Studio Pinprick

This month I am thrilled to introduce you to one of my favorite new artist/studios that I have been following — Studio Pinprick! Based in Turkey, this design duo comprised of İsmail (an art historian and embroidery artist) and Hayrettin (an artist and interior architect) create completely original fiber paintings, pillows and furniture, meticulously crafted with a miniature punch needle. They launched Studio Pinprick, an interdisciplinary art and design studio, in 2021.

One thing that quickly impressed me was how prolific Studio Pinprick is — in a few short months they have produced a wide variety of exciting works, that explore subjects from the freedom in children’s paintings, to gender, politics and human rights. Each artist brings a unique creative background to their collaboration, and the combination of their talents really shines through in their artwork.

Read on to learn more about İsmail and Hayrettin, their creative backgrounds, discovery of punch needle, and their advice for artists (and other men who want to try punching)!

There are two of you behind this brand! Tell us about yourselves, and what led you to collaborate on Studio Pinprick?

I am İsmail. I am Hayrettin. Hello all.

As an interior designer and an art historian, we are two people from different professions and fields of study. We met through mutual friends in 2008. We have been living together for 4 years and now we are producing together.

What led us to meet on common ground and producing together was our interest in art and production. In 2020, we started to work with different techniques by getting involved with needles and thread. Afterward, when we asked ourselves what we could do collectively, we answered, "Let's paint!". Developing the idea of using paintings on different surfaces, we established Studio Pinprick, the art, and design studio we now own, in March 2021.

We'd love to hear about your creative backgrounds. What led you to the work you do today?

İsmail: I live in Turkey and was born in Bursa. I always wanted to study fine arts in university. I prepared for fine arts for a short time, then I could not pass the exams. :)) I studied Art History at university, but I never extinguished my passion for drawing and production. Even though my family was not very interested in arts, they always supported my interest. This encouraged me to make more space for art in my life. During my university years, I started working in biennials thus, entering the art scene. After graduation, I worked in various art galleries and art consultant companies in different departments such as artist relations, art consultancy, sales. In order to get through the pandemic period that started in 2019 - 2020, I focused more on art and production. By turning this period of crisis into an opportunity, I turned the artistic production that I care to do into my lifestyle and my job.

Hayrettin: I live in Turkey. I was born in Mersin. In high school, I studied at the painting department of the Fine Arts High School. But a part of me has always been keen on music. I was always running to the music department between classes. I was a chorist for 3 years as a bass-baritone in the youth choir. When I went to university, I studied at the Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Interior Design. I continued artistic production in joint projects by engorging with different disciplines at school. At the same time, I was making illustrations and advancing towards my individual musical journey. I was also arranging my compositions, designing costumes, and dealing with stage decorations. Combining my experience in visual arts with music, I also tried art direction. The illustrations I made took place on different surfaces and areas such as album covers, scarves, wallpapers.

I started to get involved with textiles to make the masks, costumes, and spaces in my published music videos applicable. I was personally involved in from the design to the production process. As an interior designer since 2011, I continue to work with İsmail as of 2021.

How did you learn about and get started with Punch Needle? What about this technique appealed to you?

Hayrettin: For my works, I used to first prepare my collages in the digital environment. Afterward, I drew them in charcoal techniques, colored them with watercolor, scanned them, and made the finishing touches in a digital environment again. We moved to Eskişehir at the beginning of 2021. While we were designing our apartment back then, I wanted to see pictured pillows on the swing in the living room. The ready-made pillows on sale didn't appeal to me. I did the sketches of my pillows and finished the production, so I started painting by punch crafting. Now I used other paints while sketching.

İsmail: With the pandemic started in 2019, I also entered my personal transformation within the global transformation. In the chaotic world, we were in, the thing that saved my mental stability was art again. My works with watercolors and pastels gave way to the abstract embroidery I made on paper, as I was very impressed by the works of Natalie Ciccorico, whom I knew through the artist suggestions I made from my personal Instagram account at that time. At the same period, Hayrettin started to learn punch needle techniques. I also began to use it when we moved to Eskişehir in 2021. Punch has opened new gates in my artistic production. I want to cover everywhere, everything with the punch. :))

We'd love to hear about your creative process. How do you come up with new ideas? What inspires you? Do you have any practices or processes around this?

İsmail: Since my profession is art historian, I follow the published articles and books closely. That helps me a lot to accumulate content and visuals for the works I want to do. The main inspirations that influence me the most: manuscripts, miniatures, and icons

Hayrettin: Everything that exists in the solar system is my inspiration.

We both have different sources of inspiration. Our common interests in general: the freedom in children's paintings, the events and subjects happening within daily life for a moment, and the visual bombardment in the digital world. These are the sources of our production.

In order to combine the differences of our interest in our joint works, we put out all of the ideas and continue to work by eliminating them. Of course, there are times we move back to the eliminated ones.

