Do we live to learn what our purpose in life is?  Let us be willing to learn… and it will be revealed. Or must we find it ourselves… regardless of what form it may take. It is essential that we understand this. It is critical that we find it...

"I have a heightened sense of time now, I use every minute, every second". It all began with an extraordinary start to an ordinary day in the life of Mrs. Mzia Shavtvaladze: she woke up and told her husband that she wanted to start doing embroidery. Until then the idea had never occurred to her. The desire to do embroidery came from nowhere and has affected everything since then. "I’m not saying that I don’t make mistakes any more, but I realize that I should have lived differently, perhaps this is the very thing I should have always done".

Linen or velvet stretched over a frame, a mouline or silk thread, imperceptible cells at a glance,  first empty… then, as she works with her head down for five or six hours a day… the void is gradually filled. The pleasure evoked by the work and the energy flowing from the filled up space is immeasurable.

"When I start work I already know what I want to do and  I seldom change the colours. I try to work as much as I can, and my family members have given me considerable support… Now, when I think back, it is difficult to imagine how I lived before".

Before discovering embroidery, her life passed by with few remarkable events, says Mrs. Shavtvaladze… First school, then the Department of Chemistry at the Technical University,  postgraduate courses after that, followed by the post at the Chair of General and Non-organic Chemistry at the University, where she still works as a research associate. She is married and has two sons.

A large, light room, where at a glance everything - the ceiling, floor and furniture - looks very ordinary… Good taste and yet there is something more. The walls? Yes, the walls, a whole universe is depicted on them, an amazing world. For the family members this world is as dear and natural as it is for Mzia. Sometimes someone jokingly says,  "Once the walls filled up, she’ll probably start using the ceiling!".  Indeed, the walls are steadily being covered.

A lot of embroidery on the walls and yet more presented as gifts. Mushrooms, landscapes. Saint Nino… God the Father… " I experience a feeling of particular responsibility and profound reverence when working on religious themes. The process requires a great deal of concentration and at such times I switch off completely from everything else around me. I put part of my soul into each piece of embroidery, nothing much really, what I do is merely a tiny piece of work.
This "tiny piece of work" was exhibited in the blue hall of the "Katarzisi" charity house at a republican exhibition of self-educated female artists. Mrs. Shavtvladze’s work was displayed at this exhibition after being selected in a competition held at the Technical University. Then there was an exhibition at the International Art Center. It is worth noting that her relations with this center are still expanding. With the center’s assistance her work was displayed in Milan and Madrid. Since January 2000 Mzia Shavtvaladze has been a member of the American Embroiders’ Guild. She is planning a trip to the United States in October.

"When you are doing something, you do not think about whether it will appeal to others or not and the process of creation is essential". This state of mind cannot be conveyed nor described by words; the contours are sharpened, the colours change, and your idea, your emotions and you yourself fill the emptiness… you speed up the process.

"It took me eight months to finish the Martvili cross. Embroidering with gold is the most ancient Georgian tradition. The thread is made using an extremely complicated technique. I twist the thread with my hand and work manually. As I work, physical and spiritual forces combine. I greatly wish for this tradition to be restored. I am currently working on a decorative jug. This is the only time when I haven’t thought what the final shape of the article will be, even though I’ve embroidered more than half of it.  I’m embroidering the jug on velvet and I’m using natural paint made from plants."

"Now, when I think of days gone by, two events which had  a great impact on my mentality come to my mind. Once in my childhood, a relative of ours who used to embroider very well, offered to teach me how to embroider. At that time, however, I paid no attention to it. Once, we had a raffle amongst ourselves for the prize of my relative’s embroidered handkerchief. I won the raffle. Much later when I was married and had a small baby I had a dream: an angel dropped two coins for me and said: "In fourteen years time you will meet with God" and it was fourteen years later that I began embroidering… Earlier, it would have never occurred to me that I would be capable of doing this. Today embroidering means a complete life for me, a real life…"

Real life comes in different forms, and when it comes, it shapes your life, and it seems like it could never have been different.
 
NATIA KALANDADZE