Papier Atelier is an Istanbul, Turkey-based paper art studio founded by artist duo Türker & Deniz Yılmaz Akman. Handcrafting and slow living being their motto, they create sculptures, installations, prop designs, and animations utilizing the most delicate material; paper. Their craft aims to express organic forms, feelings, and circumstances in simple geometries.
At first, we started making collages, watercolors, and small paper sculptures. We were creating just for ourselves, family, and friends. Deniz had a blog, and she made a post about our paper sculptures, which created quite a buzz amongst her followers. People loved them more than expected, and we suddenly started taking custom orders. We started an Instagram account and a website to promote our paper art.
After a while, we gained popularity in Turkey following TV and magazine interviews, which motivated us to start our own company in 2015. Since then, we’ve been working as a full-time paper artist duo.
Thinking about the theme “Fear&Desire,” the story of “1001 Nights” appeared in our minds. We focused on Shahryar’s dilemma about the fear of being cheated on and the desire to hear the end of the never-ending tales of Scheherazade. We decided to reflect this in-between situation with a wire walker scene. The fear of falling and desire to hear the end of the tales push Shahryar to walk across the wire.
On the hot days of summer 2019, we created a character called “El Pancho.” He is a personal trainer dedicated to preparing us for the summer. We collaborated with Apple Turkey in this project.
Papier Atelier & Pomus Creative collaborated for the Bluray and DVD release of the movie “IT” based on Stephen King’s novel. The scary stop motion animation project portrays a 27-second video of 300 frames. Every single shot of the Pennywise paper model is designed and moved by hand while being photographed to capture each facial expression.
We created a stop motion video with “adventure” theme with Fjallraven Kanken.
Filled Kanken with a map, compass, knife, binoculars, water canteen, and some fruits.
You can follow Papier Atelier and Deniz Yılmaz Akman on Instagram and visit their website to see more of their amazing work.
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