Last month, we interviewed graphic designer, illustrator and visual artist Tulip Hazbar who was leading a learning lab in TUMO Yerevan. Born in Syria and raised in the United Arab Emirates, she is one of three sisters, all with names beginning with the letter T — Taleen, Tulay and Tulip.

What are your favorite tools and mediums to work with?

I use design to meet an objective or solve an issue, and I’ll choose whatever medium allows me to do that best. There is no favorite anything to me. If it works, it works, and I would use it — whether it be digital or hand-drawn illustration or typography, video or animation. I try to be practical with my choices. But I definitely like illustration — it’s something that I enjoyed doing even before I became a graphic designer. I love typography and film, and in my work, I do installations and play with sound. So, I pick mediums to serve specific purposes and communicate ideas.

How do you overcome creative crisis and where do you look to for inspiration?

Taking little breaks every once in awhile is a good idea. Allowing yourself to watch a movie, go for a walk, and talk to friends from inside or outside the realm of work. It’s a matter of reminding yourself that it’ll get figured out. You just need to do it properly, put in the time that it deserves and give yourself the time to breathe.
I turn to music for inspiration. I like compiling what I listen to into playlists. I do it every month, and always find it interesting to look back at what I was listening to earlier in the year. I started doing that in 2012.

What would you say about your work experience?

I like that teens come here for technology, art and design education. There is something really beautiful about a place where everyone is welcome to come and access this learning.
Teaching a lab at TUMO has been my longest teaching experience ever. I don’t like lectures and giving theoretical lessons because students can read that in books. My goal through the vinyl cover project was to create a practical work environment, and for students to get the sense of working in a professional design studio.

FUN FACT

Tulips hands, adorned with six silver rings, tell stories that stretch from Aleppo and Dubai to Yemen. Initially, a jeweler in Aleppo refused to sell her the ring that she wanted because it represents a man who has been in prison. By the end of their conversation, however, she convinced him to sell her two!

Pastel colors, curious characters and surreal imagery reign supreme in photos by Karen Khachaturov, who leads a learning lab on surreal and absurd photography at TUMO Yerevan. We sat down with Karen, a conceptual photographer, with 3.5 questions to learn more about him and his craft.

How did you get into photography?

About four years ago, photography spontaneously appeared in my life. I graduated from a medical high school, served in the army, and then started writing music across different genres — hip hop, jazz, electronic, lounge. In 2014, I was in university studying programming when I first picked up a camera and started taking photos. I wanted to try something new and had no idea how it would unfold. At first I was taking pictures of everything, but after a few projects my perspective changed. Photography became a way of talking.

How would you describe conceptual photography?

Conceptual photography is global. It’s about conveying ideas and isn’t limited to a single genre. In fact, my photos often combine genres, like surrealism and the absurd.
Although I don’t like pigeonholing work in genres, I recognize their descriptive value.

What inspires you?

As with any field, photography requires a lot of work and study. Following the work of other photographers can seriously develop and transform your craft. For example, David LaChapelle and Miles Albrecht have had a huge impact on my style. As an art form, photography is a wide spectrum and gives you a lot of opportunities to express yourself. Photography is also a reflection of your life experiences and perspectives, which I seek to broaden through travel — getting to know different people and ways of life.

FUN FACT

After studying medicine, programming, and music, Karen now owns his own photo studio. He prepares his own sets which includes construction, painting and decorating.

 

Programmer Varduhi Yeghiazaryan, who had started down her career path way back in school, is now pursuing a doctorate at Oxford University. Inspired also by medicine, she is successfully combining these two fields, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

How did you end up in programming?

