Amalia Margaryan

Mayranoush removes a bunch of colored threads and an embroidery hoop from her bag.

Flowers of various hues start to appear on the white fabric she’s working on.

In the span of a few minutes, Mayranoush has created a palette of flowers leaves, birds.

Embroidery is a way of life for Mayranoush Avchoyan, who can be seen selling her creations at Yerevan’s Vernisage open-air market.

“When customers approach and see my works, they don’t believe they are handmade. I have the needle and hoop in my hand all day to fashion these items. When they see the process, that’s when they start to believe,” Mayranoush says.

Ms. Avchoyan decided to launch a small business in 2014 and sell her wares at the Vernisage market. She also has a Facebook page to promote her business domestically and overseas.

She says her embroidery stands out with its simplicity. Many of her motifs relate to nature.

“I fashion pomegranates, grapes, peacocks, and flowers growing in the Armenian highlands. I use details from Armenian miniature painting.”

A chemist by profession, Mayranoush really wanted to study painting after graduating high school. Given the large number of factories in Soviet Armenia, her parents though it wiser that she learn chemistry. She took their advice at enrolled in a technical institute.

Mayranoush says her science training helps her when measuring the designs to be embroidered.

Mayranoush is passing on her sewing skills to her daughter Hasmik. Working alongside her mother, Hasmik scours the internet searching for the latest embroidery trends to invigorate the family business with.

Also on display at Mayranoush’s Vernisage stall are paintings of her son, Kamsar Ohanyan, a graduate of the Faculty of Fine Arts at the Khachatur Abovyan Teachers’ College.

Kamsar says he started to paint in his childhood, with crayons, on the walls of the house. He now uses oil paints.

His works stand out with their black and white contrasts; where the black becomes shadow and the white, light.

Photos: Saro Baghdasaryan