VAWAA: Vacation With An Artist

I recently had the opportunity to meet Geetika Agrawal, the inspiring founder of Vacation With An Artist (VAWAA). In this post, learn about what Vacation With An Artist is, why Geetika started this platform, and how it positively impacts artists, creatives, and travelers around the globe.

Blog Post / Transcript:

https://www.jetsettingblonde.com/blog/vacation-with-an-artist

To Connect with Brittany:

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejetsetblonde/
TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thejetsetblonde
Website: https://www.jetsettingblonde.com/

Custom Travel Planning with Brittany:

https://www.jetsettingblonde.com/custom-travel-planning

FREE Resource - 50 Best Destinations for Childfree Vacations:

https://www.jetsettingblonde.com/start-here

Transcript

Brittany Ryan: 0:04

Hello jet setters and welcome to The Jet Set Life podcast. I'm your hostess Brittany Ryan - childfree travel content creator and blogger. I'm a curator of authentic and cultural travel experiences and I want to help you be the same. Create a jet set life full of adventure and learn how to live life to the fullest with me as your travel guide. Tune in each week for solo episodes and conversations with travel leaders, all about childfree travel, adults-only getaways, travel guides, itineraries and more. I am all about sharing actionable detailed tips and tricks for creating the jet set life of your dreams. So get ready to learn. Are you ready for takeoff? Let's jump into today's episode. Hello beautiful friends. How are you this week? I am thrilled to have today's guest on The Jet Set Life podcast. Her name is Geetika Agrawal, and she is the founder of Vacation With An Artist. So I want to introduce her as well as her company before we jump in to our conversation today. Geetika is a designer, avid traveler and founder of VAWAA. She discovered her love for learning and travel during her early college days when she spent her summers working with local artisans in small towns of Rajasthan and Tamil Nadu in India. As she traveled to countries around the world, she sought similar experiences where she could immerse herself into the local culture, make things with her hands, and get inspired by learning something new. She noted that there were others like her expecting the same from their travels, but there was no easy way to find local artists and designers in cities they would visit, sitting at home. Thus the idea of ‘Vacation With An Artist’ was born. On June 1, 2015 she packed her life in New York and took a one year sabbatical to travel to 12 countries in 12 months, while starting work on VAWAA. Since then she has spent one month in each country finding and curating local artists, learning about their creative journey and craft. November 2015 marked the midpoint of her travels and VAWAA was shared with the world! So let's talk about what Vacation With An Artist is. VAWAA is the first online platform that connects artists around the world with curious, engaged travelers who wish to learn or experience something unique. More than 100 artists from various artistic fields in 27 countries have been curated by VAWAA, all of them recognized masters of their art form or craft. VAWAA was founded in 2017 by Geetika Agrawal. As a young architecture student in India, she spent her summers traveling all across the country to work with artists. She experienced how traditional crafts were passed down through generations, and how they were evolving in real time shaping global culture. These transformative experiences inspired her to make them available to others, and this desire led to the creation and launch of VAWAA. Vacation With an Artist bridges together the art world with that of hospitality and learning. Creating getaways that offer a rich, cultural immersion is at the heart of VAWAA. Travelers can explore, learn, and create through a private and experiential mini-apprenticeship. Experiences range from creating ceramics in Greece, to calligraphy in Japan, to quilting in Alabama. Through VAWAA experiences, individuals can reconnect with themselves and the world around them, have an authentic travel experience, ignite or hone a passion, get fresh inspiration, and so much more. I am so excited to invite Geetika to today's podcast episode. So let's jump in. I'd like to start by welcoming you to the show. So thank you for being here today.

Geetika Agrawal: 4:46

Thank you for having me. Brittany,

Brittany Ryan: 4:48

Can you share with us a little bit about yourself and your background?

Geetika Agrawal: 4:52

Sure. Yes, I am a designer. I grew up in India and I studied architecture and then I moved to United States about 20 years years ago. I love human design. I love experiences. I travel around the world, I've been to 45 plus countries. And I just love building communities and seeing the world being more creative and more inspired.

Brittany Ryan: 5:18

You are the founder behind Vacation With An Artist, could you share with us a little bit of the story behind that, and what inspired you to create this platform.