We collect the colors, motives, figures, photos, etc. that excite us the most and create a story with them. We create the image of this story as a collage. Then it takes its final form with charcoal and digital coloring as its pre-production phase. The most amusing part is, of course, stitching it onto the fabric with a punch needle. Together we decide where we want to see that painting before we start implementing it. That is the stage in which we determine the measurements of the painting. For us, this is the funniest part. Sometimes we watch a monster on a chair, sometimes we look on the stories of a watermelon slice on canvases.

What do you hope others see / gain / take away from your work?

The first thing we think and wish while producing is our work to be gazed at for a long time. To make the viewers think about its story, let them travel to other worlds and spend some time together with the painting.

We don't want everyone to see and think the same thing by the images in our works. We want each person to meet the images that are reflected in them by their own imagination. And if our works inspire other people, lead them to produce, and help their stories to emerge, that would be the thing that makes us the happiest.

How has your work evolved over time?

The works developed spontaneously without making any plans, steering to a certain way, or calculating. The first production began with Hayrettin making pillows for the apartment and then İsmail getting involved with him with pillows with paintings. Then canvases were added to the pillows and in March 2021, the design and art studio Studio Pinprick has established. With the Instagram account, the interest increased even more and sales began.

Other than that, we are accepted to Mamut Art Project's group exhibition that will take place in October, which is an annual exhibition located in Istanbul to support young artists.

Additionally, we do not want to miss your support in this process, as Punch Needle World. :)

What is your favorite part about the punch needle work that you do?

Observing different textures. Creating new surfaces using the differences in the quality of threads. And our favorite part is, when the work is finally done, to settle in front of the work and stare at it.

Drawing with pencil, painting digitally, and weaving with thread transform the work every time. One of our favorite things in our works is the production process and the other one is to see the image we designed as weaving.

Tell us about a favorite piece or project that you worked on, or one that had a lot of meaning to you.

We always feel the same thing about each of our projects. We separately have our own favorites. But the work that we have a common opinion is our sunflower work called "Günebakan".

That is our first ordered painting and the largest one we made so far. You can watch the production process video on Instagram.

What punch needle materials and tools do you use? Do you have any favorite supplier recommendations for tools, material, or yarn?

We use the same materials for fabric and needles from the beginning. For needle Sew Mate Punch Needle, and for fabric, we use white nettle cloth. In terms of variety, we prefer to use freedom in thread choice. Usually, we use cotton and wool yarns if we run into them. We also use second-hand yarns.

As suppliers, we support the local stores. When we travel, we definitely visit the shops selling threads and yarns and try to buy materials from different cities.

What advice do you have for other artists or creatives looking to try punch needle?

Our first recommendation is for men who are just starting out and want to get started:

MEN ALSO CAN PUNCH NEEDLE! NEEDLE AND THREAD ARE ONLY MATERIALS. THEY ARE GENDERLESS AND FOR EVERYONE!

As our second advice:

Don't give up if the yarn comes off when you start weaving. Calmly check if you have loosened the yarn coming from the ball enough so that it is not too stretched and control the bevel side of the needle. Once you get past this point and as long as you are patient, you will possibly become a punch addict. :))

Besides, we don't like to use ready-made hoops. They cause the fabric to slip during application. We make our own hoops in the dimensions we want for the application and instead of locking the fabric in-between hoops; we stabilize it with the desired tension with metal staples. This makes the work cleaner and neater.

Where do you see your work going in the future?

Frankly, as of 2020, we stopped making long-term plans. For now, we are in a clean and smooth flow. There have been great developments since March and maybe it wouldn't have been as good as it is if we had them planned ahead. We are now moving forward as we are open to the surprises of the universe

How can the punch needle community support you and your work?

We find everyone who produces very valuable. We always share the artists we like to motive and support productions. We celebrate them with a nice message, and we participate in the events as much as possible. Anyone who likes or is curious about our work can always reach us via Instagram or e-mail. Our response is always very fast. :))

What is something that you are excited or curious about these days?

İsmail: I have enrolled in the university again to the program of Visual Communication Design. Being a student again and the things I will learn, excite me a lot these days.

Hayrettin: I am very excited about the songs I will make in 2022.

What are 3 other fun facts about yourselves that you would like to share with the Punch Needle Community?

İsmail:

• I went to Italy 15 days after I graduated from Art History. I literally experienced Stendhal Syndrome, after I saw Michelangelo's Pieta, which I fell in love with only by seeing its photos.

• I like to examine animals and plants.

• I love to listen to Carmina Burana loudly when no one's at home.

Hayrettin:

• In 2011, I competed until the finals in the reality music competition Star Academy.

• One side of me is a cleaning junkie, the other side is a punch needle artist who scatters threads all over the place. It is sometimes very difficult.

• If you ask whether to go to the party or stay at home, I would rather stay at home. I have more fun while producing.

To see more of Studio Pinprick’s work, visit their Instagram @studiopinprick