C+D AiR Applications 2627

Applicant Information

About Your Practice

I am a jewelry maker and the founder of Yatuka Studio, working with tin and glass. My practice explores sharpness as both an aesthetic and a philosophical idea: forms that recall blades, arrows and spikes, and the notion that a sharp object may wound its wearer before it wounds anyone else. The work is cold, minimal and slightly alien, and it sits between adornment and armour.

Trained in textile and fashion design at the Tehran University of Art, I bring a sculptural, garment-based way of thinking to small-scale objects. I relocated to Toronto a year ago, and I am now at a stage where I want to move from assembling glass components toward making the glass itself.

I want to develop my own glass language through hot and warm processes. Technically, I would like to learn to shape glass in the flame and the furnace, and to use the studio's cold-shop tools (lathe, grinder, sandblaster) to sharpen and refine edges. Materially, I want to explore how glass and tin can be fused into single hybrid forms, rather than treated as separate components.

Creatively, I plan to produce a small body of work that scales my jewelry vocabulary up into sculptural pieces, pushing the idea of sharpness beyond the body. I also want to test casting with wax and plaster to translate my blade and spike forms into new volumes. By the end of the residency, I aim to have a developed series and a clear technical foundation for my practice.

This residency offers what I cannot access independently: a full range of hot, warm and cold glass equipment, and the technical community around it. Torchwork is the next essential step in my practice, but it needs a safe, ventilated studio, specialized equipment and expert guidance.

As a refugee who recently arrived in Toronto, I find the cost of studio rental out of reach. But I am an artist, and I am determined to keep making. This residency would remove the barrier between my ideas and the materials and space needed to realize them.

The public-facing side of the residency is also a strong fit for me. After a year of formal lampworking training, I would gladly teach beginners and share my skills with the community, whether through workshops, demonstrations or open studio sessions. I would also connect with makers across the city's craft community. I am ready to commit to a focused, sustainable studio practice, and this is the place to begin it.

Technical Readiness

I completed a year of formal lampworking training in Iran, where I went on to sell my work. Through Yatuka Studio, I also design and handcraft tin and glass jewelry independently, from concept to finished piece. Since relocating to Toronto, I have built a customer base here, but the cost of studio access has kept me from producing at the level I want. My training in textile and fashion design at the Tehran University of Art informs my approach to form and structure.

I would like to develop greater knowledge in annealing, kiln and furnace work, and in cold-shop processes such as grinding, lathe work and sandblasting, and to expand my torchwork into larger, sculptural pieces.

I am committed to studio safety and comfortable working under technicians' guidance. I would also gladly share my skills by teaching beginners, in exchange for studio access.

Residency Readiness

I would bring a generous, collaborative spirit and a willingness to share what I know. After a year of formal lampworking training, I can offer practical torchwork knowledge to fellow residents, and I would gladly teach beginners through demonstrations or workshops. I also bring a cross-disciplinary perspective from my background in textile and fashion design, which often leads me to approach glass as structure and form rather than only as material.

In return, I hope to learn from the other artists' approaches to hot, warm and cold glass, especially furnace work, casting and kiln techniques that are new to me. I value working beside experienced makers, exchanging feedback, and building lasting relationships within Toronto's craft community, which I am still getting to know.

In 2021, I founded Yatuka Studio and built it entirely on my own, handling design, production, photography, marketing and sales. After training in lampworking, I sold my work in Iran, which taught me to take a piece from concept to customer without institutional support.

When I relocated to Toronto a year ago, I had to start again. I rebuilt my practice in a new country, found new customers, and continued documenting and promoting my work through Instagram, all while adjusting to a new language, city and economic reality. For over ten years I have also worked as a freelance makeup artist, managing my own clients, schedule and income.

Despite limited access to studio space, I have kept my practice alive. This resilience, and my ability to adapt and keep making, is what I would bring to a residency.

Your Current CV

Upload a current artistic CV outlining relevant education, exhibitions, residencies, professional experience, awards, commissions or other activities related to your practice.

Your Portfolio

Submit 10 images of work that best represent your current artistic practice and technical abilities. Only 3 detail or installation shots should be included; all other images must be single‑work images.

Images must formatted to required specifications: 

1. Pixel Dimensions: 3000 to 4000 pixels on the longest side


2. Resolution/DPI: 300 DPI 


3. File Format: JPEG 


4. Color Profile: sRGB 


5. Maximum File Size: 5MB to 10MB 

Provide a single text document that lists the following details for each image provided:

• Title


• Date


• Materials


• Dimensions


• Processes / techniques


• Brief description or context, where useful

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