Geetika Agrawal: 5:28

So I grew up in India, and I went to architecture school. And it was based on the German School of Design, our Hawes, which was all about multidisciplinary crafts. So I got a chance to learn ceramics, textiles, woodworking, graphic design, furniture design, and really seeing how these art forms actually impact our society, how people actually use these things in their day to day life. And then I would spend my summers traveling around the country working with various masters around the world around the different states, I would do brass sculpture, or miniature paintings. And what I really loved about those experiences was, I was getting a chance to immerse into an artist's mind. And that was very powerful. Because it was not just in immersing in their mind, but their approach to doing things their mastery, their practice is very family based outside of what I was doing, and kind of learn something else, be inspired, come back with a new skill. And that kind of deeply influenced me at a very early age. And then for the past 20 years, I've been traveling around the world, and I just naturally seeked those kinds of experiences where I was not travelling like a tourist, but I was looking for this personal development. And it was also great because I was traveling by myself. So as a solo woman traveler, it was really wonderful, because I didn't have to worry about being part of a group and you know, being part of tourists or anything, but I had kind of this artist who became my friend, my point person who could guide me to the right places. And so it was also perfect as a solo woman traveler. In professionally I grew up in as a product designer, eventually, I was working at a big digital agency in New York. And so I saw that, you know, more and more people are wanting to make things with hands. There's kind of a renaissance going on, I think we're all burnt out with technology, we're tired of being in front of screens. And we're all craving more tactile things, more sensorial things that connect us to ourselves and to the world around us. Basically, that was me, and I saw others were experiencing the same thing. You know, a lot of artists don't have an online presence. So it was just really hard. And, and also, if you're wanting to learn from a mask, they're not just going to accept you into the studio. And like, Have you been there for a few days, so also getting access to the studio was hard. I saw that they had a challenge they want to teach, saw that as an opportunity to create a platform that would help the guests connect with artists and help the artists teach, but not have to deal with all the administrative work and operational work behind it. And so that's how I was born.

Brittany Ryan: 8:24

And how long ago was that? When did you start the company?

Geetika Agrawal: 8:28

Yeah, so it's I first started it in 2015. So what I did is I took a year long sabbatical from my job. And I traveled to 12 countries to build VAWAA. So I was going to first find these artists. So I spent a month in each country, finding these artists. So that was in 2015. When I started that journey, I came back in 2017. So that was a full year. But I was still doing another job in 2017 is really when VAWAA took off.

Brittany Ryan: 8:58

It's such a unique concept. I love unique cultural experiences. And I used to take art classes I was by no means an artist, but that was the elective that I always opted for. So I have a great appreciation for artistry and masters of their craft. So I just love your, your concept altogether. So what does a VAWAA experience look like? If if I was to be just an individual who is passionate about art wanting to learn more, or want to meet an artist, what would I do? And what would that experience be like for me?

