Our Community Standards

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It’s the community that makes Sol what it is. The safety and dignity of our community, including our staff, is paramount. We therefore find it necessary to clarify our standards of social engagement, among other guidelines on keeping Sol a safe place.

  • No social group is to be disrespected or discriminated against on the basis of their identity.

  • Abuse towards the staff / organizers will not be tolerated. If you would like to complain about any member of the team, please DM us on social media @CafeSolPK or @iOSpacePK

  • You are encouraged to politely socialize with other attendees, and collaborate on community projects like open book clubs, study circles, film and art projects, mental health support groups (if reasonably moderated) etc. Please speak to the team to reserve iO for your selected activities.

  • We strive to keep this space safe for our female community members. Should you encounter disrespectful behavior or harassment of any form on these premises (towards yourself or someone else), please inform the staff immediately.

  • Use of alcohol and other illicit substances is strictly prohibited on these premises

  • Firearms are not allowed

  • iO is a smoke-free space.

  • We appreciate members keeping the space tidy out of respect for others.

Offenders may be asked to leave, fined, or prosecuted depending on the nature and degree of violation. However, we trust that these measures will seldom be necessary, as we are proud of our community of artists, freethinkers, and regular cafe goers, who are known to respect one another as well as new-comers.

iO's Art Exhibition 2022

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As you all know Cafe sol and io The Space is all about supporting the local artists.

We were ecstatic to see all of the artists presenting their art on which they have spent so much time at our space for the exhibition. Every artist had a different style a unique perspective.

Thankyou so much to all of the Artists who participated and enchanting our space with their art.

Also to the people who came to support our artists !!

Bey

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A solo performance by Imran Mushter Nafees
@cafesolpk in collaboration with Center for Arts Based Methodologies and Wellbeing from Karachi present
"ب"
'Bey' is a play that asks questions as an author, what brings life to a tale, the story, or the character, it is a play about humanness, love, loss relation, and death. The death of a tale, death of a character, and the life of a story

What A Crazy Night

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"Metal isn't necessarily aggressive. There's metal that's contemplative, there's metal that's sad, and there's metal that's exuberant. No genre is limited in what it can express."

Thank you @inferner for giving us a night full of head banging and dancing like crazy

The environment was ecstatic!!

The whole crowd went wild with crazy guitar riffs!!

Thanks everyone for being part of this event, keep rocking! \m/

Chess Tournament

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“The beauty of chess is it can be whatever you want it to be. It transcends language, age, race, religion, politics, gender, and socioeconomic background. Whatever your circumstances, anyone can enjoy a good fight to the death over the chess board.” – Simon Williams

Meet our finalists for Chess Tournament '22 - Spring Edition.

L to R: Saif Ullah Shakir & Saad Rizwan

After an interesting final Match between these two, Said Ullah was our winner for this tournament.

The winner received prize cash of 2,500 and 2nd runner up got a food voucher worth 1,500 from @cafesolpk

Thanks everyone for being part of this tournament!

For more photos, go to @iospacepk

Meet Our New 'Vibe Manager' at Sol

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I’ve moved to England. Not quite sure why. Something to do with my medical training.

What I do know for certain, is that leaving Sol was the most difficult decision I’ve had to make..

I remember the day Sol was first established; not as a community, but a tiny coffee shop that nobody cared about. Awwad and I have nurtured Sol with such love and attention, that there isn’t a single polaroid photograph on the wall that brings in a giant wave of memories; mostly joyous, some perturbing, but none of them boring..

I maintain, however, that Awwad and I did not ‘create’ Sol. Sol grew around us like a cool, fluffy living organism, and took us both in its loving embrace. Sol is not the product of an entrepreneurial mind, but the shared vision of a community. We aren’t much without Anas’s voice, or Shahkeb’s music, Ozma’s poetry, Mehreen’s prose, Muzamil’s lessons on philosophy, Mustafa’s theatrical skills, Anneka’s words of wisdom, Mahum’s art, Tooba’s amicability, and their readiness to reach out to a stranger on the next table if they look like they need a friend to talk to. We are privileged to have with us not only some of the most talented writers, artists, and musicians as regular clients; but also the kindest people in the twin cities.

