Ori-Artizan began as a creative idea rooted in handmade craftsmanship and grew into a start-up with a clear ambition: to turn artisanal making into a sustainable business. Founded by Orjeta Rucaj, Ori-Artizan participated in the CreaTech Start-up Mentoring and was supported by mentors Dorina Koci and Llesh Lleshaj.
For the Start-up Booster programme, Ori-Artizan worked intensively on strengthening the foundation of the business. The mentoring process focused on clarifying the business idea, building a deeper understanding of market and customer needs, and developing practical competencies across operations, marketing, and finance. As a result, the start-up achieved key progress: a clear value proposition, more refined product offerings, and structured workflows, all leading to a business plan ready for the next stage. Market validation confirmed a strong customer demand for handmade products, especially during seasonal peaks such as Christmas and New Year, and customer feedback was actively integrated into product development.
The programme also highlighted Ori-Artizan’s operational strengths, particularly the high quality and accountability of its solo-led production, while identifying key challenges around limited capacity and the need for future staffing.
With a strong foundation established, Ori-Artizan is now focusing on its next steps: expanding production capacity, strengthening its brand, and building a small team to support growth.