Geetika Agrawal: 9:35

VAWAA is for anybody, you don't have to be an artist. You could be someone who's just passionate about art or has always had this dream to make something or wants to take some time off and just disconnect and just make something with hands or you could actually be an artist of a professional wanting to expand your skill set. So all you do As you go to the site, we have 113 artists in 27 countries varying from from like painting, sculpture, photography to also return weaving in Malaysia calligraphy in Japan, street art in Argentina, bamboo bicycle making in India, really a very diverse set of crafts that represent the global culture. So you pick any artists pick any destination, you want to go to each artist offers, so it's always a multi day experience. So anywhere between four days to seven days, it's private. So it's just going to be you not part of a group or anything. So it could be you, you could be going with a friend, you could be going with your partner, you could be going with your mother or father, anybody. And it's private. When you book that experience through the site, you will basically get four to seven days with artists in their studio. You will also in some cases, the artist also offers accommodations, so you can also stay with them. Regardless, when you book with the VAWAA, the VAWAA team provides you a bunch of accommodation recommendations. So you can stay in those places. They're all handpicked by the artist, you will also get a list of things to do how to get to places all that is kind of provided to to your vouloir team member who's going to be your dedicated guest experience manager. But during the experience itself, once you arrive at the artist studio, if let's say it's a five day experience, you kind of with them in the studio for five days shadowing them, you let's you know, you might spend half a day with them the morning or the afternoon, it really depends on you how much you want to get integrated into their studio life. All of our artists are very generous with their time. So you know, once you start making something, if you need more time, continue to work in the studio. But it's a very open format. There's no itinerary, there's no How 10am you we're going to do this 11. And we're going to do this and 12pm, we're going to do this, it's a very open format, really tailored to you to your interest, your skill level, your pace. And so the artist is there more as your guide to guide you as you through that. So throughout the day, you might start with, let's say going for the Meramec Bower, you might first just sketch out ideas, you might just play with clay, and just get familiar with the material, you might make some experimental parts, maybe the evening you will go out and hang out with artists friends, or maybe have dinner with them somewhere in the favorite restaurant. Next day, you will continue to work with clay, you know, some of you might do explore the lake nearby. So it's kind of really integrated into the life you might go to a museum with the artists to check out some ceramics from Slovenian artists, let's say you're in Slovenia. And then yeah, every day you kind of building on the skill set. And the hope is, by the end of it, you have created a form one piece or multiple pieces, again, based on your skill set, you've completed those pieces and you're able to bring them back home. But along with the technical skills, you're also kind of hanging out with the artists and it's getting a chance to explore the city in a way that you wouldn't have. Otherwise, that's kind of the vibe experiences. It's very personal. We always hear this from the artist is when when the guests leave, they feel like they've known them forever. One of the big things we're seeing right now is you know, during the pandemic and kind of reset everybody in terms of how we want to lead our lives, what do we want out of it, we were all kind of in this and hamster wheel. And while it was really hard, I think a lot of people realize how they want to spend their time. So we're seeing people were looking for ways to reimagine their life kind of finding purpose or finding ways to go deeper into their passions. And what we're finding is that these artists and the our artists have become really amazing guide for people to do that. Because I think just by nature, creativity and art is a great way to just open up our minds you right like you don't have to become a potter but just the act of making just the act of working with materials and just this act of creativity is so freeing that the horrors have become right now especially after the pandemic, a great way for for people to see what's next for them. So I know that that can be a very hard time and a lot of people's lives when we feel unstuck or or also as a solo traveler. We don't know like how to do it like when we feel stuck like I feel for all those moments like definitely, definitely consider a bow. I think it could really help those who are looking for the next step.

Brittany Ryan: 15:09

Yeah, I mean, this is making me excited. I would like to try this for myself, I need to research all of your your artists community. So could you share? You've kind of touched on a few examples. But could you share a little bit more about your community of artists and where they came from and or where they're located?

Geetika Agrawal: 15:29

Yes, so survival artists are really special, we curate each artist and onboard them onto the platform. We currently have 113 artists in 27 countries, each artist is a master. And when we say Master is they have been practicing practicing the craft for many years, they have a deep expertise in that in that art form. They're also really wonderful people to hang out with, they're happy to have you in the studio. So they they're also really friendly and great hosts. And they cover a really wide spectrum of when we say vacation with an artist when our definition of artists is really broad. So of course, we have the standard, you know, very popular the paintings, sculpture, photography, but we also have crafts that represent diversity of different cultures. So example, calligraphy with a grandmaster in Kyoto, or return weaving in Malaysia, or natural textile dyeing in kabang. In Vietnam, which is a kabang is an indigenous province, in northern Vietnam, kind of close to the China border, and how who is Hanoi's leading textile designer, she works with those indigenous people who have been growing Indigo for generations who are investing in the go making dyes making yarn and then into textiles. So she works with them. So as part of the experience, you actually traveled to powerbank and work with them. Then you have, you know, artists who are probably endangered so we work with one of the last 10 remaining masters in Japan, who make the Buddhist ring bells. These are the gongs and the bells use and meditation, as we are all familiar with, and he's one of the last 10 remaining masters. We have sixth generation block printer in India. It's a very rich crab. It's a very old craft that belongs to India and and it's a family craft that has been passed on for six generations and the works are being used by some of the top fashion houses in the world. So yeah, to experience block printing with them in India is also very special. And then we have lot of like Turkey, we have Ebru, which is marbling basically on water, to leather shoemaking in Czech Republic or London to felting. Very, very, very sculptural felt felting in Canada, Mar Julene. She's the artist and she used to design pieces for Cirque display. We also have a culinary historian, Ursula she is she was an archaeologist. She was part of so many excavations in Syria and other places. And through that she discovered history of food and she she started recreating these ancient reps recipes that she found through her archaeological experience. And now she's the chef. So she's kind of a culinary historian. And so you She lives on a very sustainable estate in Italy. She grows her own food, olives, wine, everything is sustainable. They make their own food. And you get to learn how to recreate recipes from the Roman times and medieval times Babylonian times as really, really fascinating to connect to food in that way. So it's not just a cooking class, you know, it's it's understanding food in a very, very different way. I can go on and on. I mean, each and like I said, each artist has a very special story. We had Gee's bend quilters from Alabama. They have a deep history, their history goes back to the first slaves who came to America and their craft of quilting is is one of the most iconic masterpieces in American art. And their works are in the Smithsonian again, such such deep roots in the craft for a couple of 100 years and to be able to go to Alabama and learn from them. The craft of quilting is kind of a once in a lifetime experience.

