A Ukrainian refugee turned his hobby into a full-time career, and that hobby is building ships. His childhood hobby became an important part of his new beginnings in Canada.
Artem Vartanian and his family fled Ukraine last May. When Vartainian came to the Okanagan, he hoped to continue doing what he admired.
“I love all about sailing ships and nautical style,” says Vartanian.
Vartanian has a marine education working as a part-time navigator and shipbuilder. When he was young, he took up a hobby which he still practices today.
“My dad loved scale modeling and he taught me and we have a great hobby together,” she says.
While he was looking for a new career in Kelowna, he found a job opening at a local boat shop similar to what he had previously done.
“At first I thought he was just fascinated by what we were doing, but it became quite clear after I spoke to him that he did have a background in shipbuilding,” said Andrew Middleton, co-owner of Absolute Classics Marine.
Middleton said when Vartanian mentioned his background in scale model boats, he knew he could be great for the job.
“I immediately realized that this was someone who had good hand-eye coordination and great attention to detail which was something we needed in this business,” Middleton said.
Vartanian has turned his passion into a career, working on full size ships every day.
“That’s probably my dream because, as for my hobby, I don’t have much free time,” says Vartanian.
He had learned the tricks of the trade, worked on many ships and it was evident to his Vartainian co-workers how much he cared.
“He is a perfectionist like me and all of us here. He loves his job, he tells me that and every time I try to kick him out of the store, he just wants to stay,” said store manager Christine MacPheat.
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Vartanian says his co-workers have become his second family and his new career doesn’t feel like a job.
“This work for me is a good pleasure. Scale models are more difficult because they are very small, small details, different,” he said.
Vartainian hopes to pass on his family’s boat-building hobby to his three children.
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