Sandra Bondarevska

  If you’re a Pete Geek and don’t know the name Sandra Bondarevska, it’s time to learn it. Sandra is a Latvian journalist who lived in Dublin for decades, along with over 20,000 other members of the Latvian diaspora--which is said to number about half a million souls worldwide.  The global diaspora first emerged when the Soviets rolled into Latvia to reoccupy it in 1944—which is when Charles Peterson’s brother Conrad and his little family fled across the icy waters of the Baltic in an open boat. The next wave of the diaspora occurred following the European Union accession in 2004, which prompted many Latvians to emigrate in pursuit of better work and educational opportunities. Sandra’s help with The Peterson Pipe: The Story of Kapp & Peterson was instrumental in documenting Charles Peterson and his family. It was through her research that the Brady family, who held in trust Peterson family photographs and documents, as well as many personal effects of Charles and Annie Peterson, got in contact with K&P, to donate several items. While we know and love Charles Peterson as the inventor of our favorite pipe and entrepreneur of our favorite brand, Sandra’s book Petersoni Īrijā (2019), which appeared in English as The Petersons in Ireland (2024), documents the the cultural importance of Charles, his daughter Isolde Peterson, and cousin Konrad Peterson to Latvia, Europe, and the world. I’ll be returning to their importance on System Day 2026 in September, but for now I wanted to catch everyone up to what Sandra’s been doing in the meantime. In January of 2021, Sandra, alongside director Baiba Gaigra, established Sleides, which means “Rails” in English, as an amateur Latvian diaspora theater group. Their purpose is an important one: to maintain a Latvian cultural space in the world for the community living abroad by giving performances in Latvian and English. Note that copy of the 1896 K&P catalog reprint under Charles Peterson's arm and he escorts the lovely Mary Regan across the street. Sandra wrote a state adaptation of her historical triptych on the Peterson family in 2024, and has directed it for diaspora audiences in Dublin (2023 and 2025), in Riga and Birmingham (2024), and Stockholm (2025). She hopes to do a repeat performance in Dublin in 2027 when all the actors are again available. In the meantime, here’s an article from Baltic-Ireland.ie (March 3, 2025) reproduced with Sandra’s permission, and fun photos from the Nassau Street Peterson shop and environs of the cast and director courtesy photographer Julia Sereda.   A Photo Shoot at Peterson’s Pipe Shop Turns into an Event by Vita Žagare Janis Vecozols as Charles Peterson and  Ieva Daize as Annie Peterson The photo shoot of the characters from the Sliedes theater production of Sandra Bondarevska’s The Petersons of Dublin at the Peterson pipe shop on Nassau Street on March 1st was not originally intended to be a public event. Thanks to the responsiveness of the store management and cast, however, it turned out to be…