Ceren, who identifies herself as Kayra Handmade on the web, is a lawyer from Ankara, Turkey, but instead of practicing law full-time, she devotes half her time to her hobby of making embroidery pieces. What’s surprising is she is totally she taught in this art.
Kayra Handmade, who’s settled in Eindhoven, the Netherlands, was always interested in art and writing since both fascinated her. However, her interest in fiber arts started a few months back. Not being able to devote full-time to her profession due to her toddler, gave her ample time to explore this newfound passion. What actually started her on embroidery was her search for something appropriate in fiber for her kid’s room. Not finding the exact piece prompted her to embroider one herself.
Kayra Handmade’s embroidery creations are unique since they blend acrylics, watercolor, beads, wool, and cotton fabrics. Says she on ballpitmag.com, “I like to capture the beauty and elegance of the female body in a warm and organic setting with 3D effects. I like to work with 3D textures and I’d like the subjects on my hoops to not be limited by the boundaries. I want them to reach out to their audience, tell their own stories.” Little wonder her creations do achieve a breezy, whimsical, and unconventional effect.
Kayra Handmade’s process involves finding a subject, either from her memory or a photograph, or even a scene. She then visualizes the whole setting, the surroundings, and the feelings of the subject. She lets these impressions guide her during the creative process. The end result is something uniquely beautiful, the reason why she has a fan following of over 32,000 on Instagram alone.
As far as inspiration goes, Kayra Handmade is inspired by strong female characters, the elegance, and beauty of the female body, photography, and nature. The whole process of creating her embroidery pieces is a kind of therapy for her. Although she’s a qualified lawyer, having studied law at the University of Ankara, Turkey, and LLM in Law and Technology at Tilburg University, the Netherlands, her ultimate aim is to become a lawyer/artist, since she loves both!
Kayra Handmade