I’m a little surprised how active the Creative Skofja Loka Facebook page is. I feel I need to set the record straight, according to me. My first 2 months of living in Slovenia I noticed, people with the same goals don’t work together. I really wanted to make Skofja Loka a tourist destination that lasted longer than the 1 hour photo loop walk, which is all most tourist do. I paid the rent for a storefront for 1 year to insure we had a secure place to call home. I was mainly working with 2 others crafts people and 1 local arts & crafts coordinator. The project I envisioned involved Slovenian Crafts, Craft Workshops and Tours. I truly felt that we needed to include all Slovenian crafts. The other members insisted we only include crafts from Skofja Loka, I was told it’s called “Creative Skofja Loka”. Skofja Loka already has a crafts store that focuses on local crafts, we don’t need two. I felt bringing in crafts from around Slovenia, would help insure support from the local community, which has already seen most of the local crafts. I knew their business idea had no chance of bringing in enough money to keep the doors open. I asked to see their business plan. Instead I got “We’ll give you the keys back”. I was hoping that if they wrote down their idea, they would see it as unsustainable, as I did. I figured if they couldn’t write their idea down, it was only workable in their minds.. They told me I needed to accept Slovenian business practices, that would be a big no. I wasn’t trying to open a flower shop or a strip club in a crafts store. I felt our main idea needed some tweaking to insure its success. Then they said some people who wanted to be involved didn’t like me & didn’t want to work with me. They said I had been condescending to them?. My sense of humor is usually based on reality, sometimes reality hurts., get over it. But since we split up, the people who wouldn’t work with me are nowhere to be found. Slovenian’s ability to work together, is something that needs to be recognized and fixed. After our split, I worked for several months trying to fill the store with my vision. I offered someone 500 euro a month and to split the profits, she declined. I gave it the real college try, without success. Sadly the store is currently empty. I invested 4,000 euro, without any success, then again you don’t gamble money you can’t afford to lose. I wonder if the 3 other people would write a business plan if they were going to get 4,000 euro to fund their idea? At my age what I feel good about is I stood my ground and didn’t waste a year’s time on a business idea that had no chance of success. If you have an idea, I’m listening. The store is empty and I’m willing to help you if you have the enthusiasm to see your idea become reality. The rent is paid until July. Thanks for following Creative Skofja Loka Jeff

With no regrets, I will no longer be promoting Creative Skofja Loka. I gave it all the effort that I had. It's too big a job for one person to put together all the craftspeople, workshops and tours, that is required. I'm glad to have been part of trying to promote Skofja Loka's handmade history. Hopefully someone with more time and energy can help realize the great potential that this concept is. To all the people who liked the page and were supportive--Hvala. See you on the other side. Jeff Bernards

Creative Skofja LOKA

I just learned that a Facebook group can't be advertised \like a Facebook page, so I just wasted $200 and one month. I finally got it right. So this is the Creative Skofja Loka PAGE

Galerija Mikame

I have been working hard on many fronts to make Creative Skofja Loka a reality. I met a tour boat operator in Ljubljana last week, who just invested in some Electric Bikes. I'm working with the tourist officals here in Skofja Loka to sign the route from Ljubljana to Skofja Loka. With an E-Bike you can ride to Skofja Loka in an hour, while recharing your bike for the ride home you can spend 5 or 6 hours in Skofja Loka: doing a workshop, shopping, visit our super museum and touring the unique sites in Skofja Loka. I've also been talking with Jakob the owner of https://www.facebook.com/mikame.galerija/ at Lake Bled. He has a great mix of ALL Handmade Slovenian products. He is willing to introduce us to the artist he works with. I also talked with Iva who had the IKA crafts shop in Skofja Loka since 1992 and closed it in January 2015. She had some thoughts that I will share wtih you: "Last couple of years weren't really profitable for us in Škofja Loka and it took us lots of energy to deciede to conclude this story of IKA in Škofja Loka. It was hard but it was the right decision. Škofja Loka is a beautiful city but I believe lots of things should happen there. First there is no hotel so turist can not sleep there. Second, tourists are in Škofja Loka only in June, July, August - but you have to survive the rest of the year. December can be profitable too. I've really put lots of energy in Škofja Loka's shop in the last years but I decided to put my energy in Ljubljana's shop, and it was the right decision." This is why I beleive Creative Skofja Loka's mix of retail sales combined with workshops and tours could help create enough income to be sustainable year-round business. I'm still looking for the "right" person work on this project. The rent is paid til July 2017, I'm willing to help some financially to see that success is insured and Skofja Loka becomes a tourist destination that supports Artist in Skofja Loka and throughout Slovenia. If you know someone who has the skills necessary to help open the store, please send them my way. Hvala Jeff Bernards Galerija Mikame Cultural Gifts Store · 8,276 Likes Galerija Mikame's photo.

Creative Skofja LOKA's cover photo

Creative Skofja Loka is still going forward but in a somewhat different direction. There was a disagreement about the vision of Creative Skofja Loka. I wanted to include all handmade goods from Slovenia and some members felt that we should only promote products from Skofja Loka. I felt this was to limiting and restricting and it also competed directly with our Local Crafts Store DUO. I also wanted a formal business plan and others felt the group vision was enough. My business experience told me there was really no sustainable income stream from their vision plan, plus the added restriction of using just local artist. I’m now reaching out to the art & craft and business communities in Slovenia to find the right people to help me realize my vision of success. My plan is to sell Slovenian crafts, have guest artist doing in-house demonstrations & workshops and to offer tours of local craft workshops. I truly believe that this mix of business opportunities will bring in the necessary income to keep the doors open while bringing more tourism opportunities to Skofja Loka businesses. If you have experience running a handcraft shop,, keeping track of consignment sales to insure artist are paid in a timely manner, please contact me. If you already have a tax number and business license, you’re my hero! Please send me a message so we can talk and explore the opportunities of working together. Attention Artist & Craftsman: we are looking for workshop friendly crafts to sell in our store and give you space to lead a workshop and do demonstrations in our store. The location is the best in the old town. It’s between the local crafts store DUO and the Castle Museum store. The 30 sq. meter store is currently empty, freshly painted and includes a bathroom with a small storage room. There is also a stove/kiln plug installed. GOOGLE MAP it’s the storefront with the single row of 3 red flowers I would consider a Christmas season POP-UP shop and get a sense if we’re on the right track Jeff Telephone: 051 455 531.