Category: Inside Romania

The name runs on the same lines in most places, Marché des pouces in France, Fleemarkt in Germany, to quote just a couple. These flea markets may sometime bring unexpected fortunes to reluctant owners. Bucharest has recently adopted the custom.

We talked to Andreea Urda, one of the promoters of such events: “This is a flea market type of business, but because Romanians have so many words that have lost their meaning and gained a pejorative dimension, we called it not a flea market, but a yard sale. The first event was in February this year, and it all started with me changing homes, and I discovered that I have a lot of clothes and things that I could not bring myself to throw away, and I thought I would give them away, or barter them away, or sell them at a discount, and I thought I better have a yard sale, not just for myself, but for other people in the same situation, and here we are, at the fifth edition.”

These sellers of bargains register for every edition, because they started liking a lot the sales, and new members come in all the time. They are brought in by friends, or find out about it through social media, or from Gabriela’s website. How do things go?

Gabriela Urda:“They register, they pay a minimal fee that covers costs and the rent for the space we use. We gather in a café, the same most times, which we had to switch for a larger one, more central. We gather Sunday from morning to evening, and we wait for people, who usually show up in large numbers, they rummage through our things and get stuff for cheap, from 5 to 50 lei. I think we have a few hundred people every edition.”

Gabriela Urda told us what she believes the attraction is: “Many come to rummage and discover things, rather than go to a shop and get something everyone else has. We have a kind of life that is fairly standardized and limited, people need surprises. They enjoy more for a five lei bargain than they would something more expensive. It is a joy to get a bargain. Then many of the would be buyers bring their own stuff they want to give away. We have to put them back out there, because in our consumer society we gather a lot of stuff which ends up in the trash. It is not trash, it should be reused, recycled. This is how we get to recycle on a small scale, put back on the market clothes the kids outgrew and end up forgotten in a wardrobe. We use our resources better. We also had a vintage salon not long ago. Vintage begins as early as 1920 and ends in 1980. Sometimes the stuff we bring are beautiful and has great sentimental value, like granny’s dresses. Some are just objects created a long time ago, knickknacks, jewelry, which are cheap, but have been made a very long time ago. If you bought a blouse and wore it for a year, what do you do with it? It stays in the wardrobe, gathers dust and that’s it. If you bring it to the yard sale, at worst you exchange it for something else. If not, you sell it, and you end up enjoying it anyway.”

We asked Gabriela Urda what her greatest surprise was at these Sunday gatherings: “The people who came were the greatest surprise. They are very open minded. I saw a lot of acquaintances that I hadn’t seen in a while, people from fashion, stylists, journalists, and other people. The information spread by itself, by various means. Socializing on a Sunday also attracts people, they hand around more than they would in a store, and they seem happier. It is a social event, I would have wanted it to also be an event for young people who are into fashion and want something different. I want to do this every month, a flea market that is an opportunity to learn that things have more than one life.”

In fact, according to Gabriela Urda, that is one of our shortcomings. We are impulse buyers who just leave things in wardrobes. When we discover that they take up too much of our space, yard sales are a solution.

A team of TV professionals and documentary film specialists shares the opinion that everybody has a story to tell to the nearest and dearest, be it the history of a family or trifles related to family life, before a new member of the family turns up. Those who are filmed on such occasions become stars or narrators in a production that will be screened before an exquisite audience.

”Ten years ago me and your dad met. After three years we got marred, and in 2012 our family was complete when YOU were born, the most beautiful gift we could have ever dreamt of. Since you came, the emotions me and your father have been experiencing have been so intense that we feel we have never lived something like that before, we want to capture those emotions so that after a coupe of years, when you grow up, you can identify those emotions watching this video.”

-Marilena Rata is the initiator of the project entitled Storiette. She will now be spinning the yearn of how it struck her mind to propose that service to Romanians, a service which for quite some time has been operational abroad.

” First we wanted to come up with that only for the elderly, then we reached out to people from various walks of life. I am from Iasi and I have only been in Bucharest for 5 or 6 years, I do not travel back home very often, I go there about twice a year, and I‘ve got only one grandma. She will soon be 93. Grandma kept telling me how she met my granddad, who is no longer with us, how the children in the family were born, what it was like during the war, everything my granddad was going through when he did time in the concentration camp. It dawned upon me that each of us has grandparents, uncles, parents, who simply get old and who haven’t told all they have to say. Maybe they did not tell the nearest and dearest everything they had been through. Then it crossed my mind to film my grandma, so that we can have that short film for us and each time we miss grandma we should watch that film with her. It was then that the idea sprang up. So here’s what we have on offer: we help people tell their story, just as it is, the real stuff. And, which is more, we give people a hand to open up first before their family and their friends.”

Those who decide to tell their story publicly can contact the team. During the first meeting an outline is being provided for the cutout of the future film. Marilena Rata believes that not just anyone who can film with the cell-phone’s inbuilt camera can tell a story the way her team does.

”People contact us and we film them in high-quality conditions. By that I mean the quality of the photography and of the editing, which is only a whisk away from the quality of a documentary we usually watch on Discovery Channel or on other such channels. People get their story filmed and can watch the edited version of the film with family and friends, usually on special occasions. That’s what we have on offer for them, to watch the film on a special occasion or on someone’s birthday anniversary. Usually, the film is watched on the anniversary of the person telling the story.”

Sometimes those who are willing to create such a story want to offer someone a surprise or to leave a message for the future.

“ It is a sign of gratitude, of love, or appreciation the family has for someone whom they hold very dear. The family can make a surprise to someone who celebrates his or her birthday. Suppose we have 5, 6, 7 people we film telling stories, recalling little episodes about the one who is being celebrated. On his birthday, the celebrated one receives a film featuring those close to him speaking about him, and praise is heaped on that person. And I believe this will bring great joy to the celebrated person. All that speaks volumes about what we can offer apart from the sheer shooting operation and from the things we tell people in that short film, namely the feeling you experience when you see the one near you telling all those things in front of the others. “

The screened stories take between 15 minutes and 1 hour to watch. Two documentaries have already been shot and another four are work-in-progress. According to Marilena Rata, the reaction of those who learn for the first time about this project is surprising.

“Reactions have been positive so far and we’ve received a lot of e-mails and Facebook messages that confirm it. People write to thank us and tell us that we do a great job. Those we have already worked with are very pleased with the result. We have met wonderful people who have proved us that Romanians still possess strong family values. What we want is to give people the feeling that they are appreciated and make sure they are well aware of it.”

Storiette means “short story.” Each person has a personal story to tell. And every time we share this story, someone may learn an important lesson.

A team of TV professionals and documentary film specialists shares the opinion that everybody has a story to tell to the nearest and dearest, be it the history of a family or trifles related to family life, before a new member of the family turns up. Those who are filmed on such occasions become stars or narrators in a production that will be screened before an exquisite audience.

”Ten years ago me and your dad met. After three years we got marred, and in 2012 our family was complete when YOU were born, the most beautiful gift we could have ever dreamt of. Since you came, the emotions me and your father have been experiencing have been so intense that we feel we have never lived something like that before, we want to capture those emotions so that after a coupe of years, when you grow up, you can identify those emotions watching this video.”