Brittany Ryan: 19:41

There's so many I'm so inspired by these individuals. So I'm curious, did you already know and have these connections or have you have artists approached you about the program or do you kind of search for certain masters Have craft to add to your community. How does that work as you build your artist community,

Geetika Agrawal: 20:07

it's all of the above or so the first set of artist I actually traveled for one year, I went to 12 countries, I spent a month in each country kind of finding who the masters are of those countries and kind of finding them. And then after that, it has been a combination of both we artists can apply through our site. So we get applications all the time, then we review those applications. And if they're a good fit, then they get on boarded. And then we also do a lot of our own outreach. So we have we do a lot of research, we have a lot of networks. We look into that. And then yeah, to that we find them and then we get them on boarded. So yeah, we do a lot of work and finding artists and curating artists, which is why the quality of the experience is really high. We have 90% five star reviews. And people go on not just fun. Marwa people go on multiple Baba. So it's, they don't stop at one. You know, it's really special. So and all that is because of the artists, their expertise, their warmed the connection that people are able to develop and the exchange because it's actually a two way experience. Even the artists really get a lot out of this.

Brittany Ryan: 21:25

Yeah, I can imagine it goes both ways. So I have to know is maybe this is gonna be a hard question to answer. But do you have a personal favorite artistry experience that you've participated in?

Geetika Agrawal: 21:40

Definitely a very tough question. It's like I always tell people that's like asking a mother for their favorite child. I would say you know, I'm personally at a very personal level. I love textiles and ceramics, I kind of like softer materials. I'm not a big fan of like metal, for example, just me like how I like working with certain materials. So I would say, Yeah, I did a vow in Mexico, learning how to make pigments and then making dyes and dyeing the yarn and then leaving. So that was a very, very special experience. I also did one in LA learning how to make perfumes with precess honey. And that was very special too. Because in general, I cannot wear perfumes. Because all perfumes in the market have chemicals and I'm allergic to it. So I always wanted to make a perfume that I would not sneeze before after you know and and so I learned how to make perfumes with no chemicals, all natural ingredients. And what I loved about that experience was of course I can you know that I was able to make a perfume that works for me, and also the smells that I love. But what I also loved is learning how making perfume is like making a song. Because just the way songs have chords, perfumes have chords, it's about combining the chords and to think of perfume as a song was just you know, it's just a very beautiful experience.

Brittany Ryan: 23:24

That does sound beautiful. And I love how you've built this community of traditional and then maybe not what you would expect, I'd say more non traditional artists. When I think of an artist, I instantly think of ceramics photography, more traditional mediums, but you've really expanded to include really any form of artistry, I mean, perfume, and then the person that you mentioned in Italy, who's a connoisseur of history and culinary experiences. I think that's wonderful. You're not limiting your scope of artists.

Geetika Agrawal: 24:03

Yeah. And that's very, very important to me, because when I was approaching this as it was not just from the perspective of art, right, I say, artists are the fingerprints of humanity. And what I mean by that it's a big statement. Right? What I mean by that is, I think we think of artists just sometimes just a personal expression of the artist. But art is more than that. It used to be craft too. And, and there is a big debate between what is art, what is craft, and you know, what is designed, but in the end, when we're making things, people are using it. It goes beyond just art, it becomes part of our culture, it becomes part of our history and our heritage, how we understand the world. And so for me, what was really important was just because of my personal experiences, as I was telling you when I was in college, it was not just about learning a skill, I could learn a skill. I mean, in today's times I can learn a skill on YouTube. I can Just go to a ceramics studio in Brooklyn, which is where I live. But what was really important was to understand the intersection of culture, humanity, people, because that's that's how we understand the world. And that is why for us artists really broad, it goes into everything we use in touch.

Brittany Ryan: 25:18

Right. Absolutely. So if I was a newcomer, but if I was about to embark on my first VAWAA experience, do you have any advice for that person?

