Events

Bulgaria Tattoo Expo brought the ZVЯRs to the National Palace of Culture (NDK) in Sofia on September 26th and 27th.

With their own cozy little booth, the creatures found themselves feeling far more at home than they could ever have imagined. They loved the crowd, the atmosphere, the shows, and most of all — the art.

So much creativity, so many incredibly talented people gathered under one roof, and so many wonderful new friendships made in just one weekend.

So many extraordinary characters, brought to life in ink and etched into human skin. The ZVЯRs were rather envious, actually — a few of them were seriously considering jumping onto someone's shoulder and making themselves a permanent resident.

They've been asking me when we're going back ever since. Apparently, they've found their people.

Hatching brought the peculiar world of ZVЯR to the cozy, artistic atmosphere of Edin Bar in Sofia.

From September 9th to October 9th, the ZVЯRs spent an entire month keeping a watchful eye on the bar’s visitors — from familiar locals to international travellers passing through. While they would have loved to sample the amazing cocktails themselves, the poor creatures had to settle for watching everyone else enjoy them.

The exhibition brought together familiar faces from Born in the Dark, alongside a whole new cast of characters making their debut in three new series: Business As Usual, Watership Down, and Dark Magic.

For one month, strange creatures, wonderful cocktails, curious encounters and a healthy dose of dark humour shared a home. And the ZVЯRs, as always, had plenty to observe — and probably even more to judge.

Born in the Dark was the first ZVЯR exhibition — and the first time the creatures left the drawing table, met humans and saw the world.

What began as a small, invitation-only experiment turned into a wonderfully chaotic and emotional night shared with around 100 people. Friends and family came, strangers arrived as someone's +1, and suddenly the room was full of people discovering a world that, until then, had existed almost entirely on paper.

At the time, I still wasn't sure whether ZVЯR would live beyond that night.

Then something unexpected happened.

People connected with the creatures. Many of the original hand-drawn artworks and limited-edition prints found new homes — and, strangely enough, each ZVЯR seemed to find exactly the human it belonged with.

The response to Born in the Dark gave me the courage to take ZVЯR further: to keep drawing, build the brand and let more creatures out into the world.

That night, ZVЯR stopped being an experiment.

It became something real.