-Marilena Rata is the initiator of the project entitled Storiette. She will now be spinning the yearn of how it struck her mind to propose that service to Romanians, a service which for quite some time has been operational abroad.

” First we wanted to come up with that only for the elderly, then we reached out to people from various walks of life. I am from Iasi and I have only been in Bucharest for 5 or 6 years, I do not travel back home very often, I go there about twice a year, and I‘ve got only one grandma. She will soon be 93. Grandma kept telling me how she met my granddad, who is no longer with us, how the children in the family were born, what it was like during the war, everything my granddad was going through when he did time in the concentration camp. It dawned upon me that each of us has grandparents, uncles, parents, who simply get old and who haven’t told all they have to say. Maybe they did not tell the nearest and dearest everything they had been through. Then it crossed my mind to film my grandma, so that we can have that short film for us and each time we miss grandma we should watch that film with her. It was then that the idea sprang up. So here’s what we have on offer: we help people tell their story, just as it is, the real stuff. And, which is more, we give people a hand to open up first before their family and their friends.”

Those who decide to tell their story publicly can contact the team. During the first meeting an outline is being provided for the cutout of the future film. Marilena Rata believes that not just anyone who can film with the cell-phone’s inbuilt camera can tell a story the way her team does.

”People contact us and we film them in high-quality conditions. By that I mean the quality of the photography and of the editing, which is only a whisk away from the quality of a documentary we usually watch on Discovery Channel or on other such channels. People get their story filmed and can watch the edited version of the film with family and friends, usually on special occasions. That’s what we have on offer for them, to watch the film on a special occasion or on someone’s birthday anniversary. Usually, the film is watched on the anniversary of the person telling the story.”

Sometimes those who are willing to create such a story want to offer someone a surprise or to leave a message for the future.

“ It is a sign of gratitude, of love, or appreciation the family has for someone whom they hold very dear. The family can make a surprise to someone who celebrates his or her birthday. Suppose we have 5, 6, 7 people we film telling stories, recalling little episodes about the one who is being celebrated. On his birthday, the celebrated one receives a film featuring those close to him speaking about him, and praise is heaped on that person. And I believe this will bring great joy to the celebrated person. All that speaks volumes about what we can offer apart from the sheer shooting operation and from the things we tell people in that short film, namely the feeling you experience when you see the one near you telling all those things in front of the others. “

The screened stories take between 15 minutes and 1 hour to watch. Two documentaries have already been shot and another four are work-in-progress. According to Marilena Rata, the reaction of those who learn for the first time about this project is surprising.

“Reactions have been positive so far and we’ve received a lot of e-mails and Facebook messages that confirm it. People write to thank us and tell us that we do a great job. Those we have already worked with are very pleased with the result. We have met wonderful people who have proved us that Romanians still possess strong family values. What we want is to give people the feeling that they are appreciated and make sure they are well aware of it.”

Storiette means “short story.” Each person has a personal story to tell. And every time we share this story, someone may learn an important lesson.

In mid April a team of inventors set an extraordinary record in the history of the biggest International Exhibition of Inventions in Geneva. The Grand Prix was awarded to a Romanian invention: an aircraft scanner able to detect even one-millimetre thick objects. It was the 2nd time that Mircea Tudor and his team won the Grand Prix. They first won it in 2009 for a truck scanner. They expected that the reporters of Romania’s big TV stations would be there in huge numbers eager to record their story, but that did not happen. The news of their success had not been taken over by any news agency and that was the spark for the campaign “We support innovation”, the initiative of the DDb advertising company, which set as a priority a campaign to promote the great Romanian inventors. Here is next Roxana Memeta, the general manager of the company:

“Romanians are inventive. We have seen that Romania boasts many inventions that have changed lives along the centuries and quite frequently have had an impact on the history of a whole generation or simply have changed the world. There are many passionate, creative Romanians who have invented very interesting things but who are faced with the lack of funds and of support for their ideas. It takes too long for their ideas to come to life. That is why we thought of a campaign meant to support innovation”.

However a business magazine from Bucharest, Biz, had carried the news of the Romanian inventors’ success in Geneva that very day. Marta Usurelu, the editor in chief of the publication, says that could not simply go unnoticed.

“We posted the news on our website that very afternoon and sadly discovered that nobody had taken over the news, neither news websites nor TV stations and we got angry. It was a moment of national pride mixed with frustration. And that prompted us to talk to Roxana Memeta, the general manager of the DDb advertising company and set up a strategy, to approach things differently” The result was that, in a few hours, several pubic personalities from Romania posted on the Internet pictures of themselves wearing red T-shirts that read “I won the Grand Prix at the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. The strategy worked, it really drew people’s attention, says Marta Usurelu:

“The idea was really great. Because everybody started wondering: “What do you mean, you won the Grand Prix?” It had a snowball effect. We started receiving calls from big companies that said: We want to join in the campaign too, we want to support innovation, we want T-shirts. The fact that important Romanian companies and outstanding professionals are now supporting the campaign means that we have reached our purpose. Now we’re waiting for the moment when we have new inventions to launch. That will really make our campaign a success.” In just two weeks posters and people wearing red T-shirts that read “I won the Grand Prix at the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva” and “We support Innovation” could be seen throughout the whole of Bucharest. Organizers hope that in a month or two they will find several interesting projects that can be financed until fall, with the help of those who offered to support innovation. Besides that, Marta Usurelu says, the campaign’s effect are already being felt.

“Some friends of ours have asked us to make children T-shirts with the same message, to be worn at school. They want their kids to understand that they live in a country where good and interesting things happen and to inculcate a sense of patriotism and pride in them. I used to travel a lot and in the beginning I was one of those people who said This can only happen in Romania. But travelling abroad, I came to the conclusion that people have the same qualities and faults everywhere, bureaucracy is the same everywhere, good and bad things happen everywhere so we are by no means inferior to other people, on the contrary, we have more qualities than many of them. Of course, we should not compare Romania with France or the US, but we are not far from these countries either. Coming to think of it, things are not that bad here and it’s only those who never travel abroad and are daydreaming that imagine their life could be so much better in another country. They are wrong to believe that.” Roxana Memetea has told us that her purpose, when she started the campaign, wasn’t to make country branding:

“We initially wanted to talk about specific things like inventions and innovations and to come up with actions meant to support them. Indirectly though, the campaign is also about a ‘made in Romania’ positive brand and about a sense of pride that we hope to grow in as many people as possible.” In an interview with Radio Romania International, Mircea Tudor made it clear the invention belongs to the entire Romania:

“We told ourselves that this is not just our invention, it’s Romania’s invention. When you support innovation you become part of it. So we dedicate this invention to Romania and we are happy to see that people come to think of it as to their own invention.”

April the 23rd is a symbolical day for world literature. Two outstanding writers, Miguel Cervantes and William Shakespeare, died on that day in 1616. Some of the world’s famous writers, such as Maurice Druon, Vladimir Nabokov and Joseph Pla were either born or departed on that day. It was back in 1995 that the UNESCO General Congress declared April the 23rd World Book Day, as a tribute to all writers and to encourage readers, particularly the young ones, to discover or rediscover the pleasure of reading.