I’ve always considered myself lucky in that sense, because I’ve had an idea of what I want to do since I was small. My father was a programmer and university instructor and, besides that, I’d always been surrounded by people who discussed and spoke with enthusiasm about programming. At school, I was part of the Olympiad team and the head of department there was Mrs. Susanna, who is a robotics coach here at TUMO. All of this could not have left me indifferent. Anyway, during the Olympiad process, I noticed that my friends were actively looking at opportunities to continue their education abroad. I realized that this was a real possibility and not just the stuff of fantasy. I made a quick decision and applied to Oxford University, which I was hearing about everywhere. Besides education, Oxford also provides important life skills – self-confidence, independence, making new relationships and so on. I really did learn a lot in the past five years.

What programming area interests you in particular?

I work on the segmentation and processing of medical images. These are high-resolution images and, because they are three-dimensional, it is becoming increasingly difficult to work with them and the processes involving them are slowing down. I started working on these issues in parallel to programming. This is a relatively new field, it has a history of about ten years and has been in particular focus over the past five years. The area of programming is growing quite quickly in general because its hardware is changing. And the whole concept of “programming” is growing broader and involving more and more people and professions every year, all the way up to medicine.

There is a stereotype that girls in programming constitute a small group. Why do you think that is so?

I think that cultural influence has a big role to play here. Moreover, the statistics that I’ve seen suggest that the issue isn’t a very serious one in Armenia. In our workshop, for example, girls make up about forty percent. Any comparisons of potential are baseless, I think, because any thoughts that boys are better at programming than girls are simply stereotypical in nature. Success is not linked to gender at all, it is all about the work and effort that you put into it.

 

ONE FACT

I’m a great fan of animation. I don’t like having favorites, but the ones deserving a particular mention are Wall-E and, among Russian cartoons, The Musicians of Bremen. I was listening to the songs from that cartoon during a work session recently. Oh yeah, and I can drive people around me crazy with my slow and detail-oriented approach to work.

Reza Abedini has a sharp wit, a piercing blue gaze, and a disarming laugh that suggests he doesn’t take himself as seriously as he lets on. The accomplished Iranian graphic designer, currently teaching a typography lab at TUMO Yerevan, speaks with the cool confidence you’d expect from an award-winning master in his field. Here’s how he answered our 3 ½ questions.

In your work, you blend traditional influences from the past with modern design. How do you envision graphic design in the future, maybe in a hundred years from now?

Yeah, it’s a very interesting question, but why should I think about such a thing when—I’m not there in a hundred years? I don’t really care. I’m living now, and I’m really interested in solving the problems that make my life different. I think, in the time I’m living, if I do whatever I’m supposed to do correctly, it could affect all human beings. I don’t need to think about them. I don’t need to plan. I just have to do whatever I’m supposed to do—correctly. I just realized, vision for something is not a good idea. For me—not for the young people. For them, it’s a very good motivation. But there’s no future for me. I’m in the future now.

Speaking of the younger generation, are there any young, up-and-coming designers you’re particularly excited about and inspired by?

Of course. There are always many, from different countries where I’m living, working, and teaching. Some of them were my students, like Homa Delvaray, who was my student in Iran. She’s a graphic designer/artist working for herself now. She’s amazingly good and internationally known—and still young. In Lebanon, Farah Fayyad, who is now teaching an atelier at TUMO Studios, was my student and is really good. Then there are designers who are not really connected to me, but I know them. There are some designers in Switzerland, they’re young and doing really interesting work, like Felix Pfäffli. He’s amazing. For me, it’s important for them to think of their own traditions. That’s my main focus.

Why do you think it’s important to incorporate old traditions into the new? Why not just forget the old?
When you have treasure, why should you start from zero? We have a long history of visual art in different countries. As soon as you want to start doing something, it’s very good to see what happened before. And then, accordingly, you can build something above that. Number two, I don’t think we can easily learn about other visual cultures. For example, as an Iranian, someone who grew up in the Middle East, I’m much more familiar with visual art in this area, than, for example, northern Europe. I have learned about other visual cultures, but this is different from growing up with it. I think if you connect yourself with your traditions, you’re going to get much deeper, more emotionally correct results.

Fun fact about you?

Hmm, at the moment, I’m listening to Max Richter, mostly. He’s good, listen! It’s amazing.