People attending Tipsy Art's weekend workshops start their drawing lessons by pledging out loud: "I will not disparage my painting, others' paintings, or my friends' paintings. I will not ask others to paint for me". The instructors draw students' attention to the week's theme, which is "Releasing lanterns" this week. Nearly 30 people of different ages carefully listen to instructions on the painting's layouts and colouring techniques such as how to mix colours to depict the horizon or the sunset, as well as details of the boat releasing lanterns. The instruction is divided into small parts, after finishing each, the instructor waits for students to follow suit before carrying on to the next part.
Each workshop at Tipsy Art often lasts for three hours but attendees do not feel the time due to a light-hearted and spontaneous atmosphere that allows people to freely discuss on the works of art as well as painting techniques. Each week focuses on a specific theme that the instructors have chosen in advance and created a sample painting. Picking up a topic is not simple as it requires both familiarity and intrigue to attract people's participation.
Inspired by the model of relaxed painting popular in western countries, Bui Thu Ngan and Nguyen Thu Trang worked together to launch the start-up of Tipsy Art. They opened their first class of stress-releasing painting in Hanoi in December, 2015. "The name Tipsy Art implies the key value of this project. This aims at offering people a feeling of relaxation when they are immersed in painting and forget everything else. They only focus on themselves, their minds, on the painting in front of them and their brushes, so that amateur painters can release their stress. Tipsy Art wants to bring a new approach to fine arts, so that people can set aside their worries in life and spend three hours taking care of their soul," said Nguyen Thu Trang.
Currently in Vietnam, most start-up models are centered on business, which makes Tipsy Art an adventurous start-up to deal with fine arts. However, its founders strongly believe that everyone possesses an artistic part in their soul and their emotions need to be expressed. They established Tipsy Art with the spirit of sharing the joy of painting to people who hardly have any contact with fine arts. This seems unfeasible because normally people don’t think they should pursue painting out of the blue. But when people come to Tipsy Art classes they actually receive more than they expected. The outcome of each painting session is not only the accomplished paintings, but a relaxing time spent with new acquaintances, new spiritual connections and a novel experience.
Though it is a start-up, Tipsy Art has gained success and attracted many people. The achievements it has gained by now are well deserved considering the efforts the founders spent on the project. Tipsy Art is among the pioneer start-ups following this model in Vietnam so difficulties in human resources, business management and revenue are inevitable. "We faced a lot of difficulties in launching Tipsy Art but the more we work on this model together the more we find it interesting. We have been closely connected as family members and learned a lot from each other as well as gotten positive feedbacks from our customers," said Trang.
With two branches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Tipsy Art is attracting many people to its painting classes. After nearly two years of business, Tipsy Art has sold 12,500 sessions to 8,000 customers. The most loyal customers have taken classes 37 times. These numbers prove the competence of Tipsy Art – a new start-up that brings fine arts to modern life in a humble and useful way.
Each workshop at Tipsy Art often lasts for three hours but attendees do not feel the time due to a light-hearted and spontaneous atmosphere that allows people to freely discuss on the works of art as well as painting techniques. Each week focuses on a specific theme that the instructors have chosen in advance and created a sample painting. Picking up a topic is not simple as it requires both familiarity and intrigue to attract people's participation.
 Tipsy Art always creates the artistic atmosphere of relaxation and spontaneity for customers attending its courses.  The "ritual" of placing hands on paper to make a promise before the class starts.  The tools needed to complete painting simply include a brush and a palette.  An attendee is immersed in her own artistic space during the painting session.  Students are guided to measure ratio and set layout of the paintings before starting.  After finishing a stage, the instructor gives guidelines on the next stage until the paintings are finished.  Tipsy Art is not simply a painting class for amateurs but also a place for people to relax as well as to hang out with friends and family members.  Attendees of Tipsy Art painting classes will be instructed on how to hold brushes and form strokes.  In order to create lively patterns, students use their fingers to form blocks in their paintings.  Besides basic knowledge and detailed guidance on a particular topic, students can freely create more layouts and patterns to make their paintings livelier.  Instructors at Tipsy Art are enthusiastically willing to give advice to students in need of help.  Participating in a painting class at Tipsy Art, students focus on creating their works of art so stress and tiredness can be released.  Students take photos after a painting class. |
Inspired by the model of relaxed painting popular in western countries, Bui Thu Ngan and Nguyen Thu Trang worked together to launch the start-up of Tipsy Art. They opened their first class of stress-releasing painting in Hanoi in December, 2015. "The name Tipsy Art implies the key value of this project. This aims at offering people a feeling of relaxation when they are immersed in painting and forget everything else. They only focus on themselves, their minds, on the painting in front of them and their brushes, so that amateur painters can release their stress. Tipsy Art wants to bring a new approach to fine arts, so that people can set aside their worries in life and spend three hours taking care of their soul," said Nguyen Thu Trang.
Currently in Vietnam, most start-up models are centered on business, which makes Tipsy Art an adventurous start-up to deal with fine arts. However, its founders strongly believe that everyone possesses an artistic part in their soul and their emotions need to be expressed. They established Tipsy Art with the spirit of sharing the joy of painting to people who hardly have any contact with fine arts. This seems unfeasible because normally people don’t think they should pursue painting out of the blue. But when people come to Tipsy Art classes they actually receive more than they expected. The outcome of each painting session is not only the accomplished paintings, but a relaxing time spent with new acquaintances, new spiritual connections and a novel experience.
Though it is a start-up, Tipsy Art has gained success and attracted many people. The achievements it has gained by now are well deserved considering the efforts the founders spent on the project. Tipsy Art is among the pioneer start-ups following this model in Vietnam so difficulties in human resources, business management and revenue are inevitable. "We faced a lot of difficulties in launching Tipsy Art but the more we work on this model together the more we find it interesting. We have been closely connected as family members and learned a lot from each other as well as gotten positive feedbacks from our customers," said Trang.
With two branches in Hanoi and Ho Chi Minh City, Tipsy Art is attracting many people to its painting classes. After nearly two years of business, Tipsy Art has sold 12,500 sessions to 8,000 customers. The most loyal customers have taken classes 37 times. These numbers prove the competence of Tipsy Art – a new start-up that brings fine arts to modern life in a humble and useful way.
Story: Thuc Hien – Photos: Khanh Long