Geetika Agrawal: 25:29

Just come with an open mind and a learning mind a student mind.

Brittany Ryan: 25:33

Yes, yeah, I completely agree. And so I'd love to know, and you've kind of touched on it. But what do you find most rewarding about your role at Vacation With An Artist?

Geetika Agrawal: 25:46

Wow. So many things that I would say the most rewarding is really hearing people's stories after the finish of VAWAA. So because we work one on one with each guest, we kind of know their story, we know why they're going, what do they want to get out of this experience, and then kind of seeing how the experience goes. And then after that, just seeing the transformation that they have experienced the joy, and not just the gasp, but also the artists, I would say, you know, of course, that's brings the biggest joy because that's why we exist. That's our purpose. And if we're able to make a tiny difference in, you know, a few people's lives, like, that's really what brings the biggest joy. So I would definitely say that, and to is just, you know, working with all these amazing artists also. I mean, we are constantly learning about the world to and our artists, our global community, it's global. We're like artists in 27 countries, our guests are from 47 plus countries. So I never feel like I'm in a bubble. I really feel like I live in a world with no borders. And I operate in that world. And it's really beautiful, to have that opportunity in my role.

Brittany Ryan: 27:12

So what's next for Vacation With An Artist?

Geetika Agrawal: 27:15

So we're very excited, first of all, that we're kind of past the pandemic. And yeah, and absolutely, and that people can finally travel. And this year has been really wonderful to see how many people are traveling. But you know, some of the travel patterns have kind of shifted, people are not going to the same usual destination. So we're kind of adding a lot of new artists and a lot of different countries and a lot of different art forms that we've not had before. So we're very excited about that. If you just subscribe to the site, you'll get notifications about that. But in the next couple of months, you will see a lot more artists joining the platform also offer online sessions. So which means you don't have to travel you can sit from sit at home, and Lauren from artists in Morocco or Greece. And we've been hosting this since the pandemic. And those were really wonderful. So we are kind of taking apart right now in the summer. But we're kind of working on our fall programming right now. And yeah, it's gonna have some new sessions new, totally new artists will be hosting these online sessions. So we're really looking forward to that as well. And lastly, if we before the pandemic, we used to do kind of like an annual gathering of our in New York, because that's where the core team was. It's called Follow The Rabbit, the event. And so we're gonna have our first event after the pandemic in New York. And later in the fall, though, we're very excited about just being able to meet the community again, in person. And it's it's a really fun time when a lot of our artists come in as well, we're going to have an exhibition. So we're looking forward to that as well.

Brittany Ryan: 29:02

It is really exciting to see travel, come back in such a big way. And I realized that right now we're experiencing all the canceled flights and the difficulties in the challenges there. But it's wonderful to finally see these events coming back and see travel come back. So I'd love before we wrap up. I'd love to for you to share with our listeners where they can go online to learn more about Vacation With An Artist.

Geetika Agrawal: 29:32

Yeah, so you can just go to google and type Vacation With An Artist. Or you can go to vawaa.com which is V-A-W-A-A.com. And it stands for VAWAA - Vacation With An Artist so so yeah, go to vawaa.com. Also, follow us on Instagram, it's at @VAWA_. We're regularly posting peeks into people's love experiences who are on the road and traveling and doing it. And yeah, definitely subscribe to our newsletter because we're all share highlights about VAWAA artists and other stories and also announcements and latest new artists. So definitely subscribe to that as well.

Brittany Ryan: 30:19

I will be doing that right after this. Inspired Yeah, so thank you so much Geetika for joining us. I really appreciate it.

Geetika Agrawal: 30:29

Thank you so much, Brittany, this was super fun.

Brittany Ryan: 30:34

If you enjoyed this episode, and you want to dive even deeper into creating your jet set life, start with upgrading your travel bucket list, you can download my free resource on the top 50 destinations for childfree travel by visiting www.jetsettingblonde.com/start-here. Because the first step to creating your jet set life starts with upgrading your travel goals. And if something in today's episode really resonated with you, please screenshot and tag me at@thejetsetblonde on Instagram or Facebook. I want to know what your biggest takeaway was. I really want to hear from you. And it means so much to me when I can see your screenshots of you listening to the podcast or reading my posts online. Every screenshot and review means the world to me I read every single one. And I really appreciate your support in listening to this episode and supporting me on this adventure. I look forward to bringing you more awesome and genuinely helpful content that will help you create the jet set life of your dreams.