Among these kind people, is Dr Jenifer F, or ‘Jeni’ as we call her. Jeni moderates one of our free support groups for people with social anxiety, every Friday at 7 pm, but that’s hardly the best part. Jeni is known in the Sol community for her playfulness, humor, a strong sense of social justice, and her fierce compassion which makes her very easy to talk to.

I’m pleased to announce that Jeni is taking over my role as the director of cultural and social affairs at Sol a.k.a “the mahol manager”. This means that she’s going to be in charge of the social activities and events that take place at iO - The Space and Cafe Sol, along with Mahum. But most importantly, Jeni will be reach out to the quiet girl standing alone at the margin, hoping to make a friend but feeling unsure if she belongs in the room; making her feel accepted, regardless of who she is.

Two days ago, I played one last song on the piano for my friends, and with a heart heavier than it’s ever been, I said goodbye to my place of safety. But that’s okay. Ships are safe in the harbor, but that’s not what ships are built for.

I don’t think I could’ve left Sol in safer hands. I expect wonderful things from Jeni, Mahum, and Awwad, and you can expect the same.


Best wishes,

Faraz

Our "Love"ly Game Night !!

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This valentines we decided to celebrate every kind of love. Our game night moderator Jess arranged a fun night with heart ring toss and customized pair Jenga for all of the Guests/Community Members. Not only couples but friends and family members had a blast playing games together !!

Thanks Jess for such an amazing game night and thanks to all the people who played and had a good laugh with us!!

Paint Party !!!

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Ever wanted to dabble with a paint brush but didn’t know how? Don’t know what to do on a lazy Saturday when your friends are busy? Too tired from work and looking for a stress buster?

Then PAINT PARTY is for YOU!

We got guided by an experienced art instructor through Paint Party’s painting session.We got to paint the color of our souls and got to take those amazing paintings home too !!

Uraan !!

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On December 3rd and 4th we got to explore the beautiful figurative work, and admire abstract art, as well as handmade traditional jewelry inspired by miniature art.

Led by three young artists, 'URAAN' presents an inventive and thought-provoking approach to contemporary art. The exhibition explores a variety of artistic styles and expressions: figurative, landscapes, mixed-media, and traditional.

Through bold collections of paintings and a variety of works, these artists display the transformative power of art and creativity.

Featured Artists: Maria Aslam, Hussan-Ara Masood, Abdul Rehman

Their insta: @maarsart @deafixiousart @aan.gan

Diwali 2021 !!!

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This Diwali, we welcomed representatives of four religious communities at our annual Interfaith Drum Circle.

We'd like to express our gratitude to all who participated and helped us organize this beautiful event. And we continue to hope and work towards a Pakistan where no citizen is discriminated against on the basis of religion.

We are always looking for ideas for wholesome community events that help us improve our society in small ways. Please feel free to get in touch with us, if you have thoughts to share.

We Have a Letter For You !!!

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If you visit Cafe Sol in the coming weeks, you might receive a letter from a friendly stranger across the border.

The community at Cafe Sol is thrilled to be a part of the 'Letter from a Stranger" initiative, in which we connect with wonderful people from other countries and cultures, through an exchange of letters.

Help us spread the love by taking part in this initiative!

We would like to extend our heartfelt gratitude to Paromita Bardoloi for this beautiful opportunity.

Here are few snapshots of how we arranged and gave letter to few of our customers.

'We Wrote Stories and Poems' - Writers' Workshop, Oct 2021

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The 3-day Writers’ Workshop at iO / Cafe Sol has come to an end, and it’s hard not to feel proud of the stories and poems we’re written.

We delivered three presentations on the following subjects:

1) Creating compelling characters and setting the right tone (by Faraz)
2) Understanding Story Structure (by Mehreen)
3) Experimenting with Poetry (by Ozma)

I’d like to thank all of three of them for their insightful presentations, and to all our participants for the glorious pieces of literature that they created in this workshop.

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