The work from TUMO Studios ateliers were all featured during the opening. In addition to these pieces however, were pieces designed and created by various talented Armenian artists. We featured Angel Paronyan’s detailed sink made of basalt, Henrik Solakhyan’s intricate wooden gata stamp, Krikor Jabotian’s two-piece stunner, Sevan Bıçakçı’s elaborate ring and more. Scroll through the photos to see the pieces yourself.

 

^{Krikor Jabotian} 

Krikor started his career in the creative department of world-renowned designer Elie Saab, and now heads up a thriving, family-run business in Beirut with his father, mother and sister. The themes of heritage, style and innovation flow through the opulent fabrics and rich, layered forms of his designs, many of which have been featured at the Emmy Awards and beyond.

Reincarnation, Jabotian’s six-piece SS17 collection, is all about feathers, full skirts and pearl-embroidered details. This short gown from the collection features unique forms and chic details, celebrating the brand’s structured looks that are eminently modern, while maintaining a classic feel.

 

^{Sevan Bıçakçı} 

Sevan Bıçakçı started his foray into the world of jewelry when he was 12, as an intern in master Hovsep Çatak’s Istanbul workshop. His jewelry is now sold in high-end outlets from New York to London and worn by major celebrities worldwide. Combining intensive craftsmanship and artistic vision, he creates worlds within rings and stories in the shape of necklaces and bracelets.

The Bird Palace ring exemplifies Sevan’s architectural inspiration and the influence of his native Istanbul’s mystical imagery.

Bird Palace

Ring | Gold, Silver, Diamonds, Rock quartz with inverse intaglio of birds

 

^{Henrik Solakhyan} 

Considered a master craftsman, Henrik Solakhyan works with wood, stone and clay. Starting at a young age, Henrik has worked his way to achieving a sort of prowess rarely seen in these crafts. He is currently the Director of the Museum of Woodcarving in Yerevan and couples his practical skills with an impressive knowledge of the history and tradition of crafts in Armenian culture.

Made of linden tree wood, the two-sided stamp is used to create the intricate designs found on gata, the traditional Armenian sweet bread.

 

^{Vrouyr Joubanian} 

Design strategies that create social change are at the core of Vrouyr Joubanian’s multidisciplinary work. The way a container hides its contents becomes a reference to cultural norms and the etiquette of consumption. The way a magnifying glass distorts appearances becomes a metaphor for how politicians interact with media.

The De[cant] collection is made up of highly original containers for wine and brandy. While their beautiful, opaque exteriors charm and fascinate, their shapes hint at the beverages within.

De[cant]

Vases | Corian LG HY-MAX
0.5 L, 0.75 L, 1 L

 

^{Suzanne Abrahamyan} 

Born into a family of tailors, Suzanne was fascinated by how fabric could be turned into anything in her mother’s hands. She developed a taste for altering fashion jewelry at an early age and performed her first experiments on her mother’s jewelry.

Lousig Meloyan (embroiderer)

Embroidery was a pastime for young Lousig. Having often taken care of the elderly in her family she was eventually taught the craft by her godmother. Although her godmother had lost her eyesight, years of experience allowed her to guide Lousig simply through touch. Lousig demonstrated incredible focus while practicing needlework, leading her on a path to perfection.

Lousig Meloyan’s mastery of the delicate art of needlework is evident in every piece she makes. She begins by constructing the piece with thread and from there, dips it in resin to form the final product, an exquisite necklace that encapsulates the nuanced intricacy of the craft.

Necklaces | Needlework, resin, beads

Resin casting by Arsen Mkhoyan

 

^{Angel Baroyan} 

Angel Baroyan began sketching at the age of 5. At 12, he had progressed to carving after purchasing his first tool set. He took the set home and mimicked the pattern on the box, and from there his love of carving tools was born. Angel worked as an apprentice with master carver Henrik Solakhyan and eventually established his own workshop next to his home.

In the hands of an artist like Angel, a slab of basalt becomes a piece of art. Beginning as a 40 kilo piece of basalt, this rock underwent a gradual transformation. As the artist meticulously carved away from the interior, he revealed intricate patterns of traditional Armenian ornamental art etched into its perimeter.

Sink | Basalt

 

^{Ana Hagopian} 

Paper becomes the noblest material in Ana’s hands as she renders the textures, colors and shapes of nature into exquisite jewelry. From her Barcelona workshop, her pieces float out to the world, landing in galleries and shops from Palo Alto to Paris and from Madrid to Milan.

The paper necklace collection evokes a delicate world blooming with vegetal and floral patterns. Each piece is lovingly crafted, its minimal elegance hiding the complexity of the techniques required to bring it to life.

 

^{Karen Chekerdjian} 

From Milan to Reykjavik and from Tokyo to Beirut, Karen works closely with craftspeople, transforming their trade. Function and meaning morph in her pieces. Ambiguity gives them the power to shift based on context and on who is using or contemplating them; her products evolve, each object connected to the one before it and gaining new meaning by association.

