TUTU Studio and the Joy of Making Something Soft, Strange, and Yours

TUTU Studio is the kind of place where making something with your hands doesn’t need to feel serious or intimidating. Founded by Enki in Barcelona’s Eixample district, the studio invites visitors to design and create their own handmade wool rug using a tufting gun — choosing from walls of yarn colours, tracing a personal image onto canvas, and slowly watching it become something soft, textured, and real. No previous experience is needed, which is part of the charm. You can arrive with a pet portrait, a flower, a private joke, a phrase, or a strange little drawing, and leave knowing that, yes, you actually made that.

What makes TUTU interesting is that it sits somewhere between workshop, date plan, travel memory, and small act of creative confidence. Enki describes tufting as tactile, rhythmic, and forgiving — the kind of process that lets people stop checking their phones, follow a line, make a few mistakes, and enjoy the surprise of seeing their idea turn into a physical object. The finished rug matters, of course, but the real story is often the afternoon around it: the person you came with, the colours you chose, the wonky line that made you laugh, the moment when something imperfect suddenly feels completely yours.

For this Meet the Makers interview, Enki talks about opening TUTU in Barcelona, why tufting feels so accessible to beginners, the designs people bring into the studio, and the community that has grown around a simple idea: creativity doesn’t have to be polished to be meaningful. Sometimes it just needs a tufting gun, a pile of wool, and someone nearby telling you not to worry so much about making it perfect.

For someone who has never tried tufting before, how would you describe the TUTU Studio experience?

Imagine walking into a space full of color — with walls lined with different shades of yarn — and being given a tool that lets you “paint” with texture.

You bring a design you love: maybe your dog’s face, a phrase that means something to you, or a simple shape that makes you happy. During the session, we help you transfer the design onto the canvas, choose your colors, and guide the tufting gun step by step.

No previous experience is needed. Most people arrive a little nervous, but once they start, they realize it is much more intuitive than they expected. The lines do not have to be perfect. That is part of the charm.

By the end, you have created something soft, personal, and completely yours — a piece that will later be finished, trimmed, and prepared so you can take it home as a real object, not just a memory.

How did TUTU Studio begin, and why did you choose Barcelona?

I am originally from China, and I came to Barcelona because I felt drawn to the city’s creative energy. Barcelona has this openness — people here enjoy art, design, color, and experiences that feel personal.

When I discovered tufting, I saw that it could be more than a technique. It could become a way for people to spend time together, make something with their hands, and leave with a piece that carries a memory.

I opened TUTU in the Eixample district, and from the first workshops, I could feel that people were connecting with it. Not only because they were making a rug, but because they were making something next to someone they cared about.

What drew you personally to tufting in the first place? Was there a first moment when you thought, “this is it”?

The first time I used a tufting gun, I remember the rhythm. There is this physical, almost meditative feeling when the yarn starts appearing on the other side of the canvas.

It felt creative, but not intimidating. You are choosing colors, following lines, making decisions, but it is not like painting on a blank canvas where every mistake feels serious. Tufting is forgiving.

That is what made me love it. It is expressive, tactile, and accessible. It allows people who do not think of themselves as “creative” to suddenly realize they can make something beautiful.

Tufting has a mix of drawing, color, texture, and tool-based rhythm. What do you think makes it feel so satisfying for people?

I think it is the combination of rhythm, texture, and surprise.

Once people start, their hands find a pace and their mind becomes quiet. Many people stop checking their phones. They become fully focused on the piece in front of them.

Then there is the texture. Seeing a design become soft and three-dimensional is very different from seeing it on a screen. You can touch what you are making.

And finally, there is the surprise. Many people arrive thinking, “I do not know if I can do this.” Then they see the final piece and think, “I actually made that.” That feeling is very powerful.

Your workshops are designed for complete beginners. How do you make the process feel accessible instead of intimidating?

We design the whole experience around removing pressure.

You do not need to know how to draw. We help you prepare and transfer the design. You do not need to know how to use the tool. We teach you and stay close during the process.

The studio is relaxed, not like a formal classroom. We guide people, but we do not push them to make something perfect.

For us, handmade does not mean flawless. It means personal. The small imperfections are often what make each rug feel alive.

A big part of the experience is that people create something completely personal — a pet, a drawing, a memory, an image. What kinds of designs do people bring in?

Pets are definitely one of the most popular choices. Many people make their dogs or cats, and those pieces are always very emotional.

We also see personal jokes between couples, childhood drawings, simple symbols, album covers, flowers, characters, phrases, and designs in many different languages.

What I love is that the design almost always says something about the person. It shows who they love, what makes them laugh, what they want to remember, or where they come from.

Do you have a favorite moment from a workshop — something funny, surprising, or touching that stayed with you?

One couple came in for what looked like a normal date. They worked on separate canvases and did not show each other their designs.

At the end, when they turned the pieces around, they had both made portraits of each other without planning it. The portraits were not perfect at all — one had huge eyes, the other had a very exaggerated smile — but they were so funny and so full of affection.

They just stood there laughing with their rugs in their hands. That moment explains TUTU better than any slogan. It is not only about the rug. It is about the relationship behind it.

TUTU Studio has built a large community online and welcomes visitors from many different places. What do you think people are connecting with most?

I think people are connecting with the feeling of making something real.

So much of our life is digital now. We take photos, save things on our phones, move quickly from one experience to the next. At TUTU, people slow down for a few hours and create something physical with their hands.

For someone visiting Barcelona, it becomes more than a souvenir. It becomes a piece of time: an afternoon, a conversation, a person they came with, a design they chose.

That is why many people tell us the workshop became one of the most memorable parts of their trip.

What do you hope people take away from the workshop — beyond the rug itself?

More than anything, I hope they take away the memory of who they made it with.

A rug can hang on a wall or live in a room, but what matters is what it brings back: the afternoon in the studio, the colors they chose, the mistakes they laughed about, the person standing next to them.

I also hope people leave feeling more creative than they thought they were. That shift from “I cannot do this” to “I made this” is one of the most beautiful parts of the experience.

If TUTU Studio had a personality, how would you describe it?

TUTU would be that warm friend who invites you in, plays good music, gives you colors to choose from, and tells you not to worry too much about making it perfect.

It is gentle, colorful, a little messy in the best way, and very encouraging.

Not overly polished, not trying too hard — just a place where people feel comfortable enough to create.

If TUTU had to say what matters most, it would not say “the product.” It would say: the people who made it, the people they made it for, and the memory that stays in the piece.

Thank you Enki, for taking the time to share with us today! I loved learning about tufting and I look forward to trying it myself one day. To see all the details about the studio and the workshops offered, visit tutustudio.es and also follow on Instagram at instagram.com/tutustudio_es