This year on April the 23rd, a publishing house in Bucharest staged the Night of Open Books, when 4,000 volumes were opened and made available to those willing to leaf through them, on a pedestrian street in the old city center. Furthermore, people could even walk away with those books. The director executive of the Litera Publishers, Marin Vidrascu, the organizer of the Night of Open Books says it was for the second time that such events were organized at European level.

“We got the idea from a similar event that took place in Spain four years ago and we adjusted it a little bit to fit our city. The event started at 8:30, when passersby were welcomed by thousands of open books all along the Lipscani street, in the old city center. After dark, everybody could lend flashlights and start reading books, right there, on the narrow streets of the old city center. The event lasted until midnight. We tried to bring a wide variety of books, such as fiction, romance, science, art books, as well as books on architecture and film and even children’s literature. According to our estimates over 6,000 people attended the event.”

Six thousand people managed to take away 4,000 volumes from Lipscani street in less than 20 minutes. Some of the participants described those 20 minutes with just one word: “chaos”. Mihaela Ionescu was present, but she did not manage to see the books:

“I had seen pictures of this kind of event in other countries, and I expected to see a street with books well lighted, nicely arranged, so you could stroll around and leaf through them, to have an easy time of it. However, when I got to Lipscani street, I found a huge crowd, bustling around what I could only guess were books, because I couldn’t reach a single one. Even though the basic idea was good, it turned into a circus. Maybe people really don’t have money for books, even though you really want a book, you find them at second hand bookshops at low prices. I think that this is a habit of ours, when you hear something is given out for free, you take your entire family in tow, go to see what it’s about, and you snatch away as much as you can. People who actually read don’t come to these events, I think, they buy their books in bookstores, they come to these events only to see what they are about, at best, but not to get pushed around in a crowd.”

Marin Vidrascu told us that the organizers did not expect people to come in such large numbers:

“At these events there are people who are pleasantly surprised, and others who are not exactly delighted. There were a lot of people, the street is fairly narrow. We didn’t expect so many people to show up, hence the bustle. Paradoxically, we are among the last countries in Europe in terms of book consumption, below five Euros spent on books, for a book market worth 60 million Euros. I’ll give you a reference point: Hungary, a country four times smaller, has a book market almost three times larger, worth 200 million Euro. I think a lot of people came to get those books they can’t afford. In Romania right now books are luxury items, which not many people can afford.”

In a future edition, Marin Vidrascu would like to have a roomier location, and would bring more books, and would also like to make some organizational changes. However, he says, this type of event, with its pluses and minuses, draws attention to reading, which is why it is worth creating opportunities for discussion about what and how Romanians read. Marin Vidrascu:

“This event is part of a campaign meant to encourage reading. We are trying to whet the appetite for reading among young people. The average age for book buyers in Romania is over 40. This average drops when it comes to on-line purchases, but on-line buying in Romania is just beginning, it is not a hefty percentage of sales. A poll was run among Romanians asking them if they still read, and what. Most said they don’t have time. Another poll shows that Romanians spend an average of four hours watching television. I don’t see how they don’t have time to read. We are not in competition with other publishers. We are in competition with television. It is a battle that has just begun, and will continue for years to come. What will we do? We will keep organizing events like this, allowing us to meet readers face to face.”

Not all opinions of the Night of Open Books were negative. Some people saw the potential of this event, and the message behind the gesture of offering someone else a free book. What is certain is that the 2014 edition is eagerly awaited.

In the past, people used to meet people at village dances or at balls. From a certain age onwards, their mate was found by elderly women. However, village dances and balls have all but disappeared of late, and elderly women are busy, since the retirement age went up. So, what is there left to do for someone who is not young enough to go clubbing any more, surrounded by acquaintances who no longer have an unmarried sister or cousin, and everyone works form 9 AM until the work gets done for the day?

You may say that doesn’t leave too many options, but reality contradicts us, at least in Romania. We have everything, dating sites, marriage agencies, agencies organizing informal get-togethers, theme trips, speed dating, tango lessons, and even walks in the park or socializing events for both singles and couples who want to widen their social circle.

One offer in particular drew our attention. “Umbrella for Two” is a dating agency specialising in services targeted at a very sophisticated and very busy group of people: singles in the business world. It does more than simple matchmaking, it selects potential candidates using the principles of business head hunting.

Claudia Ulici is a professional matchmaker. She told us how the idea came to her to set up such a business.

Claudia Ulici: “It was simple, we looked around and saw how many people have difficulty in finding a life partner, because they dedicated their time to their profession more than it used to be the case. In addition, social circles are getting narrower, since as people grow older most friends end up married. Then there is the fact that people get pickier, and no longer go clubbing, socializing excessively. That is why this is a welcome service that we provide.”

320 customers have come through the door of the agency in its 3 years of existence. We asked Claudia Ulici how she goes about it when she goes heart hunting:

Claudia Ulici: “Some people are very selective, they have a certain precision in setting criteria that a potential life mate has to meet. We use these criteria and start exploring through our network, our acquaintances, in events that we take part in, looking for the right person to meet the wishes of our client. We have a discussion where we present our concept and activity. To the extent that the person is interested, we have a few discussions with our client, trying to understand their lifestyle, interests, future plans, and decide if they have potential for our customer. If this matches positive, then we put the two in touch with each other.”

Imagine you are at a party where there is also fundraising, which happens fairly often in Romania, and someone walks up to you and says:

Claudia Ulici: “’Hi, I am Claudia Ulici and I am a matchmaker’. It is a funny moment, but your interest is piqued. I haven’t met any resistance. If the person is not a target necessarily, they are not seeking a life partner, the discussion remains at a stage where information is involved, maybe they can recommend someone. That is a very good thing. Information is always welcome.”

What happens further, if the person is interested in meeting another agency customer?

Claudia Ulici: “We put them in contact, and if they show interest, we encourage them to have a second or a third meeting to pursue things further. We make reservations for them, we make sure that the place is proper for meeting, many times we leave it to the gentleman to pick the place. We make sure they can identify each other right away. If necessary, we even make the introductions.”

We asked Claudia Ulici who makes use of these “heart-hunting” services. As it is in society at large, 60% are ladies, while 40% are gentlemen.

Claudia Ulici: “These are extremely selective people, who know what they want or are in the process of discovering themselves, people with good careers, are very busy, but at the same time want something better for themselves, and that means first and foremost a satisfying relationship, a healthy relationship, based on collaboration between two partners and growing together. The most active segment is between 30 and 43 years of age, people who want a family, but not at random, next to someone they can rely on. They want a match in terms of personality, character, social and professional status, previous life history, present lifestyle or future plans. Last but not least, people no longer work as much. They understood that working too much they’ll end up single, and so they set aside some time for personal life. We haven’t had desperate cases, we don’t get customers who are completely out of options, each of our clients has the opportunity to find the right person. My recommendation is for them to think very hard on who they want to find. Among the well-defined criteria should be the ones relevant to what they want to accomplish in the future. Everyone who comes to us is a daring person, because the first thing they do is look at themselves, and that is not an easy thing to do.”

It certainly isn’t easy, but it’s healthy, because everything is better in two.

A simple attic in Bucharest is the place where any of you can become a master with his or her own apprentices. All you have to do is convince those who like to attend classes and workshops, during an evening meeting, that the things you do are valuable and important. The attic is called Incubator 107 and last month for instance, all those who wanted to do something for their mind and soul, came here to choose from among several types of workshops.

