Mr. Saurabh Timochin is a 34 years old artist. He has done his MBA and is a marketer by profession. He grew up and studied in Saudi Arabia. Let's hear his story from him.

Initial Journey.

Talking about the initial life of Saurabh, he says, "I got a fascination early on in marketing from my father, who also worked in marketing and business development. As a kid, I used to listen to his ongoing projects at work and would love brainstorming with him on solutions."

Mr Saurabh's mother was a psychologist by education and used to be a school teacher. He also has a younger brother who studied aircraft maintenance and slowly found his way into the startup world and software solutions.

Sharing further, he says, "I share a very special bond with my brother, he is one of the few people who really gets me. My journey towards creativity lies in my curiosity of understanding what lies behind the reason. I have always been attracted to aesthetic things, I believe something beautiful or well put together has a positive energy to it. Like everybody, growing up, we had some obstacles in life that we as a family had to overcome. There were times I would have to learn things on the go and figure out how to find my own voice and strength in my own convictions. That process is what really drove me to start Kreative Reef."

"Creative expression was my form of communication and I wanted to see if there were others like me. So I put together my marketing and design skills along with my curiosity to develop Kreative Reef. Kreative Reef is my expression to the world, it is my way of sharing with people the questions I think about myself or to share things that I find thought provoking or amusing."

The Childhood

Mr. Saurabh lived in Saudi Arabia away from his family in India. Being curious, we asked him to tell us more about his childhood and how he discovered his passion and love for art. 

"I’d say I had somewhat of an isolated childhood away from my extended family. My mom being a teacher placed a very high value on education and pushed my brother and I to study as well as we could. I owe a lot to her."

"My father was my mentor, I looked up to his creative mind and his ability to speak really well.

I wasn’t into arts, as a matter of fact arts wasn’t much of a thing back in school at that time.

I developed my interest in art thanks to traveling to many places. I was lucky enough to see a lot of North India with my mother and a few foreign countries like Canada, Turkey, Greece and Cyprus as a child, which really opened up my awareness to the numerous arts that existed.

So I'd say I acquired my style of creative thinking over a few years."

We all have our own story of how we discovered our passion. We hope you can relate with the journey of Mr. Saurabh's story.

We found his journey appealing; being a Marketing Head, how does he manage to run an art page on Instagram; What is it like to handle two major things at one time?

"So I love my job and that helps! Regarding the instagram page it does get challenging coming up with new content often enough to keep the pages going and growing, but it’s a challenge that makes me happy. I guess you find time and the energy to do things that bring flavor to your life," says Mr. Surabh.

The Inspiration

"My content mainly covers areas of life that I think are important – at least for me

I mostly make posts on : Self belief, Mental health, creative thinking, philosophy and humor. Most of my inspiration comes from what going on in my life at that time. Inspiration can come from anything ranging from Ted talks to Tik Tok. The best moments of inspiration come when you realize something all of a sudden….it's the feeling where you say “hmmmm I never looked at it that way”".

Mr. Saurabh's work is indeed inspiring. We were looking at his Instagram page and this one recent post from 14th May- 'Reinvent Yourself', caught our attention. It's a beautiful piece and we were curious to know the back story. So, in an interaction, we asked him to tell us what was in his head while creating it as we know, not only us but the people would love to know.

"As a kid I was always fascinated by dinosaurs, not the fact that they were so big or the T-rex ate meat, but how one event wiped out such a mighty species. Later on I learnt that birds are actually evolved dinosaurs – they were the dinosaurs who figured out how to live on and adapt into something that now allowed them to survive and thrive. As an adult I love reading about leadership case studies of great business leaders who turned companies around from failure. 

From both examples, the idea of reinvention is what saved the birds and the companies.

To reinvent is to keep living and to keep living is to keep reinventing .

I consciously try to keep evolving and that post “reinvent yourself” was me sharing my thoughts to my followers," says Mr. Saurabh.

Further Interaction

You must have heard this famous quote by Pablo Picasso- "Learn the rules like a pro so you can break them like an artist."

Mr. Saurabh's story reminds of this quote. He is a man with a beautiful mind, who can bring the complexity of life into art, that too so gracefully.

Here are some interesting Q&A between Mr. Saurabh Timochin and Startup Times.

1. Tell me about one of your most favourite art pieces that you have created and why is that your favourite? And, one art piece that inspired you in your personal life when you needed it.

"It would be the one that shows how a piece of coal becomes a diamond through pressure and friction. When I made that post I was having some financial strains due to my student loans, and making that post felt like a ray of hope at that moment."

       2. Is there any quote that inspires you or motivates you?

"A quote by one of India’s greatest President’s; Dr APJ Abdul Kalam
“To have small dreams is a crime”"

        3. Who is your role model?

"Don’t have 1 role model as such but I look up to these people for inspiration
Nikola Tesla, Simon Sinek, Amelia Earhart, Conan O'Brien, Gordan Ramsay"

        4. One piece of advice that changed your life.
"Working hard is important, being easy to work with is even more important."

         5. Any advice for our readers?

"Don’t think that you aren’t creative. Look for inspiration in your daily life and find an outlet to express that. If you don’t you will feel suffocated and you won't even realize why."

This was the story of Mr. Saurabh. The Kreativereef.

You can see his artwork by following him on Instagram @Kreativereef.