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The “Ob Forge” project unites artisans and craftsmen producing souvenir products from metal. Since August 2022, it became a part of the “FORGE” Creative Industries Agency, which promotes local brands in and beyond Yugra.

PROBLEM ADDRESSED

Preserving local knowledge, skills and craftsmanship, raising awareness of the history and culture of the northern peoples of Khanty and Mansi, as well as the contemporary Yugra.

METHODS USED TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEM

The forge brings together various metal, wood, leather and bone workers. The project authors are doing research on the development of blacksmithing in the former Tobolsk Governorate. University and college students can come here for internships. People with disabilities are also welcome.

“We are constantly experimenting, working with blueprints and custom sketches, doing historical reconstructions. It is hard to put us in one line of business – we are a little bit about tourism, a little bit about recreation and education, even near industry. Each product is created with love and respect for people, our national traditions and natural resources,” project founder Ekaterina Tailakova says.

Ob Forge offers group tours, as well as workshops on making wrought-iron souvenir products (from nails to knives). The workshops are preceded by a lecture on the history of metalworking and the development of blacksmithing. Participants are introduced to the exhibits of the private Museum of Wrought-Iron Products and can examine, try on and photograph parts of reconstructed historic Spanish knight armor from the 15th-16th centuries.

Wrought-iron products can be purchased online through social networks and websites, in souvenir stores in different cities of Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra and Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug, as well as in various marketplaces in Russia and abroad.

In 2022, Ekaterina Tailakova and Anastasia Bondarenko designed a unisex aluminum jewelry collection with embossed words and expressions of the Khanty and Mansi languages. The project was supported by the staff of the A. P. Yadroshnikov Museum of Nature and Man in Russkinskaya, some of whom speak one of the dialects of the Khanty language.

The following phrases were selected to create the experimental collection, the first of which became the name of the project: “Guarded by Torum”, “Land of Torum”, “Goddess of Fire”, “Live in Peace”, “Warrior”, “Love”, “Friendship”, “Happiness”, “Luck”, “Fortune”, “Yugra – a Place of Power”.

The authors emphasize that the project “Guarded by Torum” has many meanings. “For those who speak Russian, we put transcriptions of words and entire phrases on the outside of the jewelry, with proper accents over them, so that a person can correctly convey the phonetics of the sonorous Khanty and Mansi languages. It is about working with oral heritage. For native speakers, we write the words in the letters of “their” dialects. The alphabets of the Khanty and Mansi peoples have “special” letters that are not part of the Cyrillic alphabet. This is how we work with the written heritage,” they explain.

FUNDS RAISED IN 2022

• A grant from the Creative Industries

Accelerator in the amount of 100,000 rubles (in the “Fashion” category), organized by the Yugra Entrepreneurship Support Fund “My Business”, the “Business Environment” platform with support from LUKOIL.

• A grant for social entrepreneurs from the Department of Economy of the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra, in the amount of 500,000 rubles.

• 1.5 million rubles revenue from sales of products and services.

• The largest shopping mall in the district, Surgut City Mall, provided 4 wooden cabins in front of the main entrance to open a souvenir store, two craft workshops and a cultural center for the warm season.

ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND AWARDS

In 2022:

• Laureate of the All-Russian contest “100 Best Goods of Russia” in the nomination “Folk Arts and Crafts Products” (traditional Yakut ice shovel);

• Diploma winner of the contest “The Best Goods and Services of the Tyumen Region” (traditional Yakut ice shovel, Khanty knife);

• Winner of the “Yugra Business Leader” contest in the special nomination “For Contribution to Preservation and Development of Folk Arts and Crafts of Russia”;

• Winner of the contest “The Best Product of Yugra” in the category “National Crafts and Souvenirs”;

• Winner of the “Young Entrepreneur of Yugra” contest in the special category “Creative Business”;

• Diploma of the contest “The Best Social Project of the Year” in the special nomination of the Yugra Public Chamber (“Ob Forge: Expansion” project);

• Winner of the city contest “Entrepreneur of the Year” in the category “Business of Creative Industries” (Surgut, according to the results of 2021).

WHAT WAS DONE LAST YEAR

• Started working with the museum heritage – creating replicas of metal products (the Surgut Museum of Local Lore provided the collection to study the material);

• Started working with wax and materials derived from animals;

• Offered workshops on embossing of aluminum bracelets;

• Launched one-hour-long group tours of the forge;

• Presented the “Mobile Forge” and “Mobile Minting” services;

• Increased the number of self-employed people making handicrafts for the project.

DIRECT RESULTS FOR 2022

More than 1,000 new visitors and customers. The share of recurring visitors has also increased.

SOCIAL EFFECTS ACHIEVED IN 2022

• We conduct career guidance activities, students specializing in metalworking of Surgut Polytechnic College are familiar with us;

• We help craftsmen and artisans formalize self-employment and work legally; we accompany and assist them in obtaining support measures, grants and subsidies for business development;

• We are noticing a growing interest in blacksmithing, with an increasing number of visitors from other cities in neighboring regions and federal districts;

• We advise members of the Blacksmiths Guild of Russia on how to conduct their business competently and build stronger relationships with the authorities.

FINANCIAL SUSTAINABILITY MODEL

Workshops on blacksmithing have always been our core activity. During the pandemic, we shifted profile to producing medium-sized wrought-iron interior decoration items for suburban houses. Our products are sold on the Asian online marketplace, pinkoi.com, previously worked with etsy.com.

On August 17,