On Mondays, they could learn coffee cup reading, on Tuesdays they got to know more about Buddhist meditation, on Wednesdays they recreated ideas, on Thursdays they could better understand love theory, on Fridays they learned more about how to present themselves in the online environment and take care of their image. Saturdays were all about consumerism and the new abundance, namely, how the limitation of resources impacts us given that the number of people is on the increase. There were also workshops on homemade cosmetics, party entrees and sign language. Lavinia Carcu organizes the Incubator and decides who are the ‘masters’ to hold the workshops:

“The Incubator was opened in April 2011 in the attic of a house in Bucharest. We were a group of friends, about six people initially. We were looking for people passionate about something, to come and hold workshops here. It has been almost two years since we’ve opened and we have a new set of workshops every month. Anyone who is passionate about something can come here and share his or her passion with the others. ‘The place where anyone can teach anyone anything’ — this could be a definition of our Incubator.”

Inclubator 107, located at no.107 on Calarasilor Boulevard has managed to bring together a community of enthusiasts. Its organizers have looked for and have found teams willing to develop the idea in other cities, so incubators already exist in Iasi, Cluj, Timisoara and Brasov. The incubator has grown organically. We have asked Lavinia Carcu to tell us more about how she selects the masters who hold the workshops:

“There are people who come to us and tell us they would like to have an incubator in other cities, and we encourage all those who have the energy and enthusiasm to do it. We also want to find people from abroad, willing to develop this idea in their own countries. We hold many workshops in many fields. There are six creative fellowships: the Movers, who deal with dancing and other sports, the Makers, who create handmade accessories and teach us how to refurbish a space, the Hedonists who give massage and cooking lessons and many other types of workshops, from the technical field to personal development and improvisation. It’s people who contact us by e-mail, telling us they want to give a course in love theory, for instance. They contact us and all we have to do is set the dates. There is a new set of workshops every month. We open the month with a night workshop.”

Alina Ciotarnel is one of those who wanted to learn in the incubator. After participating in several workshops, she joined the team and is now a ‘Carrier’, meaning that she introduces the incubator to festivals, fairs and other big events, including corporate. She told us what the night workshops are.

“The night workshops are alternative cultural events. Usually there are some 200 guests, and they last 10-13 hours, a whole night in fact. It’s actually a marathon of workshops. We present what’s going to happen the next month and all masters and apprentices are there to present their workshops. There are also two concerts per evening and other community events. One morning we released homing pigeons, we made huge soap bubbles, we had breakfast together in the incubator’s yard. It’s the kind of event where the community behind the project is most visible. Even if you are a new comer it’s impossible not to feel welcome and not to want to come back.”

We asked Lavinia Carcu about the goal of this Incubator where anybody can teach anybody.

“We want people to experiment, to discover themselves, to be generous. The project is funded through donations, and we want to encourage people to add their own value to what they receive in workshops.”

Alina Ciotarnel says that, although it sounds like a utopia, those who meet at these workshops, be they masters, apprentices or donors, want a better and more peaceful world:

“We want both children and parents, teenagers, actually everybody to find their passion and a way of living. Even if they’ve come to ten workshops and have not found their passion, but they’ve had a great time, it’s more than we dreamed of. If somebody has wanted for a long time to take dance lessons but has not done it and after one of our workshops they decide they will dance, then again it’s a huge step forward. We want to see people relax, especially those who are usually tense and loaded with problems, who work for big companies and seem to have forgotten about themselves.”

In a short while, the Incubator may have branches in other European capitals. You yourself could take this initiative and set up such an interactive space. If you want to know how, go to www.incubator107.ro.

Andrei Barsan is a marketing expert of one of the largest banks in Romania. He is the type of person who gets up early in the morning, to win time, to read one more page either from a book or a tablet, which can be easily carried in a bag. In 2007, he set up the association entitled “My Dear Bucharest”, which brings together all those who want to truly discover Bucharest, by strolling through the capital city and contributing to creating a visual chronicle of present day Bucharest. Andrei Barsan has told us about his idea of starting the whole project.

“I like Bucharest. I am a Bucharester. When I was a little boy, I would stroll along its streets, especially because my father was born in another town, wanted to discover Bucharest and took me along across the city. After the Revolution, I started taking photos of Bucharest more often, because of its faster dynamics. The 1990’s and 2000’s changed completely the face of Bucharest, new buildings and shops emerged, just like street advertising. I like it because it is mine. It is my home, it is my family. It is true that it’s polluted and dirty, but at the same time it is a city of hope. Many members of the ‘My Dear Bucharest’ Association are not Bucharesters by birth. They are the first generation that settled here, graduated from faculties in Bucharest and chose to remain here. In fact, Bucharest is a sort of city of hope to them, a sort of ‘El Dorado’, of Romanian ‘America’. It is true that for some of them, this is only a stage in their development. They might move to some other place, but many of them have chosen to remain here. Even if we, Bucharesters, consider it dirty and noisy, it is a joy and an accomplishment for others to have remained here.”

We have asked Andrei Barsan where he would take someone, if he were an ad-hoc guide in Bucharest.

“Unfortunately, Bucharest does not have well-established tourist routes or circuits. It only has some attractions that you should see. Everything depends on tourists, what they would like to see. I could take them on a stroll in the old city, around the St. Sylvester Church, near the Armenian Church or Foişorul de Foc, which served as a watchtower for firemen in the past. It is an exciting, enjoyable city with inter-war houses. Or, why not, I could take them to the People’s House, that is the Parliament Palace. Whether we like it or not, this edifice is well-known the world-over, it’s somehow iconic of Bucharest, of Romania. It is a kitsch that others don’t have. I carry with me a book on Bucharest issued in 1984, which also includes a map. It was a white spot on the map back then, on the site where the People’s House was being built. It was only a white spot back then, and now it is a black spot in Bucharest’s history.”

More exactly, what is the main activity of “My Dear Bucharest” Association?

“First of all, we want to make people know the city. We take joy in discovering it step by step. We take strolls every two weeks, we have set a series of routes, and we adjust our activity, depending on the events held in the city. We mount exhibitions in which we want to show the city as we see it. We go on trips to all areas of Bucharest, be they good or bad, we visit not only the central and northern areas of the city, but also a peripheral district like Ferentari. Our exhibitions feature not only the beautiful, bright side of the city, but also its dark side. We also run an online magazine entitled ‘My Dear Bucharest’. Furthermore, once a year, we print an almanac. In the magazine, we also cover the dark side of the city. We take photos of it, we show it, we keep it in the collective visual memory and we also take part in environmental, cleaning campaigns. Even if we don’t initiate such campaigns, we gladly take part in them. The latest such campaign was conducted in autumn, in the so-called Bucharest Delta, which formed around Vacaresti Lake. We are a sort of visual chroniclers of the city.”

Andrei Barsan has more on the trips organized by the association he runs.

“The trips we take are not a mere ramble, a camera in hand, running aimlessly, without any direction. We stop in certain places, there are people who join us and who explain to us the history of the place, we enter people’s gardens. We were sometimes invited to weddings, to dance with the bride. We interact with the city and its dwellers during our trips. We don’t go on trips like foreigners who simply want to see what’s around. We also socialize with other people. Many people are different than we initially thought, especially those in the poorer areas of the city, they are friendlier. Actually, we were really welcomed in the Ferentari district, and were chased away in the Primaverii district”.

