Nestled among the green hills of Georgia’s Guria region, just outside Ozurgeti, Komli is much more than a community initiative. It is a place where nature, local traditions, culture and civic engagement come together, offering visitors an authentic experience of rural Georgia while preserving the stories that have shaped the region for generations.
As part of the Digital Spark monitoring visits, the Metamorphosis Foundation team visited Komli to follow the implementation of their project “From Understanding the Past to the Digital Future.”
Arriving at Komli feels like stepping into a different rhythm of life. Surrounded by forests, tea plantations and traditional Gurian wooden houses, the space reflects the deep connection between people and the landscape that has defined this region for centuries. Every corner tells a story, through architecture, local food, family traditions and the memories carefully preserved by the community.
One of the highlights of the visit was discovering Guria’s centuries-old tea culture. Once one of Georgia’s most important tea-producing regions, Guria is experiencing a revival of small-scale tea production, with local communities bringing traditional cultivation methods back to life. Visitors to Komli can walk through the tea gardens, learn about the history of Georgian tea, take part in tea tasting sessions and experience the slow, mindful process behind every cup. Rather than simply presenting tea as a local product, Komli uses it as a way to introduce visitors to the region’s history, identity and relationship with nature.
The initiative has also become an inspiring example of community-based cultural tourism. Through guided experiences, storytelling events, exhibitions, workshops and cultural programmes, Komli invites visitors to discover Guria beyond the usual tourist routes. Their work demonstrates how preserving local heritage can create new opportunities for sustainable rural development while strengthening community identity.
This philosophy is closely connected to their Digital Spark project. By training local residents in digital storytelling and media literacy, Komli is helping preserve stories that might otherwise disappear while giving communities new digital tools to document their history and participate more actively in civic life. Women, young people and rural communities are at the centre of this process, ensuring that local voices become part of Georgia’s wider digital civic space.
The organisation builds on years of experience implementing community-based cultural initiatives, successfully combining history, theatre, storytelling, environmental awareness and civic participation.
Our visit was a reminder that meaningful civic engagement often begins with something simple: listening to local stories, walking through tea gardens, sharing a meal prepared from regional recipes and understanding how communities preserve their heritage. In Komli, culture, nature and democracy are not separate ideas, they grow together, creating a unique model of community resilience and sustainable local development.
