Sometimes living in Lithuania can be a challenge (oh those dark winter days!), so I wanted to focus on forgetting about the challenges and enjoying the positives. I started this series a few years ago to make myself get out and experience the more creative side of Lithuania. For this series I wanted to focus on creative events, unique aspects of the culture or language, and cool places that I find around Lithuania. Previously I've written about Open Kitchen, the Beer Marathon, the Lithuanian Design Block, Pottery Class, Coffee Enthusiasm, and Vilnius Gastro. If you have any suggestions of things to check out I'd love to hear them!


Vilnius is pretty awesome when it comes to pop up events featuring local designers and small business owners doing there thing. I find new designers on Instagram and Facebook nearly each week. Every couple of months a new designer event makes its way onto my schedule.

Maybe you love supporting small designers and local businesses as much as I do, or maybe you are looking for a very authentic souvenir to remember your cool trip to Vilnius. Whatever it is, today I wanted to share how to find pop up shopping events and local designers in Vilnius.

 

Pop Up Events

 Kauno Kulturos Kablys

I'm starting off with my favorite pop up design event in Vilnius -- seasonal pop up shops held at the Kauno Kulturo Kalbys (otherwise known as the Hook Building). Held quarterly, these pop ups feature everything from clothing and accessories, to cake, coffee, and books. I've been eyeing some jewelry by several of the local Lithuanian brands (I love DD Workshop), so I think I'll be treating myself soon!

The pop ups held at Kablys are my favorite because the venue is smaller and feels a bit more manageable, even in crowds. It is easy to get to and the guys from Crooked Nose and Coffee Stories are always selling their awesome coffee and cool brewing devices. The Hook is also just a super cool building, making it fun to stop by and shop!

The Kablys will be hosting the Spring Pop Up on April 8 and 9 from 11 am until 7 pm.

Find out more on their website and Instagram, which announces all of the designers.

Loftas

Loftsa is a cool (way too cool for me) music venue that occasionally hosts design festivals, called Uptown Markets. These markets are held roughly once per quarter and feature similar local designers as PopUp.LT. Loftas is a much large venue, with outdoor space and potentially two large indoor spaces open for designers.

The only problem really with Uptown Markets held at Loftas is that they can be sometimes really confusing to enter. Though Loftas has a clearly marked entrance on Svitrigailos g. 8 (behind the bus stop), sometimes this entrance is closed and you must go around the side of the building.

The benefit of holding a design pop up at Loftas is the ample outdoor space allowing for food trucks, street art, tables, and sometimes, live music. They also tend to have far more designers due to the larger space.

To find the side entrance, walk past the Iki grocery store and store selling home items -- towards the building with street art (the written art, you'll see what I mean). Enter through the sort of dilapidated gates and wind your way through kind of creepy industrial buildings. As the street art becomes more concentrated, you'll start seeing signs and spotting food trucks and designer wear. Don't get discouraged! You'll find it! **If you'd like me to draw a map or have specific questions, feel free to email me!

The next Up Town Market is on April 22 and 23 from 12 pm to 6:30 pm.

Local Designers

If your trip to Vilnius doesn't happen to coincide with one of the pop up design events, don't worry! You can still shop great Lithuanian designers at brick and mortar stores in Vilnius. I've written quite a long post about second hand, vintage, and local designer shops before, so I'll link that here. Stores do tend to come and go pretty quickly in Vilnius and a couple of the stores I featured in that article are no longer around (I've noted it in the original article).

Locals.LT

Conveniently located in the mall Gedimino 9, Locals.LT stocks the most popular items from several Lithuanian designers. In store they sell clothing, jewelry, accessories, and home items -- a perfect place to stop for a locally made goodie to take home! The store is also really nicely organized, making it easy to find what you are looking for.

Aukso Avis

Aukso Avis is a jewelry store selling only handmade items from local designers. They carry both affordable and more luxury brands (prices tend to be about 10 EUR to 150 EUR), and everything is color coordinated!