“My Dear Bucharest” Association has opened a permanent exhibition in the Unirea Metro Station, in the walkway which links the two metro lines. It is called the “Gallery in the Gallery”. Snapshots taken by members of the association are on show on a 40-50m long wall.

The current exhibition brings together the most beautiful and interesting photos of the city. It is just like a puzzle of images that we can see every day, if we choose to lift up our eyes to look around us, on the way to the office and back home.

We’ve asked Andrei Barsan if something has changed over the past 6 years, since he started strolling along the streets of Bucharest purposefully.

“I think it has changed, especially because people are more aware of the fact that Bucharest is the city they live in, and not only the city they cross every day. Those who join us learn to look at the city differently, to pay attention to details, no matter if they have a camera or not. It is not necessary to take a camera with you. They all see the city differently and we hope they will also be able to change it one day.”

The photos taken by the members of “My Dear Bucharest” Association are also available on the website oraşul.ro”. Finally, we’ve asked Andrei Barsan if Bucharest were a beautiful woman, what would Andrei Barsan tell her? Andrei Barsan was quick to answer: ”I’m glad to see you when I wake up every morning”.

The European Union wants to cut down the number of traffic accident victims by 50% by 2020 in all 27-member countries. The main causes of traffic accidents are jaywalking, running stop signs, speeding and drunk driving. In Romania, the police started several awareness raising campaigns under the slogan “Choose Life”. The Romanian police and the Publicis advertising agency have come up with an original way of conveying their message to drivers. They used the image of three of the most infamous dictators to convey the message that if a driver hits a pedestrian, most likely the latter will be an innocent victim.

Silviu Nedelschi, creative director with the agency, told us what they did: “We took the images of three of the most notorious dictators in history, Stalin, Hitler and Saddam, and projected them on a windshield, as if they had been hit. The idea was that this will never happen to you; when you hit someone, no matter how much you wish they had been evil, you will usually hit an innocent person, a good person. It is a different type of message that goes straight to the soul. If you drive recklessly, you will hit someone who is not the worst person in the world.”

The images of dictators stuck to windshields have spread all across the world in a couple of days. What followed was an ad shot outside a very popular club in Bucharest on a Saturday night. A group of traditional mourners, women who weep for the dead at village funerals, wait for the people coming out of the club and accompany them to their cars. They sing funeral dirges as they would in a real funeral cortege. The words sound as something they would sing for someone who died while drunk driving.

In addition to the dirge, the mourners also hang on the car mirror an embroidered tea towel, such as people traditionally do in Romania when going to a funeral. Officer Cristian Andries from the Traffic Police General Inspectorate told us that this campaign, launched right before the 2012 summer season, was quite successful on the Internet.

Cristian Andries: “We are trying to persuade everyone on the roads to act responsibly, and to drive carefully. A very large number of traffic accidents are caused by drunk driving, and we are trying to reduce the number of these incidents, which is why we thought of this campaign. We launched it right before May 1st, when a lot of youth were going to the beach, precisely to make them think of the basic idea: don’t drive after drinking. However, the campaign did not address only the youth, but all drivers. Some really liked the idea, and the people who saw our movie remembered the message.”

Senior copywriter Andrei Daniliuc stressed that this way of conveying the “don’t drink and drive” message was also an attempt to break away from the usual way in which the police in Romania conveys public messages.

Andrei Daniliuc: “People have gotten used to the way in which the police usually sends them messages: don’t drink, don’t beat your wife, don’t do this, don’t do the other thing. It’s like a parent saying you’ll get in trouble for doing whatever. We thought that if we changed the angle, the police would have a better image, people would say ‘look, they joined the modern world, they don’t just issue interdictions’. I think it caught on because of the unconventional way in which things were told. Plus, it’s something deeply Romanian, I’ve never heard of another country where they hire professionals to mourn at funeral. We’ve had this since forever, and I think this is why it caught on. We engage in the dialogue the very moment when they must decide whether they want to get behind the wheel, go with a friend or call a cab. We had two ways of conveying our message. The first was the mourners. And, if that didn’t work, they got to their car and saw the towel hanging on the mirror, that was the other warning. But the mourners were clearly the ones with the greatest impact.”

Another ad that spread like wildfire over the web was a collage of short videos showing stray dogs crossing the street at the pedestrian crossing. The slogan was simple: if they can do it, you can, too. Officer Cristian Andries from the police says that they were talking about another major cause of traffic accidents.

Cristian Andries: “Jaywalking has been one of the main causes of traffic accidents in Romania. This and speeding have always been the top two causes of accidents. This is an original campaign, but we hope that the reaction of the people seeing this will be positive, and they will get the underlying message: they should cross the street at the crossing.”

Last year, Romania had around 9,300 traffic accidents that left victims, and the police hopes to be able to reduce this number in the future.

The employees taking the underground home after work found themselves stepping on a red carpet covering the stairs to the platforms among cheers and inspirational messages delivered via loudspeakers by a group of volunteers carrying motivational signs and placards.

Andrei Tudose, from the Delivering Life Foundation, explains: “We like to take people by surprise and break off their routine, trying to make them feel better.”

We also asked one of the volunteers why she got involved in this activity: “I came here to impart joy. I travel by metro myself and I don’t like to see people exhausted after a day’s work who only want to get home as quickly as possible. So, together with the other volunteers, I came here to give these people a cheer, make them smile and get them to share in our joy.”

The underground station was full of TV crews and photographers and everything looked like an award gala. But let’s see how some of the passengers enjoyed this star-like treatment: “I’m a little tired after a busy day at work, but I’m really enjoying the atmosphere.”

Florentina, on the other hand, says she is not impressed: “Maybe they thought their idea was original, but I don’t think it is, it’s probably borrowed from abroad. I don’t trust these things, I think they are invented by NGOs to prove they are doing something and claim European money.”

So we asked Andrei Tudose who paid for the whole event: “There are no costs, or at least they’re insignificant. We only bought some batteries, 2 square meters of red carpet and some placards. People volunteered to help because they feel inspired by what we do and want to offer something to the others.”

Such events, designed to make people take a break from the daily routine, are good pretexts both for those involved in the event and for onlookers to think of the actual significance of the event. Andrei Tudose told us that, from his point of view, the event was a successful experiment.

Andrei Tudose: “People have joined in the game. Corporate people played along and signed autographs, laughed and reached out to us. I personally believe life is a gift and I always look for things that make me feel good and which can influence the lives of the people around me. I myself get sometimes caught in the daily routine and realise how days, weeks, months and even years pass by without me enjoying life as I should. I think it’s essential to live life to the fullest. That’s how the idea of the event was born.”

The next similar event hosted by the Delivering Life Foundation will be held on February 26th. The location is still unknown. It may at the airport, in a crowded shopping centre, or maybe somewhere else, in an unusual location. The volunteers from Delivering Life will pop up as if from out of nowhere, carrying placards and loudspeakers and will do their best to make you smile. So say cheese!

Using an EEG helmet, a volunteer could move a little car by the sheer power of thought, as it were. It was the perfect opportunity to engage in a discussion about Modulab, the laboratory that set up the experiment, and about Arduino, the interactive platform that made possible putting into the tiny car motion. Let’s take them one by one.

