April 25; work, art, and celebrations 🌻
From celebrating artists to celebrating work achievements... this was my week 😇
Happy Sunday,
It’s been an intense week on my end, pulling 14-hour days at Vitosha. I signed off on three new investments, that we’ll be announcing in the coming weeks, together with a number of other deals my partners worked on, and we also had a bunch of fund maintenance work with the team that kept us busy. But with the days getting long and sunny, it didn’t at all feel that bad.
More rooftop magic 🌇
Yesterday, Ellie and I paid a visit to one of our favorite Sofia spots; Swimming Pool. It’s a self-described art-project space, on a rooftop with an unused, emptied swimming pool. Currently, Swimming Pool is hosting a series of meetings devoted to discussing the phenomenon of institutions in our lives. This series also includes a video-art installation, and is very much worth a visit.
The cool thing about Swimming Pool is that it isn’t exactly a gallery or event space, but a meeting place, where you can just come and hang out, either meeting new people, or spending time with friends, or just chilling on your own on the roof, enjoying the 360-degree views of Sofia from its most central point.
A night with up-and-coming young artists 🎭
The definite highlight of our week was attending the annual Kambarev Foundation awards. The foundation is run by our friend Dessy Tenekedjieva, who besides being an accomplished actress and film producer, has spent the last 12 years building and expanding what has become the main platform for young Bulgarian arts talent: the Kambarev Foundation.
Named after Dessy’s late husband, the legendary Bulgarian theater director Stoyan Kambarev, the Foundation selects a number of young nominees in various categories, from photography and classical music, to literature and dance, and trains them in a series of workshops with top talents, after which the winner of the competition in each category joins the “Academy”, becoming part of the Kambarev Foundation family and themselves mentors of the next generations.
Check out the Kambarev Foundation YouTube channel for videos of the young talents and their work
It was my second year attending the awards ceremony, and Ellie’s first, and we are incredibly excited about the Foundation and its work. In Bulgaria, it is a unique channel for young artistic talent to get access to mentoring, growth opportunities, and recognition, without compromising on what they do or selling out commercially. Ellie and I are proud to support the Foundation, and are looking forward to being part of its work for years to come.
Where did the time go 🙈
This week we celebrated that seven years ago Ellie founded DesignThinking.bg in Sofia. Her business became the region’s leading firm in implementing business re-design methodologies, working with some of the biggest brands and largest organizations in Bulgaria and far beyond, in helping them become better tuned into their clients’ and workers’ needs. Exactly two years ago, launchlabs from Berlin acquired the business and Ellie’s team became launchlabs Sofia.
This week most of Ellie’s Sofia team got together to raise a glass on the occasion. It’s been a wild ride, especially with the pandemic in the last 14 months, which completely upended their projects and way of work. I’m incredibly proud of her and the whole team, and how they managed to overcome the sudden changes, and grow despite and beyond them. launchlabs Sofia are masters at eating their own dog food, which is why they’re so good at what they do; helping companies large and small adapt and change. Here’s to many more years of dedication, friendship, and better businesses! 🥂✨
May is for mingling 🥂
I’ll end it on this note today: come May 2021, I believe it’s time to finally start getting back together in real life. Of course, responsibly, and preferably with a vaccine shot or two. Here in Bulgaria at least, everyone can get vaccinated walk-in style any day, and everyone should.
I’m looking forward to starting planning some foreign travel again, and of course to hosting you on our rooftop, or elsewhere, or just hanging out in the park with a glass together, like we did today. See you very soon!
Thanks for checking in today and talk to you next Sunday! 😇
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