On a cold November morning, my friend and I decided to grab a cup of coffee at the Ljubljana Ziferblat. Right away at the door, we were greeted by an amiable fellow named Kristjan who invited us in and told us that everything there was free, and that you only pay for the time you spend there. At first it feels like you have entered a living room full of memories. There is an armchair which looks like your grandmother’s, a tennis racket, just like the one your friend used to have is hanging on the wall, and on the shelf there is a metal tin which used to store candy that you loved to eat back in the eighties. The shelves are stacked with books, Gobelin tapestries hang on one of the walls, while others are still empty and waiting for new stories, which have yet to be written.
An old typewriter waits for you to write a line or two on an empty sheet of paper, in one of the rooms a guitar and piano invite musicians to play a tune, and there is also a corner for chess players and those who love putting jigsaw puzzles together. In the kitchen nook, Kristjan taught me how to make a real café style cup of coffee on the coffee machine, and invited me to make my own breakfast. I could choose from cereal, čokolešnik (instant wheat flakes with chocolate and hazelnuts), cookies... Of course, everything is free, the only thing you count are the minutes. At the till, there is a shelf with colourful clocks and each visitor chooses one to keep track of their time spent in Ziferblat. I chose a small red alarm clock named Matiček. We stayed for about an hour, which just flew by in this delightful place with great company.
When projects unite and bring people closer together
Maša Pavoković, manager and creative director of Ljubljana Ziferblat, who is full of new plans for her "second home", explained the concept of Ziferblat and how it all began. "The creation of the whole project began this past summer when we started looking for a suitable space in the centre of Ljubljana. In September I visited Moscow, the birthplace of Ziferblat, where I met the rest of the twelve teams that create Ziferblat around the world. Then we began searching for furniture to decorate the interior, which eventually came from almost all parts of Slovenia, as well as from other countries. At the same time we also started putting together a programme and began searching for people that would be willing to help us." Many friends and acquaintances participated in designing and creating the place because they wanted to lend a hand and loved the idea of Ziferblat.
"Shortly after the first posts on Facebook I heard from quite a few people who were happy to stop by at our address at Vegova 8 in Ljubljana, where they started painting chairs, shelves and most importantly helped to put together all the pieces of the jigsaw puzzle that is Ziferblat. The most interesting part was that after I had personally asked my friends for help, I heard from a lot of people, even from those that I haven't seen in years. It is really nice to see that projects can unite and bring so many people closer together," added Maša Pavoković.
Come and be part of the story
Every visitor can help co-create the space and leave his or her own mark. "First and foremost Ziferblat is a place of freedom, where you can do anything as long as you don't interfere with the freedom of other people," says Ms Pavoković. "You can bring your own ideas to organise your own event, you can bring a book, and of course we never turn down fresh-baked cookies, because in this way each and every one of us co-creates Ziferblat in a way that he or she is familiar with. Anything is possible at our place, everything from concerts to literary evenings, exhibitions, you can paint on the walls, you can make coffee or decide to make pancakes and invite your friends," explains Ms Pavoković and points out that they are currently involved with a small project called Ziferblat University where they ask their guests about their favourite professors and then ask them to invite their professors to deliver a lecture at Ziferblat. The idea of "tea at five o'clock", intended to bring together guests around the same table, introduce them to each other, and establish a bond through conversation is interesting and will probably also lead to new friendships.
"Ziferblat is open every day. At our location on Vegova Street we are also open for the holidays from 9 am until 10 pm. Holidays like Christmas and New Year’s will be particularly festive because our kitchen will be very active. We plan to make dinner and have fun with our visitors," Ms Pavoković invites everyone to Ziferblat and adds: "Ziferblat offers people everything they themselves wish for. It can be a place where you can drink tea or coffee with friends, it can be an exhibition space for your art, and it can be a place where you can start a conversation with a complete stranger without feeling embarrassed and maybe invite him or her to a game of chess."
It is hard to define the age group of Ziferblat visitors because their ages are so different and there are no limits. "It is intended for young children, secondary school pupils and university students, new mums with prams, and older people who just want to sit quietly or maybe share their knowledge with younger generations. We are very happy with the number of visitors, especially since Ziferblat is something new in this part of Europe and we are seeing that everyone needs a place where they can feel free, find their own tree house where they can participate according to their own rules,” says Ms Pavoković.
And what does Ziferblat mean for Maša Pavoković personally? "For me it is first and foremost a unique challenge, because I am the one that kindly welcomes people into my home, and invites them to feel at home. It is great to meet different people each day and talk to them, uncover new talents and especially to enable people to use our giant living room in the best way they can."
Ziferblat team members are truly great hosts that happily invite guests into their home. They develop a project, implement their own ideas for events, and in particular they are open to new ideas and the wishes of guests, who very soon stop being just guests and become friends who together help to co-create our tree house.
Danila Golob, SINFO