Modulab is an interdisciplinary platform, promoting research and development for new expression methods and technologies in art and in the creative industries. It is an open platform addressed to those for whom simply pushing a button is no longer enough. It is for those who want to make their own buttons, to change them and use them for more than they were designed for, for those who take things apart to see what they have inside, for those who like problems more than they like solutions, which is why they seek the most elegant solutions.

Modulab is a place where a piece of wire can turn into a gadget. Here artists, programmers and technicians are encouraged to see things from a completely different angle, free themselves of convention, and to create. Ioana Calen is one of Modulab’s founders. She told us in a few words what Arduino is:

Ioana Calen: “Arduino is an interactive platform, which creates communication between a computer and the surrounding environment, and its creation has been compared with the emergence of the personal computer. Just as there has been a sudden shift from the mechanic paradigm to the digital one, once computers have started being used by everyone without having to study computer science, now we have an interactive paradigm with the use of the Arduino platform. You don’t have to be an engineer or to have technical studies, you have to know a minimum of programming, which you can learn in one day; the board in itself is very accessible, any student can buy it with minimal effort on-line. Think of the impact that computers had on the creative industries: film, fine arts, etc. This concept of micro-controller board with a friendly interface, which can be used by anyone, will have a similar impact. Brain waves will be used to move objects in one’s real environment, such as drapes, installations, all using an Emotiv helmet.”

The EEG Emotiv is an accessory developed from the computer game industry. It measures electric fluctuations on the scalp. When the wearer makes a cognitive effort, the electric impulses on certain areas are picked up by the helmet and get transmitted to the computer through the Arduino board, and this is how objects in the environment can be moved. The demonstration we spoke of in the beginning used such a helmet, and Ioana Calen told us about it:

Ioana Calen:“It is set for you to concentrate and to push the little car back and forth, to go left when you blink and to go right when you smile. We got a volunteer from the audience and trained him a bit before, we got him to do the same exercises with a virtual cube to push back and forth. We gauged his brain activity, to use as a benchmark. When he focused on pushing the car, the car moved. I had the good luck of finding a volunteer who was a gamer, and was used to using his imagination in a virtual environment, he wasn’t tense, and managed to move the toy car right from the start.”

Paul Popescu, Ioana Calen’s colleague at Modulab, said that anyone can use the helmet, not only gamers. He said that you only need training:

Paul Popescu: “It’s like having to learn to use an additional limb or learn to play an instrument, it is the same thing, you need lots of practice. It was very hard at first, it took us three days to learn four or five moves working hard with the helmet. In time you start gaining skills, it’s like learning an instrument, that’s what it was like for me.”

Demonstrations are made precisely to showcase the potential of the new technologies, says Ioana Calen:

Ioana Calen: “What would be truly interesting is for this technology to help people with special needs to find their way more easily within their own homes. There is this EEG helmet and all lights in the house, including natural light, are controlled and adjusted to the subject’s mood, pulse, etc. Depending on these parameters, curtains can be drawn, or lights of certain colors can be switched on. Technically, this is perfectly feasible, logistically it is a little more difficult, but simpler applications can be put together. Interaction is possible by means of sensors. At present these technologies are used a lot in art, in art installations, but I am very certain that soon they will be used for practical purposes as well. In hospitals, for instance, I’d love to see interactive installations in children’s areas, to distract them from the thought of going into surgery. I’d love to see robotic pets in centres for the elderly. I believe technology will become a part of people’s intimate life, rather than being a strictly functional component. A lot of people still don’t realize how easy it is to do whatever they want if they know where to look, who to ask and where to find the things they need.”

Paul Popescu believes in sharing knowledge:

Paul Popescu: “I believe this kind of business model, where one party offers its research, experiments and solutions, will be gaining ground. Because you offer your knowledge, free of charge, and knowledge thus propagates at a much higher speed. More people will have access to it and further progress will be a lot faster.”

Modulab aims to create a para-academic platform for all students in creative and other fields. The goal of this platform is to share knowledge and technology democratically, Ioana Calen explains:

Ioana Calen: “Students often complain that what they are taught in school no longer fits with what they find on the internet. When they see an interactive installation they think it is science fiction, they are under the impression that you need a million euros just to set up a lab that has to do with technology, they think you need to be a programmer in order to make a sensor-operated installation, and they think that, unless you are an engineer, you cannot sort out the electricity part. This is no longer valid, not for a long time. There are solutions that make everything easier. All they need is the courage to ask and do a little research. And above all, they need to start working.”

TRX, Total Resistance Exercise, is a new form of fitness invented by Randy Hattric, a Navy SEALs veteran. He found that, by simply using a karate belt tied in various ways, he can do all his fitness exercises. He created a new way of keeping in shape with wider appeal. Dumitru Butilca is a fitness coach with a company that has clubs in all major Romanian cities. He introduced TRX in Romania after graduating several training and certification courses:

Dumitru Butilca: “I first saw a little movie about TRX, a few years ago. When I saw it, I told myself: ‘I got to have that’. Someone sent me a TRX from the US. As a personal trainer, fitness and aerobics trainer and technical assistant, you have to be in step with the latest developments, so I told myself that I have to go get certified. As I am a French speaker, the first course was in Paris. Now I hold training courses in Romania.”

Shortly after bringing TRX to Romania, he asked a few of his students if they wanted to join a military training camp, the so-called TRX Bootcamp. It lasts three days, and is held somewhere close to the town of Sacele, in central Romania. Each of the three days there are two training sessions, for a total of 9 hours of running and exercising. Dumitru Butilca told us it is quite a challenge:

Dumitru Butilca: “You have to outdo yourself every time. If you feel good and you are fit all the time, your psyche will follow. When you tell someone: we’ll stay in the mountains three days, they say ‘OK’, but when you tell them two training sessions a day, they start backing off. One session is between 45 minutes to two hours. This is not your classical fitness session. We have car tires, I make them carry them around, we have sandbags, which sometimes we carry all the way to the spot where we train. We never train in the same place twice. If we have to climb a hill, we do so, then hang the TRX on a tree and start, I have some people do TRX, others retraining, others do weights, and others carry car tires. Everyone is working. The type of training changes every day.”

Gabriela Radulici went to the bootcamp for the first time out of curiosity: “I hadn’t been doing my fitness exercises for a long time. I was intrigued by TRX and so I went. I wanted to do whatever those folks hanging from ropes were doing. I loved it. This is a preconceived idea, that it wouldn’t be the place for a woman. Several friends saw the pictures and asked me if I’d gone crazy. They were saying: ‘Have you lost your mind? Carrying car tires around, haven’t you got anything better to do at home? You could had a massage.’ No matter how much I or anyone else explains, until you experience it, it’s hard to understand. The training is liberating, you can’t understand until you do it. From the outside it looks like you’re torturing yourself, but exercising outdoors makes all the difference. There is no mobile phone or computer to distract you, you see the guy next to you and it motivates you. The first and last training sessions are the hardest at the bootcamp.”

The training starts with a physical trial, when the instructor takes notes on the fitness of each “recruit”. The physical test consists of three series of 10 exercises per minute, with two rounds of running, a kilometer and a half each. The same test is administered at the end of the bootcamp.

