Patricia + Peter = Paint and Sip

Who we are

We are Patricia & Peter, two Hungarians currently living in Basel. Choosing different and quite exceptional paths during our 20’s (Pati graduated from the Academy of fine Arts, established herself as a contemporary artist, dedicated a great effort to self-improvement, while Peter set off to travel around the world on a bike , living off farm-jobs and street-performances for years), we finally met at a cashier’s desk of a second-hand store in Budapest in 2016. Since then we experience every day: 1+1 is more than 2!

Where we come from

Before moving to Switzerland in January 2019 we had been living on our farm in a small village in North-Hungary and this is the place we call home. The benefit of living close to nature is to maintain a fresh state of mind, which helped us contemplating our life missions. We have become strongly committed to help each other finding ways to lead a meaningful, balanced and healthy life. We would like to promote simplicity and sustainability, and we believe in the human spirit and intelligence. Our intention is to nurture our local community and to  encourage individuals to find bonds with each other again. We plan to build up cooperatives based on organic agriculture and reforestation. We are looking forward to fund art residence programs, to patronize artists and so much more.

In order to launch this mission, we wanted to gain something we had never had before: a little financial stability. This was the „great” reason behind our decision on moving to Switzerland for a couple of years.

Where we want to go

Just after our arrival Patricia started to clean private homes and Peter started to work in a cool restaurant, „La Manufacture”. We had never planned to become entrepreneurs; the whole concept started as Pati was searching for an atelier to prepare for her upcoming solo exhibitions. As it was quite pricey, we began to think if we could use the space for anything else in order to make it cost-effective. The idea of a „painting school” arouse, but we were not fully convinced. It somehow felt that to Basel, to these people from all over the world WE COULD GIVE MORE.

Paint and Sip

As newcomers in Basel we experienced what most foreigners complain about: the lack of social connections. It seemed hard to get to know other people, or at least you had to develop new ways. We have read about a successful and popular entertainment and business model from the States called Paint and  Sip. It rhymed perfectly to Patricia & Peter, to US. “Of Course! Let’s put our virtues together (Pati’s art; Peter’s hospitality) and create a platform where people can socialize and have a good time, while doing something new and meaningful!” Painting is a unique activity in a sense, that you can easily be emerged in yourself and enjoy a conversation at the same time.

Through days-long arguments, brainstorming, research and trials the concept of Paint It Easy has been fashioned, and it’s been evolving ever since…