ARTIST SPOTLIGHT

Studio Cult

Studio Cult has been one of the most special partners of ours. We wanted to give you a little insights about the company, and more specifically, interview CEO and the designer herself - Yulia Veligurskaya. 

MS Paint Pin

We're very proud to have you on our blog and to be showcasing Studio Cult items on our website. Please tell us little more about Studio Cult, how did it all start?

Thanks so much for having me! I started Studio Cult when I left the architectural field. Things were going well but I honestly wasn't fulfilled by the work. There was this constant itch to do my own thing. After I left, I started an importing business which failed and then decided to take a break and work on some other projects. While searching for new business ideas, I happened to find a community of people who were making pins and decided I would make one for fun. I did a ton of research and came up with what I understood was the ultimate pin: a three dimensional interpretation of the Microsoft Paint program. It was precise to its concept, innovative to the medium and obnoxiously large. I paid a handful of pin accounts on Instagram to post about it, threw up a quick online storefront and made a post about it. I didn't think much of it. To my surprise it blew up immediately, the content went viral within a few hours. It was an exhilarating and yet somewhat terrifying experience.

.JPEG pin

What was the most critical event for the Studio Cult's success? 

This sounds really lame, but every time I committed to doing some growth in an area of my business consistently, success came quicker than I expected. There were a lot of cool circumstances that came by chance, but sustainable achievement came from doing simple things like posting at least once a day, studying marketing for 2 hours a day, etc. Making those critical decisions consistently and following through always seems to work.

Frozen Cursor Pin

All the pins are very creative, as well as very relatable. What are the main factors in the real or digital world that inspire you to create these unique designs?

I probably spend more hours at a computer than the average person. While some of the designs seem simple or humorous, they are all products of my day to day interactions with the digital world. They are all quite personal. They seem like trivial little chachkis, but enamel pins have been a very versatile medium to capture my digital experiences. If you look at my collection you get a peak at how I see the world.

Wordart Pin

Tell us more about the process of designing and creating each pin!

Each pin is designed around an experience. Ideation is hands down the toughest and longest part of the process. Putting it on paper and then sending it to manufacturers is the easy part. It kind of feels like walking through the dark and trying to see if ideas "feel" good. There are a lot of fine lines I try to be aware of: I like my work to be referential but not novelty. It's clever but not cheesy. It's surreal and not bizzare. The idea needs to be immediately understood upon a second of seeing it. It needs to evoke emotion. If it doesn't meet these conditions I toss it. There's a lot of internal dialogue throughout the process.

Isometric Pink Bar

Do you have any other projects besides Studio Cult? if yes, please tell us more about it.

Studio Cult is my most serious endeavor but besides that I'm really into decorating. I'm always finding cool, a e s t h e t i c things to add to my apartment. A couple of my favorite pieces are a velvet pink couch and a Pachinko machine which is a vintage Japanese pinball game. At the moment I've been trying to think of some kind of art to suspend from the ceiling that would light the space in an interesting way. There's always some idea I'm coming up with for the space.

Color Picker Enamel Pin

And finally, what do you see as your ultimate goal with Studio Cult? 

I want to design all kind of things: jewelry, housewares, shoes, whatever. I want to create a world of objects designed by me that speak a language totally unique to itself. Some brands I look up to are Jonathan Adler and Areaware; I love these brands and think they do this quite well. I want to make things for the rest of my life to put it simply, it feels like the highest expression of myself.