The Brass and Copper collection is designed in collaboration with traditional craftsmen, using know-how handed down from generation to generation, often from father to son, and skills now in danger of being lost.

Half Bowl
Serving bowl | Brushed Brass | Interior: food-safe tinned brass
15.5 (ø) x 6 (h) cm | 18 (ø) x 7 (h) cm
Strainer Tray
Serving Tray | Tinned Brass
40 (ø) x 6.5 (h) cm
Olive Branch Tray
Tinned Brass
40 (ø) x 2.2 (h) cm
Goldie
Tray | Gold Plated
40 (l) x 15 (w) x 1.2 (h) cm

 

^{Zeron Deuvletian} 

Wood, plastic, metal – anything young Zeron could get his hands on, he turned into toys. As a teenager, he apprenticed as a goldsmith in jewelry workshops and later started his own highly original collections, taking inspiration from architecture and industrial materials. Zeron is now based in Armenia, where he works at the TUMO Center for Creative Technologies.

The Touf collection uses the traditional pink sandstone found in the majority of Yerevan’s buildings and combines it with brass, silver and gold, to create a new kind of ornamental alchemy.

Ring | Touf Stone, Brass
Ring | Touf Stone, Silver
Ring | Touf Stone, Gold Plated Silver

 

^{Paula Bahadian} 

Raised in Brazil and based in Barcelona, Paula creates micro-amulets and tiny treasures full of meaning and beauty. Inspired by memories and experiences, her artistic jewelry transmits emotions and tells stories. Miniature ceramic hearts, deflated balloons and encrusted vintage brooches give us a glimpse into recovered narratives.

The Reminiscence series bring fragments of our past to the present, as inherited amulets that keep stories alive. Brooches, pendants and necklaces are portals into meaning and memory.

Grandma’s memories
Brooch | Silver, Pearl, Enamel, Copper, Nickel Silver
Two sides of Reminiscence
Pendant | Silver, Etched Copper
Reminiscence 4
Necklace | Silver, Etched Copper, Oxidized Brass, Pearl, Lace

This past spring, five teams of architects started working on competing designs for a very unique new facility. They were asked to imagine the 4,000 square meter future home of TUMO Studios, TUMO’s new initiative focused on the creation of analog products. The architects’ brief was ambitious: Create an iconic facility at the the border of Tumanyan Park, nestled at the foot of the historic Kievyan bridge. Design it to become an efficient learning hub and the home of a bustling community of designers, artisans and master craftspeople working at the leading edge of contemporary design trends. But that wasn’t all. The center, located on the very steep periphery of the park would need to become its natural extension, accessible to the public and friendly to the environment.

The winning entry by PLATFORM was an instant favorite. Its modular studios and workshops are clustered around a shared public space, and its multilevel roofs double as green spaces directly accessible from the park. Naturally adapting to the site’s topography and featuring ample north-facing windows, the design makes full use of passive climate control solutions, minimizing both carbon footprint and maintenance costs.

^{(The PLATFORM design, view from Tumanyan Park)}

But the other competition entries were also highly creative and expertly designed solutions. Storaket Architectural Studio’s design was based on a playful scheme made up entirely of shipping containers. With reduced construction cost and modular layouts, the Storaket design lent itself to future expansion and even satellite facilities in the form of movable containers.

 

^{(Storaket Architectural Studio’s original design would be built using shipping containers)}

NORA is a team of three young architects from Japan, Iran and the Netherlands. Their elegant design placed the TUMO Studios workshops and studio spaces in a ring around a shared courtyard. Like the previous two solutions, this design also kept a low profile, taking full advantage of the site’s topography. NORA’s proposal was done in partnership with SLA for landscape design, Terrell for engineering and Tegmark for visuals.

^{(The NORA design consisted of a geometric ring hugging the slope)}

The solution by the local architecture firm ARCHcoop consisted of a tall volume echoing the vertical reach of Kievyan bridge, combined with horizontal spaces where most of the project’s functional areas would be located. Rather than follow the site’s natural slope, the ARCHcoop project stood in contrast to it, minimizing the center’s construction footprint.

^{(The ARCHcoop design combined a prominent vertical element with horizontal volumes)}

Ghouyoum Architecture and Design submitted another solution based on prominent vertical elements. This design consisted of two buildings separated by a central, open-air corridor that featured an industrial crane. It gracefully integrated the park’s circulation patterns into the facility, providing opportunities for the public to interact with the TUMO Studios community.

Construction of the facility will begin in the spring of 2018. When this new home of TUMO Studios opens its door two years from now, we hope it will become an important destination for Armenia’s design community, and that it will help make Yerevan one of the world’s emerging design hubs.