Gyumri Production Enterprise of the Association of the Blind to Launch Paint Sales in About a Month

The Gyumri production enterprise of the Association of the Blind will soon launch its paints into the market in about a month. The idea of producing paint materials from the dust of Armenia’s natural stones was successfully transformed into production 1.5 years ago. Individuals with visual impairments have been providing experimental products, creating new qualities of paints used in painting.

For many years, experiments have been conducted in the Gyumri production enterprise of the Association of the Blind to master the technology for producing natural paints from the dust of the mountains and rocks of Armenia. Local production of paint materials began in 2002. However, due to the lack of financing for the business plan, it remained just a good idea for many years. The executive director of the enterprise, Levon Apoyan, stated that the bank had refused to provide a loan to an organization with a public entity status. But 1.5 years ago, they managed to obtain a loan under the same legal status.

The start of paint production was initiated with a loan of 3.5 million drams. Although that amount wasn’t sufficient to purchase all the necessary equipment and raw materials. The issue even reached the country’s president, with applications being sent and a timely response received, including a visit from Armen Sarkissian to the enterprise. The president donated 6 million drams and left his signature and a painting he created on the wall to commemorate the successful launch of the factory.

The local production of natural paints has expanded in eight months, and the company has purchased appropriate equipment for mixing the paint components and obtaining new, quality colors. According to the paint workshop master, Samvel Yeranosyan, the colors are primarily obtained from different colored stones. They mix crushed stone dust with linseed oil, crushed snail seeds, and also use tin and zinc, while titanium is used for white paint.

According to the director, they have not yet been able to achieve 100% quality of famous brands' paints, but they have already reached 80%. The color of the produced paint depends on the color of the stone dust. The enterprise has the capacity to produce up to 26 colors of local oil paint. Moreover, local paints are 2-3 times cheaper than imported ones. The quality of the paints produced by the Gyumri enterprise of the Association of the Blind has already been evaluated by members of the Union of Artists of Armenia. They tried to use it in their paintings and provided positive feedback. The murals on the walls of the workshop are also painted using local production paint materials. One of these was even gifted to the president.

Currently, the stone dust from Armenia is also raw material for a paint factory in St. Petersburg. The company is currently focused on the production of paint materials and will consider the release of construction paints later. They plan to enter the market with artistic paint materials in about a month. If they achieve good sales, they plan to direct the funds toward purchasing new equipment and laboratory tools.

Source: shantnews.am – Karine Kazarova