''I believe the most important thing is to figure out what you enjoy doing the most, when you are in tune with yourself, and what brings you joy. And if you've had a place since childhood, where you've opened the door to a small universe and begun the quest with tireless labor, you've developed a goal,''-said glass artist Keti Mekerishvili in a conversation with CBW. 

Keti has been painting since childhood, continuing her studies at the Art Academy. She never thought about glass design however she made a spontaneous decision. It was this emotional, risky and a bit irrational choice that turned out to be the main axis of her future professional life. As for her, she was lucky to have a professor who made her fall in love with the profession, so she followed the flow and worked tirelessly.

What got you into designing and inspired you to create your brand?

If you find yourself and choose the right path, you become a part of the small world and events unfold in a way that you end up in the right place at the right time. The main thing is not to make many mistakes and keep working hard to get close to the goal.

Every path led to the glass. After starting a family, I moved to Greece for two years, where I reconnected with glass and worked as a glass artist designer in one of the companies, from which I returned to the Academy of Fine Arts with new knowledge and experience. When I finished my master's degree, I already knew that I would definitely gather my knowledge and experience and start a new adventure called "Keti Mekerishvili's Georgian Glass".

Tell us about the technology you use to create your unique works.

So far I have only worked in two directions, these were high temperature tempered glass (fusing technology) and classic stained glass. When you work creatively on different projects, ideas often travel to the depths of the material and make strange little inventions. When you know the material as an artist, it becomes compliant in the hands of the author and it brings us to the interesting technology. I have to merge all kinds of glass processing techniques, which is more fun. 

Where did you learn glass fusing? 

As I mentioned above, I first learned it at the Tbilisi State Academy of Arts, then I became a designer of the company "Diathlasis", where I learned to process glass with modern technologies.

What is your work process usually like? 

The work process is very interesting. I love working in a closed door, listening to jazz, classical music, or lectures that interest me. I get alone with the idea and start analyzing it, then it starts from 0 and it is like four times of the year, from spring to autumn or to the fruit of labor with its climate changes and surprises and finally winter! Result! Thinking and analyzing the past. It's a long process that I can characterize with such an association.

What’s your favorite project that you’ve worked on and do you have any new ones coming up?

When I look at the photos of the works, it turns out that I have worked on many projects over the past years. Every project has its history, they were born as a child and we went through emotions together. All projects are equally valuable, most of them are projects that have not been born yet and are in the form of embryos. I have been thinking about some of them for years and working on them. I have not had a personal exhibition so far, I think a personal exhibition should be done by the artist only a few times and to show the attitudes, spiritual moods, views as much as possible. 

In 2022, I intend to show portraits of Georgian artists that have been transformed to glass in my version. The transparency, color, and depth of the glass will give the artists I see in portrait a different personality.