Sarka

Sarka is one of my favorite places to shop in Vilnius as it has such a wide array of options to choose from. This small store is packed with high quality vintage finds, beautiful re-worked pieces, and clothes from their in-house designer. They also carry shoes, accessories, and decorations for the home.

Linen Tales

Lithuania is well known for its linen products, so it seems only natural to purchase a linen item. Linen Tales has two stores in Vilnius as well as a really great online shop. Be warned -- those who are nesting or love decorating are going to want to watch their wallet here!

Eva Design

I love the gorgeous dresses by Eva Design! Selling very carefully tailored women's shirts, skirts, and dresses, the option is very selective, but really creative and beautiful.

Pop ups can also be found in Kaunas -- the 2022 European Cultural Capital! Check PopUp.Lt, although they same to be held less frequently. Local designers also sometimes share a text (the one that looks like a bubble) during large weekend festivals that happen pretty regularly in the summer months in Vilnius (also at Kaziukas and the pre-Easter festival).


What would you add to the list? Any other pop up events I don't know about yet?

Running for its second year, Vilnius Gastro is a wonderful food walk hosted by the friendly folks at Sustainable Vilnius. With the aim to introduce participants and restaurants to sustainability, chefs are encouraged to create dishes using fresh, local ingredients and reduce waste in any way possible. Participants are also required to walk from establishment to establishment to reduce emissions from transportation.

This year, Vilnius Gastro had three routes, yellow, green, and red, with seven stops for each route. About 20 restaurants participated, and I was pleased to see both established and brand new restaurants included on the list. I also was excited to find numerous non-Lithuanian cuisines including Korean, Georgian, and Italian.

My favorite part about Vilnius Gastro is getting to try restaurants that I haven't tried before as well as dishes I wouldn't normally order. Vilnius Gastro 2017 certainly outdid themselves by providing some excellent restaurants options and flavorful dishes.

If you want a refresher, you can read about Vilnius Gastro 2016.

Salvete City

 

Salvete City was our first stop that we made following the green route. And boy what a great way to start out this tasty culinary night. Before this evening, I hadn't heard of Salvete City before, but I was really impressed by the welcoming staff, owners, and chef, as well as the great food.

We were served a risotto cake filled with shrimp. The sauce you see was made from shrimp heads cooked with fresh vegetables. Now, I really don't like seafood, but I'm willing to try anything. This dish surprised me in a good way. It didn't have that "fishy" taste and was very rich. The texture was also nice because the outside of the risotto cake was slightly crispy. I definitely want to try Salvete City again.

You can find Salvete City at Gedimino pr. 37.

Alive

 

This brand new fine dining restaurant serves only plant-based cuisine (aka vegan). I was very curious to try Alive, which is the whole reason I opted for the green route. The decor in Alive was beautiful and we were treated to some live piano music while dining.

The dish served at Alive was a thick slice of "bacon" (shall we call it facon?) with pureed parsnips (I think), roasted potatoes, mustard, and cubed beetroots. I really enjoyed the dish, but what stole the show was the fresh bread with beetroot vegan butter. J and I would have loved to buy a jar of the beetroot butter -- it was that good.

You can dine at Alive at Gedimino pr. 31.

Gaspar's Gastro Lounge

Gaspar's Restaurant (on Pylimo g.) is probably my favorite restaurant in Vilnius because the flavors are always spot on. A couple of months ago I was excited to hear about the opening of Gaspar's Gastro Lounge and tried it shortly after it opened. Though we had a slightly underwhelming visit after it opened, I was really wanting to try Gaspar's Gastro Lounge again.

This time, Gaspar's Gastro Lounge didn't disappoint. This was yet another shrimp dish that I didn't mind eating. The buttery naan that Gaspar (the chef) is known for was topped here with mushroom puree, shrimp, and a tiny squirt of chili sauce. The squeeze of lime was what really put this dish over the top. Another delicious dish from the Vilnius Gastro 2017.

Gaspar's Gastro Lounge can be found on Liejyklos 1.

