Tkachi Creative Space in St. Petersburg

One of the more interesting things to do while studying in St. Petersburg is to check out some of the city’s “creative spaces”. This offers a different view of the local culture and it may also be something you can’t find very easily in your home country. My colleague Ana wrote a great article about a few of these spaces here. In this article, I’ll focus on one space, Tkachi, which I visited this past week. The name of the project means “Weavers” in Russian and the newly renovated building offers visitors a collection of unique stores, cafes and exhibitions.

I originally went to Tkachi because I wanted to check out a boutique there, and it was even better than I was expecting! It’s actually a combination of two stores, called the Russian Room & Want Store, on the first floor of the project. If you are interested in learning more about local designers, you will have noticed by now that you have to go a little off the beaten path to find them! Russian Room is a boutique specializing in casual clothing by Russian designers. In the adjoining room is Want Store, which specializes in Korean design. All of the pieces here are interesting and quite unique, at least compared to what I would usually find at home. And taking into account that the clothing is made by smaller brands and not mass produced, I would say that the prices are also quite reasonable.

Walking down the hallway of the first floor, you will see several other small stores specializing in everything from backpacks and handmade wallets to bicycles to vintage clothing. There is also a selection of men’s clothing here.

There is a small cafe on the first floor to grab a quick coffee, but if you are looking for a good atmosphere, check out the larger cafe on the third floor! They have great coffee and desserts, and this is a great place to study or read a book. (Plus, who can say no to a free bowl of dried fruit with your coffee?) It’s quite spacious and there are sockets to plug in your computer if you would like to work there. There is also a small bookstore attached to the cafe.

On the fifth and last floor is a large exhibition space. Right now they are showing a multimedia exhibit about seascape painting called “Айвазовский и маринисты – Живые полотна”. More information is available on the exhibition’s website: http://www.i-love-more.ru/

Tkachi is located at Nab. Obvodnogo Kanala 60. To get there, you can take the metro (line 5) to Obvodny Kanal — Tkachi is just a five-minute walk away from the station along the embankment. Make sure to check out this unique side of St. Petersburg!