Copy of about | co/rizom

we are developing

the co/rizom roadmap

a toolkit for artisans

making know-how

that has long been standard

in industrial product development

available to traditional artisans.

a universally applicable tool

that breaks down

essential work processes

into basic steps

to close knowledge gaps

in production, marketing

& sales.

co/rizom was founded in spring 2018

by Alina Șerban & Nadja Zerunian.

Having worked 8 years in philanthropy at the ERSTE Foundation, Alina is an expert in community building & development, bringing in institutional knowledge on strategic partnership management & hybrid financing.

Nadja adds creative force to the team. After a decade at Calvin Klein in New York & creative director at Georg Jensen & the Swatch Group she now focuses on the potential & relevance of global crafts.

Andrei Georgescu has all the enterprise development & implementation competence. He has successfully launched the social enterprise MBQ in Romania & managed the transition of a group of traditional artisans to suppliers of Ikea

"the project where we all met

& now the model that we want

to replicate & scale."

Lisa Pock admininstration & communications.

Gabor Nagy implementation partner.

Adrien Dudas controlling.

Pia Scharler art direction. Sarah Podbelsek graphics. Karin Pollack & Giovanna Dunmall texts. Pauline Thurn und Taxis & Mark Glassner photography. Ana Berlin public relations. Nick van Praag feedback. Sofie Lachaert & Luc d’Hanis creative advice. Alice Stori Liechtenstein curator.

Lady Malloch-Brown Lilli Hollein Nicole Traxler Andre Wilkens Franz Prueller advisory board.

from

the road ....

'I tried to capture special moments throughout our beautiful journey in Uzbekistan – a country in which one can easily get too euphoric as a photographer.'

Pauline Thurn und Taxis

'Traveling for the first time in Albania you immediately get there are layers there, just like in the architecture of their messy cities … what I saw was a compendium of contradictions & a youthful energy. Past & present are so unusually close.'

Marta Galli

'Arriving at night, my first glimpses from the taxi window showed a city at once familiar & foreign. A visit to Zaza's workshop outside Tbilisi the next morning revealed a new world, a new reality. It was the beginning of a journey in which every day we discovered new layers & stories of a fascinating country. This variety was reflected in the buildings, the people, the landscape & the food. Last but not least, the encounter with Zaza was instructive. He spoke of the emotional value objects can take on. A testament to the mute yet eloquent language of things.'

Susanna Koeberle

'The middle way between intimacy & distance is not always easy to walk. I hope you can read the expression in Zaza’s eyes, it says it all.'

Pauline Thurn und Taxis

'Photography for me is a window to many worlds. I have been a documentary photographer & a photojournalist for almost 50 years. Yet every time I look through the lens I feel I am opening a new window. That is exactly what I felt when I visited Zaza in Tserovani. Photographing the refugees from South Ossetia was like discovering a new world. I did not speak their language but the communication was beyond words. Cooperation was without boundaries or frontiers. I hope this comes out in the pictures.'

Alex Levac

'This was my second trip to Transylvania. But while, for some strange reason, I have almost no memories of the first one 20 years ago, this time so many images imprinted themselves in my mind. Sorin’s small sun-drenched workshop, the magnificent colors of the traditional costumes, the turrets & roofs of the Roma palaces. These memories will stay with me.'

Jasmin Jouhar

'A journey through time that was not a journey through time. I was fascinated by the attempt to portray traditional crafts in a contemporary way.'

Nafez Rerhuf