Trinity Bar

At Trinity Bar the green route was treated to a specialty cocktail. Let me just say that I haven't had a cocktail in years; I'm talking probably eight years. We were served the pretty pink Clover Club cocktail, made from frothed egg whites, gin, lemon juice, and raspberry syrup. It was really tasty! The staff were also super friendly at Trinity Bar, allowing us to stash our stroller and helping us get it through the narrow door.

Stop by Trinity Bar at Vilniaus g. 30.

Saula

Our last stop for the night was the newly opened Saula. Though not recommended to carry down a bulky stroller to their basement restaurant, we managed and the staff were really helpful with finding us an accommodating table. Before I even get to the amazing food, I want to rave about the decor. The typical white stucco basement had been transformed with beautiful turquoise tiles, contrasting the white. Gorgeous.

The food we were served at Saula was equally as gorgeous. The dish was melt in your mouth beef cheek with mashed potatoes, and charred vegetables. We ended our dining journey on a great note!

You can find Saula next to Rimi on Didzioji 26.

We didn't make it to Grey or Burbulio Vynine for lack of time (Baby ISO's bedtime was fast approaching). We've also been to both before, so we didn't feel too bad about having to miss them. Tell me, did you get to taste the dishes at Grey or Burbulio Vynine?

 

Overall Notes

I really enjoyed the 2016 Vilnius Gastro, but I have to say that this year was even better. All of the restaurants we tried were fantastic and I'm not sure I could even choose a favorite out of these dishes. All staff that I encountered were friendly and the food was served very quickly (a plus with an easily bored toddler).

This year, the price for Vilnius Gastro was 32 Euros. While J and I were gifted our tickets from Sustainable Vilnius, this is an event that I would have happily paid the full ticket price to attend. Considering the quality and amount of food and drink, I think the price is very reasonable. I'm also happy to see that 1 Euro from each ticket was donated to charity!

Sustainable Vilnius runs similar gastronomic walks in Kaunas and Klaipeda, so be sure to check those out as well! For newsletter subscribers and those who follow ISO's Facebook page, I'll share these events when the come up, so you too can participate.



Do you like food walks? I wish this could be in every city!

Sometimes living abroad can be a challenge, so I wanted to focus on forgetting about the challenges and enjoying the positives. To do so, I've started an occasional feature on In Search Of that highlights creative events, places, and people happening both at home and abroad. 

In previous posts, I've talked about the more creative side of Lithuania including Open Kitchen, the Beer Marathon, Pottery Class, Coffee Enthusiasm, A book fair, and a felting class. If you have any suggestions of things to check out or have something interesting to share yourself, I'd love to hear them!

If you would like to participate in sharing creative things about where you live, tag your photos on Instagram or tweets on Twitter with #CreativeLocale. I'd love to see the creative side of every country! 

Today, I have the pleasure of chatting with Yan Kalbaska who I connected with via Twitter because of his #1Guerilla project. 

1) Tell us about #1guerilla and why it started.

Before #1guerilla, I did the opposite — a created a pavilion in a village near my studio and put my paintings on the walls. It took me about a week to complete and state the concept of a no viewer gallery — that art doesn’t need a viewer to be created and to exist.

Inspired, I wanted to display my paintings to public then. I knew there would not be many viewers If I show my art in a gallery unless it would be a huge media event. Risking my works to be destroyed or stolen was no worse than keeping them in a closet.

That’s how I came to the idea of an unsupervised, unauthorized, anonymous gallery displaying one piece at a time. Hence the name #1guerilla. I just glue my paintings to the walls, making them easily removable and asking no permission.

Rosebush by Yan Kalbaska (in Vilnius on Strange Love)

Photo by Yan Kalbaska

2) How did you pick the locations to put your paintings? Did you have a specific painting in mind for each location?

I didn't want my paintings to contrast the environment, I wanted them to blend. I found a few suitable places were people would stand by a piece a meter or less away as the paintings are not large enough to be enjoyed from the far. It also created an intimate connection with the viewer. I am still amused only one painting was vandalized and destroyed. Then I just browsed through my works to find a better fit.

