Signboards Tiflis

It is absolutely impossible to imagine Tbilisi without colorful signs. They are part of the soul of the city, its revelation. Remove these simple inscriptions and drawings from the curves of tangled streets and the streets will fade, disappear, collapse like a dilapidated balcony. Awkward and naive, hand-painted with simple paints over the filthy basements of shoemakers, with chalk on boards near wine shops, on the boxes of fruit and cheese vendors, on the faded shutters of bakeries - they are inside the magic city. They - miraculously preserved in Tiflis nooks - passed a worthy baton to their “center” brethren, although they were now machine-made on modern materials, but with their scenes and fonts, the tasty palette returns our perception of the many-faced Tbilisi to the times of funny Kinto, karachocheli, organ-grinders, the best brides and unsurpassed shalakho dancers. Joyful and simple. Like love. Like a feast and like a church.

(from the book “I love khachapuri”. V.Garnikyan, 2019)