists. Tajigul Kurbanova also notes the information support provided to the movement, including by the ORIENT website and contributing to Internet sales.

– We have good creative relations with the French Institute. We have held 104 presentations by masters of decorative and applied arts of Turkmenistan and artists, we participate in the volunteer movement in the information and educational summer camp for students of the Specialized Educational School No. 21 in Ashgabat, where we held 10 master classes on ethnic jewelry, painting, modeling, creating dolls and toys, painting shoppers. We conducted three training sessions on folk art for people with disabilities in the public organization Yenme. And we have started a huge work in the regions of the country," Tadjigul Kurbanova proudly shares the successes of the movement.

– Showing by my example that dreams come true, I also work and improve my skills as an artist and as an art critic, - she continues. – A series of paintings depicting ancient headdresses of various ethnic groups of Turkmens has been started. A booklet in three languages "Journey with the Turkmen Tahya" has been created together with ethnographer Ajap Bayrieva, work is underway on the catalog.

– We do not stand still, we study and reach new levels of our development, expanding the boundaries of the search across the country. It is important to develop new directions in the field of national art and cultural diversity, and we are trying to contribute to this. After all, creativity is the creation of material and spiritual values of new quality, distinguished by uniqueness, originality and uniqueness.

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