After 3 works were happily staring at people in Minsk, with some mentions, cherish, and no aggression, I decided to spread the love to the other city I visit the most — Vilnius. A totally different audience, and still it worked well. Even during my short visits I saw people stop and stare. Believe me, it means much more than a painting hanging in a gallery and enjoyed by art lovers. People in the streets are mostly by themselves and I talk to them even when I am not there.

Poplars Along The Road by Jan Kalbaska (on Taste Map, Vilnius)

Photo by Yan Kalbaska

 

3) Where else can readers find more of your #1guerilla street art?

 

I never exposed any additional information about the project, as it was part of the experiment. I attached #1guerilla label to every painting, and removed the signatures of me as an author.

My idea was not to dig for more information and to advertise myself, but to put rural-themed art organically into urban environment letting people notice what's around them and enjoying it without knowing where it comes from.

I was willing to know the fate of the works. So hashtag search was the only means of communication with my viewers. I also watched as people were passing by, giving a glance, walking closer, taking pictures, discussing with friends. One of the paintings was written on with pen comments, then taken down without traces. One was carefully replaced after cafe’s repair works were done. And in general, I'm happy that owners never wanted to remove the works of art from their walls.

Photo by Yan Kalbaska

Stairs on the Roof by Yan Kalbaska (photo by Yan Kalbaska)

4) Looking ahead to 2017, what are your future plans for #1guerilla?

 

This season is over. I'm glad 4 of 5 works survived and are still being enjoyed by people. I'm currently doing some larger pieces. Not sure if they are a good fit for the streets. But some etudes [pieces] already feel like they need the city setting. It’s great to see intermixture of rural landscapes with the urban space, like a perfect frame to enrich the piece. I'm sure I will deliver something approachable to thousands of viewers now and that motivates me a lot!

Evening Skies by Yan Kalbaska (photo by Yan Kalbaska)

Photo by Yan Kalbaska

5) How can readers connect with you online?

I'm most active with my instagram @kalbaxa, you can always write me a direct message, I think it's fastest. And I keep a reference of my paintings on a website yan.kalbaska.net ready for sale.

Although there were no mentions for this #1guerilla piece — people stop and gaze. Which is perfect 🎯 Strange. Love ♥️ @strangelove_vilnius #guerillagallery #guerillaart #streetart #paintingonthewall #oilpainting #vilnius #endofseason #instaart #artistoninstagram #instaartist #painting #oiloncanvas

A photo posted by Yan Kalbaska (@kalbaxa) on Oct 14, 2016 at 2:48pm PDT

Final comments:

Thanks for chatting with me, Yan! I love how people are interacting with your public paintings. When I saw the first #1Guerilla painting in Vilnius (the one on Taste Map), I was walking with a friend and we both admired it and took photos! I also love how you've made your pieces anonymous, so that your art and the "no viewer gallery" concept can stand on its own. When I saw the second piece on Strange Love, I became curious about who created the paintings and how the locations were chosen. The hashtag and art itself is what made me ask around on Twitter about the movement and is what connected me with Yan in the first place! You can read more about the no viewer gallery concept on Yan's website.

I hope the art lasts through the winter and look forward to seeing some great new pieces in the future!

You can find Yan's art for #1Guerlla in these locations:

 



What do you think #1guerilla as a way to share art with the public? Do you think art should be put in the public for viewers to appreciate? What is your favorite piece from above? Mine is Rosebush. 

I'm linking up with #Farawayfiles number 7!

Other than the food, street art was a major highlight of my visit to Richmond, Virginia. There were really two hot spots for seeing street art in Richmond: Uptown and the Canal Walk. Just strolling along West Main street in Uptown, we saw numerous pieces of gorgeous street art adorning many corner buildings. In the Canal Walk, there was a huge gallery displaying giant works of street art.

While we were visiting Richmond, local artists were also creating street art to increase awareness surrounding dumping things into sewers that may drain directly into the James River. While I didn't get any photos of those pieces, I found them incredibly informative, while still being eye-catching. What a great combination and mission!

The smoking brain and woman in a strawberry jam jar were my favorite pieces. What are yours? Would you like to live in a house or apartment adorned with a gorgeous mural? I certainly would!