The Social Club: creative workshops as a business model

"There are only two options: Either you make new friends here or you never see the people from the workshop again, so feel comfortable, be relaxed and dare to say something silly!" Munching on croissants and sipping coffee, the people in the room slowly take their seats. Martina Njavro has prepared everything well: The glasses are filled with water, the canvases are laid out and a palette knife has been handed out for everyone. Kristina Zhardanova now takes over the creative part, as the participants are about to learn how to paint textured pictures themselves.

The duo, aka The Social Club, have been organising creative workshops since last May. At least 16 per month, to be precise, because that's the only way the business model works. The idea: to bring art and crafting – the slightly more modern term for handicrafts – to the people of Luxembourg, but in a participatory way. "We are not professional artists and this is not a course. Of course we give some instructions and help so that the end result looks good afterwards, but The Social Club is more about getting to know new people and cool diy (do it yourself, the ed.) projects, " explains Kristina.

In February, she and her former work colleague solidified the idea for the company. Since April, it has been officially registered with the company register in the form of a simplified limited liability company. The Social Club initially started with a workshop among friends to produce content. "If you use stock images, it's not the same. People want to see exactly what they can do with us, which is why all of our flagship works are from Kristina's beginnings, " Martina reveals. The two women met about four years ago in a start-up company in Luxembourg. Martina, originally from Croatia, was working in Business Development at the time, while Kristina, who was born in Bulgaria, was in sales. "When we started at the company, we were the fourth and fifth employees and when we left, there were already 50 of us, " says Kristina.