Things improve dramatically, Dumitru Butilca told us, because he builds his training on two principles: “No one gets left behind”, and “There is no ‘I can’t’”.

Dumitru Butilca: “There is no such thing as ‘I can’t do it’, the only thing there is ‘I don’t want to be able to’. The brain gives up way before the body, it is a scientific fact. We all have that moment when we believe we can’t do it any more. If you overcome that moment, you can work hard for another two hours.”

Between training sessions, the recruits are provided with massage, sauna, hearty meals, with a menu designed by the trainer, but most of all they interact. Friendships are struck, teams get put together, which makes things much easier, as Gabriela told us:

Gabriela Radulici: “When training starts, people start interacting much more, new relationships get created. Even if I may not be able to do something, my team partner encourages me, or the other way around. You stop perceiving training as something difficult, things start coming naturally to you.”

Madalina Leonte, a TRX Bootcamp veteran, told us this is an experience worth having: “The idea is to unplug yourself totally, you literally don’t have time to think about anything. It was worth it, I had an experience which I told about to anyone willing to listen but was reluctant to go. You learn new things, you see new people. This is the most interesting thing, I think. We are 10 people in the heart of the forest for three days, and we can only talk to each other, about ourselves, there is no TV, no mobile phone, not even mobile phone signal. We talk about our problems and what we want our bodies to be able to do, what we could improve in the program. I think it was totally worth it. I would go to the Bootcamp again, I had six months of fitness training at the club. It’s not for just anyone, it’s not for the ladies going to the club with their Vuiton handbags and make up on, who want to do an hour of aerobics. It is for people who realized that they have to change their lifestyle, to reach a balance between body and mind. I think that this kind of training is the best way to achieve that.”

The most important lesson people learn in the Bootcamp, according to trainer Dumitru Butilca is “Yes, it can be done”.

And, because he had to name this feature of his, he called himself Iv. His poetry started with notes left on the fridge or little sweet nothings sent as mobile text messages to his then girlfriend. She was the one who convinced him to share all this with the world, we mean this poetry. Iv says he was reluctant at first:

Iv the Naïve: “She told me that these things were beautiful, and deserved to be shared with the world. I was quite skeptical, I said these were things that were part of the intimacy of a couple, and I didn’t think too many people would be interested in what I tell her. But she insisted, so I got myself a blog.”

At first there were eight or ten readers, then more and more started clicking their way to his text messages, written by the man who carries his naivete as a badge. The public enjoyed the thoughts that the writer carried with him for years, or maybe only for five minutes, his pith or undertones, the timid flirting or truths disguised as jokes, ideas budding inside him. It is no wonder that they are enjoyed, since what the poet says is so transparent. Let us listen to Iv reciting one of his poems.

Iv the Naïve: “I feel an acute need of not knowing you/ I don’t wanna know what music you listen to/ I don’t wanna know what high school you went to/ I don’t want you to tell me your name/ I don’t want to hear you fill my duvet with your breath/ or understand the divergences of your breasts/ or the uneven arching of your eyebrows. Please don’t wink at me/ I could understand everything about you/ don’t take off your make-up, don’t let your hair down/ don’t show me the freckle on your shoulder/ don’t get ticklish, don’t blush, don’t be soft and warm/ don’t fall asleep on my lap/ I don’t wanna know your sleep/ I would like to be able to fall in love with you even tomorrow.”

He says that he doesn’t even know if he is a poet or not, he somehow sidestepped literary critics, even though he knows it is the critics that validate the value of works. He burned through that stage and threw himself right in the sea, at the mercy of readers, and today he plays with them nicely:

Iv the Naïve: “I am not a technician of poetry, I don’t even know if I’m a poet. I am a man who notices things in other people, puts them through his own filter, through his own sensitivity, and gives them back to people. This is the reason why people enjoy this, and resonate, vibrate to what I’m writing, because everything I do comes in fact from them. People often find my lyrics surprising, the ending of my poems or what happens in the next line amazes people.”

Oana Velant is the editor who bet on Iv. She published two volumes superbly illustrated by Valentin Petridean, Iv’s friend and team partner. The first two thousand copies of ‘Versez’, the oddly named book of the invisible poet, sold out much faster than the publishing house had expected. The recently published volume titled ‘Uibesc’, launched in December, is about to run out too.

It makes one wonder wherefrom one draws the courage to publish the poems of a fictional character. Oana Velant told us it had been a decision based mostly on emotion.

Oana Velant: “We found him on Facebook, we simply liked very much how he wrote and his cheerful, optimistic and jocular style. We thought he stood out in the Romanian contemporary poetry. I personally don’t know anybody who writes in this manner and who manages to draw the attention of a whole community, to have so many fans and enjoy what he is writing. He has this incredible quality to gather these people and make them happy every day. For the Romanian critics Iv the Naïve is a strange voice. We are used to the poetry inspired by tragedy, problems, sadness and melancholy. Iv comes from a brighter area. Many critics don’t know in which category to include him”.

It’s true, everybody knows Iv. Women say that Iv is their daily fix of naiveté.

Oana Velant: “I heard of Iv the Naïve for the first time last year from a friend who was happy to finally discover a contemporary poet that she likes. I now have a favorite poem by Iv called ‘Before going to bed’. I have not bought his new book yet but it’s on my list.”

Men say they cannot possibly get rid of him.

“Iv the Naive…yep…my wife shows me his poems every day…the site is very good as a source of inspiration for the engineers of words”.

You would say that 3 years after being launched as a poet, Iv is ready to enjoy the outcome of his notoriety. But he does not even show up at his fabulous launches, with fortune muffins and especially designed settings. “Those launches are not for me, says the invisible poet, they are for the public. I send Vali on my behalf.”

Vali Petridean says he wasn’t aware, at the first launch, of the extent of the ‘Iv the Naive phenomenon’ but he could feel he had a big secret.

Vali Petridean: “I became aware of the fact that knowing Iv the Naive was like knowing Zorro. I was the only one who knew or could realize how wrong people were when talking about Iv or how right they were. They were talking about the ‘on line Iv’ character and I suppose they perceive him according to their imagination, and they were right in doing so”.

Why doesn’t Iv reveal his identity?

Iv the Naïve: “One of the reasons why I don’t want to publish under my real name and want to remain a fictitious character is my wish to stay away from celebrity. It seems to me that celebrity comes in with good things and also with very many bad, evil things and that it deforms people. I don’t want to be deformed, I want to be myself. I urge people to keep reading what I’m writing, to enjoy what I’m writing and not ask who I am. It’s the work that matters and not the author, as literary critic Titu Maiorescu said, and I agree to that”.

Ivcelnaiv.ro is the site where you can subscribe for a daily dose of poetry that is not inspired by tragedies, sorrows and disillusions. Sign up and you will receive a letter reading “I’m glad you subscribed. You’ll see it’s going to be all right that you subscribed to me”.

Mihaela Isac is a chemistry engineer and a graduate from Bucharest’s Polytechnic University. After graduation she applied for a Master’s Degree in Therapeutic Chemistry at the University of Bucharest’s Chemistry Faculty. She had looked at many cosmetics labels, in search for products with no synthetic compounds, but she eventually found out that the only way to a have a genuinely natural product was to make it herself. And that’s how the Mnosmetics were invented — Mnosmetics is a word especially coined to name Mihaela Isac’s cosmetics.

