Written by Malana VanTyler
In this as-told-to essay, Armenian philanthropist and cultural strategist Mareta Gevorkyan shares how platforms - whether a lifestyle space, a medical library, or a restored community landmark - can become vessels for deeper change.
I’ve come to believe that some of the most meaningful work begins without a fixed shape.
It often starts quietly with a sense that something could be held more thoughtfully, supported more steadily, allowed to take its own form.
Across the projects we’ve been part of, one pattern continues to stand out: the most lasting results come from attention to conditions. When the focus stays on presence rather than urgency, something essential begins to take root. The work that endures often grows from care, and what eventually becomes visible usually lived here all along, simply waiting for the right environment.
What remains important is building spaces that hold potential, because those spaces allow something meaningful to grow. When people feel the space is truly theirs, it begins to do the work on its own.
Rien-à-Porter: A Shift in Perception
Rien-à-Porter was imagined as more than a lifestyle space. It was designed as a meeting point - a space where Armenian culture encounters French sensibility, where heritage is reimagined through contemporary design, and where the experience of service itself becomes part of the story. The aim was not simply to showcase talent, but to create an entirely new kind of space in Armenia, one that raises quality of life through care, detail, and hospitality.Its structure was simple but intentional: a 50/50 curation of local and international designers. Designers and brands like Narek, Jhangiryan, Varduhi Torozyan, Hayk Ananyan, Demiurge, Tashcyan and MOMENT OF WHITE were presented alongside heritage labels from Europe - in context, in equal standing. This parity offered a quiet but meaningful shift: Armenian design placed naturally within an international conversation.
The space became a place where people linger. Where the quality of tailoring invites questions. Where discovery happens slowly, through presence and attention. And when someone falls in love with a garment, they’re often surprised to learn it was made nearby. That moment - when perception opens naturally - has been one of the most meaningful aspects of the project.
Rien-à-Porter is both a cultural space and an act of hospitality. Its flagship location on Pushkin Street (Yerevan) opened with this intention: to create a setting where beauty holds meaning, and where attentive service is itself a contribution.
Foundations for Knowledge and Culture
Much of our work begins with a simple belief: environments shape people. When we create spaces for study, for memory, or for conversation, we are building the ground on which futures can take root.The library at the medical university of Armenia showed us this clearly. What had once been a 60-square-meter room with no digital access is now becoming a 3,000-square-meter space for learning. It will stay open day and night, giving students and doctors constant access to books, networks, and tools. With guidance from architects who know how to design medical libraries, we are shaping not only a building but also a culture of study. The aim is to create a place where knowledge feels continuous, where learning is part of the rhythm of daily life.
This same care guides our attention to cultural landmarks. The Afrikyan family house in Yerevan was built in 1902 and was home to one of the families that first shaped the city’s modern infrastructure, from water to sewage systems. Its design drew from the spirit of Armenian churches, making it unlike any other house of its time. In recent years it stood in need of preservation. Through Keron we have taken on its restoration, carefully uncovering the original stonework and preparing it to welcome the public once again with a community space. For us, this building is more than history. It is a reminder of how vision and responsibility once shaped the city, and how they can do so again.
Dilijan: Letting a Place Speak
Among the places that have shaped this work, Dilijan continues to offer some of the clearest lessons. It carries its own memory, proportion and pace. Being there doesn’t feel like construction, it feels like attention.In collaboration with Green Rock Foundation, a number of long-term initiatives are taking form. Some are large, focused on territorial planning, public infrastructure, and hospitality. Others are grounded in daily life: a restored sports complex now welcoming over 500 children, helping to upskill those living locally, revamping some of the town’s landmarks. Each of these shifts the town’s texture in ways that are steady and tangible.
The way Dilijan moves shapes the way work unfolds. Projects grow from what’s already alive. The place holds its own clarity. What’s asked is care: to nurture continuity and respond to what is taking root.
One of the key initiatives (the Multifunctional Complex) is envisioned as a city within the city. It brings together housing, culture, education, and shared spaces. At its core is the wish to offer people a reason to stay - because there is space to build a full life. That’s how belonging grows: through environments designed with people in mind.
Education, Return, and Long-Term Foundations
No platform is complete without knowledge. And no local system can flourish without exchange.This is why education continues to be a central part of this work. Through the Keron Development Foundation, programs like the Keron Talent Pool connect professionals from the Armenian diaspora with real opportunities to contribute. The premise is simple. There are people ready to return, wanting to contribute to a purpose larger than themselves. They want to build. What they need is a bridge.
When those connections happen, local talent receives new perspectives. Visiting professionals find ways to root. And systems that once felt closed begin to grow in capacity.
Education also shows up in the form of institutions. At the State Medical University of Armenia, support has been given toward the development of a 24/7 digital library focused on medicine - a space where students can find more advanced knowledge and access a new culture of learning. The same thinking shapes Apicius, a hospitality school designed to professionalize an entire sector. It prepares the people who will one day shape Armenia’s service culture - with dignity, skill, and purpose.
Education, in this context, is not a curriculum. It’s a foundation. For staying. For growing. For continuity.
A Platform Is a Gesture of Belief
Across each of these efforts, what feels most meaningful isn’t the scale. It’s the effect. Not the project itself, but what it allows.When someone finds themselves in a space that reflects their value, something shifts. Confidence begins to replace hesitation. Creativity deepens. Futures become thinkable.
This is why the idea of a “platform” continues to resonate. Not as a stage, but as a floor - a base, a stable surface on which people can stand and shape what comes next.
In this sense, the work is not about promotion, preservation, or strategy. It is about presence. About recognizing potential. About supporting it. And about trusting it enough to grow in its own way.
Sometimes what’s most powerful isn’t what we create, but the space we make for others to create. That space, held with readiness and care, becomes the real platform. And when it’s there, talent finds its audience. Culture continues. And meaning takes root - through visible, steady care.
