25/06/2021
This is will be quite long post, but there is a story I would like to share. Story about the blacksmith. So if you have spare 5 minutes let's find out...
THE BLACKSMITH STORY
A wise man once said that, “a life without a passion is a life not worth living, but the hard part is finding that passion.”
This story starts many years ago in a country that no longer exists. Picture if you will, a small boy, in a rural village watching the village blacksmith toil away at his work. The small boy was fascinated with the heat, and the fire, and the skill of the blacksmith, but his real interest was that this humble blacksmith could answer any question the small boy asked, about any subject you can imagine.
How did this blacksmith know so much when he had rarely left the village of his birth? One day the small boy asked that very question. The blacksmith continued hammering at the glowing metal for another few precise strikes and then he wiped his face and forearms on hid dirty apron and put down his tools.
“Come with me,” said the blacksmith and walked into his house with the small boy. On the shelves of one room were bookcases and shelves, crammed with books on every subject imaginable and the blacksmith explained that this was the key for the small boy to escape the confines of the village and to visit some of the places described in these books.
He explained that the small boy was welcome to read any book in the room on the condition that each book was treated as you would treat a precious jewel and the boy began a lifelong journey to find his own passion through the pages within that room.
My apologies my friends. I should perhaps introduce myself first. My name is Vaclav. My friends call me Vashek or Vash, and I used to think that I had two passions in life; travel and photography.
I have led a fortunate life that has allowed me to travel widely and indulge in my passion for photography and those travels have led to meet so many wonderful people, like the blacksmith, that have taught me so much about myself, my work, the world, and their lives.
The culmination of this interaction has shown me that although people might be divided by language or borders, or distance, it is still possible to communicate through music and art, and I have discovered my real passion.
I was travelling the world and having these experiences and I wanted to find a way that would allow others perhaps less fortunate in terms of time, situation, finances, a way to have similar experiences.
For those who cannot go to the mountain, I wanted to find a way to bring the mountain to them. The mountain being a way that artists from around the world could meet and communicate and collaborate through their shared experiences.
This is Dzomsa. In the language of the Ladakh people, Dzomsa means, “community meeting place” and my Dzomsa is a place in Prague where artists and patrons from anywhere are welcome to come and meet other artists and patrons to showcase their talents and spread the word about their art to the world.
Dzomsa is a place where you can rent a studio, hold a workshop or a seminar, showcase and sell your art, and tell your story to others with the same passion and maybe learn new skills that can enhance your own work.
Dzomsa is now in operation after I have spent the months of lockdown refurbishing the space from the beginning. My current issue is only that the pandemic lockdowns has massively interrupted the cash flow of the business and I find that I am spending more time trying to firefight the finances than I can spend pursuing the actual purpose of Dzomsa.
Dzomsa will continue to operate irrespective of what happens in the world because everything I have is now within these walls and I shall merely continue to work as normal in order to redress the shortfall.
I had heard of GoFundMe and didn’t think it applied to me. I thought that it would be embarrassing to prostrate myself in order to beg for money and I had no interest in taking such a route.
Fortunately, I have many friends and mentors who told me that I was being ridiculously stubborn without any sense. They explained that GoFundME is simply a way to tell my story and if people enjoyed my story, then they would perhaps be kind enough to leave a small donation and that the story of Dzomsa is one worth telling.
My GoFundMe campaign is an attempt to raise a sum of £10,000. This is the amount required to pay the bills on Dzomsa for the first year, after which point, we fully expect Dzomsa to be a self-financing project and in the meantime, if I cannot raise the money, I will work harder selling more of my own art and the Dzomsa journey slows a little that’s all.
Any monies received are to pay the bills and operating costs of Dzomsa. Not a single penny will be used for anything that is not Dzomsa.
And there, my friends, is my story and I hope you enjoyed it. Perhaps one day, if you’re ever in Prague, you will come through our doors and say hello and perhaps decide that Dzomsa has something for you.
Just ask for Vash, and we will drink the finest coffee, and you can tell us your story and we can try and tell your story to the world.
Thank you for reading my story.
Ah! Once again, my apologies – you want to know what happened to the Blacksmith and the small boy of course.
Unfortunately, the Blacksmith has ended his personal journey. He died a lifetime ago surrounded by his loving family and his books. Those books were bequeathed to his son and I can assure you that they have been kept like precious jewels and devoured from cover to cover. They are what started the journey to Dzomsa so many years ago because that small boy is known to his friends as Vash and there is a small corner of Dzomsa dedicated to a humble blacksmith that rarely left his village – one day I hope to show you this dedication in person x
In the meantime you are welcome to join us virtually at:
www.dzomsaplace.com