Mihaela Isac: “I was happy with the outcome, it made me realise that I got a talent for manufacturing such products. Besides, it was something I loved to do. People acknowledged my talent and my wish to create such products, they encouraged and supported me as I started to make the most of that talent, and that’s how I began to prepare those vegetal cosmetics for other people as well. We all have a talent that makes us happy, a talent we can make the most of by offering the gifts we have to the others as well.”

The paradox that never ceases to astonish Mihaela is that many people take up detoxifying diets, and then use cosmetic products with synthetic chemicals. All those who are concerned with their own health should know that the substances in the cosmetics they use are absorbed by the body through the skin. Many chemical ingredients in cosmetics and body care products are toxic and have negative effects on our health, Mihaela says.

Mihaela Isac: “The skin is the biggest organ in the human body. The skin absorbs the products we apply on it. If they have beneficial ingredients, the effects of their use will in turn be positive. But if those products contain toxic chemical substances, they will have negative effects on the skin as well as on our internal organs. And here we mainly speak about the effects that add up after many years of using those products.”

So far, hygiene and beauty products have not been perceived as directly influencing our health, because they are designed for external use. We simply do not realize that substances enter the body through the skin. Women absorb especially large amounts of toxic substances through the skin when they use ordinary cosmetic products, Mihaela Isac told us.

Mihaela Isac: “Women’s daily routine implies the use of cleansers, face creams, of makeup and other hygiene products, many of which have harmful ingredients. There is a whole list of dangerous substances, that common cosmetics contain: parabens, the aluminum which is included in deodorants and antiperspirants, aromatic carbohydrates from oil or other oil-based products (Vaseline and paraffin), the lead in lipstick and so on. There are many other harmful substances. An alternative to what is currently available on the market could by the organic cosmetics products.”

We’ve asked her whether it is difficult to make cosmetics after one has understood what effects these ingredients have.

Mihaela Isac: “It’s not that complicated. I first think of what I want to prepare. Let’s say I want to make a hair and scalp mask. I start reading about the ingredients first; then select those I might use for the product. Next I start drawing up the recipe, think of the amount of ingredients, then make a sample for me; test it for a while, then, if necessary, improve the recipe.”

Mihaela Isac does not limit herself to producing moisturizing creams, lotions or conditioners. She also makes perfumes, which she views as ‘healing olfactory essences’.

Mihaela Isac: “My perfumes are not used as daily deodorants. They are designed to enhance the psycho-emotional experiences mentioned in their description. For this reason they can be used before bedtime or even during the day, if that person wants to experience a certain mood. For a maximum effect the perfume must be applied between the nostrils and on other parts of the body, like the forehead, the neck, the chest or two fingers below the belly button. Alternatively, they can be smelled right from the bottle.”

But besides producing and selling handmade cosmetics, Mihaela pleads for consumer education.

Mihaela Isac: “People should be more aware of what they use and of what they spray on their skin. They should see beyond appearances, TV commercials, labels and packaging, and have a look at the content itself.”

All ingredients used at present (aromatic essences, oils) were initially used as cures, says our interlocutor. Ancient Egyptians were the first to use aromatic products for cosmetic use. Mihaela very much lays emphasis on the healthy ingredients of cosmetic products giving them the right place in a recipe.

In ancient times, ambrosia was considered the food of the gods. The combination of wine and honey was a source of youth and zest for life. And although many people are convinced of the therapeutic powers of the products based on grapes and honey, a lot is yet to be discovered in this area.

Two original Romanian products won the gold and silver medals at the Invention Show held in Warsaw last November: Antioxi Vita, a strong anti-oxidant, and Propolis Essence. Researchers from 30 different countries in Europe, the Middle East and Asia attended the show in Warsaw, which last year celebrated 100 years since Maria Sklodowska Curie won he Nobel prize for chemistry.

Despite participating for the first time in an event of its kind, Simona Bisboaca, aged 32, caused a stir among the researchers attending the show. She received the gold medal and a special prize for the best anti-oxidant from the Inventors Association in South Korea for her product called Antioxi Vita, which is made of the seeds, skin and rachis of grapes. Simona Bisboaca also presented in Warsaw a product called Propolis Essence, a type of water-soluble propolis for which she received the silver medal and a special prize from the Asia Invention Creativity Association.

The young Romanian inventor is a PhD student and a graduate of the Food Processing and Technology Department at the University of Agricultural Science and Veterinary Medicine in Cluj Napoca. She works with her brother Adrian Timar, whom we invited to tell us about the importance of discovering the antioxidant made of grapes. Adrian Timar is a doctor and director of the Department for Food Engineering at the Oradea University:

In ancient times, ambrosia was considered the food of the gods. The combination of wine and honey was a source of youth and zest for life. And although many people are convinced of the therapeutic powers of the products based on grapes and honey, a lot is yet to be discovered in this area. Two original Romanian products won the gold and silver medals at the Invention Show held in Warsaw last November: Antioxi Vita, a strong anti-oxidant, and Propolis Essence.

“This field of research is very important if we want to avoid the use of synthetic additives and enhance bio and food security. The main focus is the use of natural extracts as food additives or food supplements. The food additives used in the meat industry at the moment serve a number of purposes, including blocking oxidation processes during food processing. The most commonly used are nitrites. So far, we haven’t had an alternative to food additives, which add red to meat products and ensure their preservation. After a lot of research, we have obtained products that are made out of red and white grapes and which turned out to have similar qualities, but are more valuable from a toxicological point of view. These products have beneficial effects.

Apart from having a very valuable natural raw material, the manufacturing process can be easily checked and has got a beneficial effect on consumers. In addition, the products have a pleasant taste, which gratifies the senses. Therefore choosing such raw materials is not surprising whatsoever. We are planning to expand our antioxidant research to olive leaves, to red onion and to beet in particular.“

Apart from industrial use, which requires further testing, the product can also be used for personal use as a food supplement. A 100 ml bottle has got the same active principles as 80 litres of Cabernet Sauvignon wine, which is known to have the largest amount of antioxidants. Given the beneficial effects of propolis and the demand for it on the market, Simona Bisboaca created the Propolis Essence, or water-soluble propolis. Simona Bisboaca has further details on the history of this product:

“Propolis Essence has been created because it was in high demand. During various fairs, people kept asking why there was no alcohol-free propolis on the market. I made a number of tests and then I got the patents registered. Propolis Essence was truly a success. We managed to present it during the Fourth Apitherapy Congress, last October. Apitherapists recommended and tested it in various combinations, particularly for children. Propolis is quite useful in boosting up the immune system. There are quite a lot of children with low immunity, and many physicians used to rush into prescribing antibiotics, but more recently they have started to resort to alternative medical solutions. Propolis is good at boosting the immune system and appetite. It has antiviral properties, helps in liver regeneration and has many other uses. Children also like its taste a lot, they say it tastes like vanilla, chocolate or pine tree. Children feel these subtle flavours.”

Simona Bisboaca’s wish is to help people draw closer to nature. She believes that although we have become alienated from nature and we no longer eat natural products or breathe fresh air, nature has cures for all our problems.