‘Restart with Art’ …for unique, customised pieces

Jul 10, 2022 News

“Young entrepreneurs bring innovative and creative skills and ideas to society and also to the market in general.”

By Allyiah Allicock

Kaieteur News – For some persons, the COVID-19 pandemic, for various reasons, has been a blessing in disguise.

Young entrepreneur, Atifah Lovell

This is owing to the fact that some persons, particularly young people, were able to use the lockdown time to invent and launch innovative businesses that have been taking the business arena by storm.

An individual who was able to make something good come out of this pandemic for herself is Atifah Lovell, the owner of an artistry business called ‘Restart with Art’.

‘Restart with Art’ was introduced during the height of the pandemic when Lovell decided that it was the right time to return to her artistic skills, as she had a lot of free time during the lockdown back in 2020.

The young woman, in a recent interview with The Waterfalls said that when she was a teenager, she did a lot of drawing and paintings but after finishing high school and moving onto Sixth Form, then to university, she pretty much did not have time to pursue her craft.

“So when the pandemic hit and we were on lockdown, I kinda found a renewed love for art. So I restarted a whole new art journey in 2020,” she shared.

What motivated her during that year to start a business, was a friend who was appreciative of her talent and recommended that she sell her art work.

“I actually started my art page as a hobby just posting my work for content but then a close family friend saw my work and she said that I should sell my art work and people pay a lot for original pieces. She was actually the first person that bought a customisable painting from me,” Lovell related.

Some of Atifah Lovell’s unique customised paintings

Upon taking that friend’s advice, Lovell said that in July 2020 she launched her business and it has been blooming ever since. This, she said, was due in part to the enormous support and encouragement she has been receiving from family and other friends, as well as her customers.

She revealed that her biggest hurdle has been getting the right quality materials for the job. Though it was difficult to find materials locally, she still managed to produce pieces using whatever materials are available in stores.

As it relates to the pandemic, Lovell mentioned that one way in which it impacted her business was by boosting sales. In fact, she said that it was surprising that a lot of people were inspired to buy hand-painted pieces during the pandemic.

Atifah Lovell poses with one of her Arabic calligraphy paintings she started this year

Very pleased with what she has accomplished thus far, Lovell said that her long-term goal is to better her skills and introduce more new pieces. “My long-term goal is to provide original and unique stationery items while also providing other non-stationery items such as wall paintings and wall hangers, cards, etc. I have already started to provide customisable notebooks, clipboards, notepads, even hand-painted wooden letters which I introduced in 2021, and that has been a big hit. I also intend to continue growing and improving my skills and my business ethics and relations,” she asserted.

Lovell, whose art work can be found at Safe Space, Robb Street, Georgetown, is of the view that small business owners are important contributors to our society. “Young entrepreneurs bring innovative and creative skills and ideas to society and also to the market in general,” she added.

She believes that to boost businesses locally, more small business exhibitions can be held, and more advertising can be done by the government, both at the local and regional levels, to give businesses that needed exposure.

If you are interested in customised art work, you can message Lovell via Instagram @restartwithart or checkout her pieces at Safe Space in the capital city.

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