Collaborating on an #EnvisionTortuga piece with surrealist artist, Tishk Barzanji, can be described like his many works of art - a fantasy brought to life. The London artist builds architectural phenomenons in his mind, and gave TORTUGA a peek into what that process is like. 

Tishk Barzanji for TORTUGA, 2018. 

Your architectural visions are stunning - are there any physical spaces that inspire you or are they entirely dreamt up in your mind? 

I find inspiration from a mixture of everyday life and my imagination: things that don't yet exist and places I have not yet visited, like Miami and South America.

Could you see yourself bringing your visions into a physical form - like sculpture or even to-scale architecture?

Yes, it is something I am actually working on at an early stage. I want to create installations so the viewer can experience the colors and spaces in reality, as well as smaller 3D printed sculptures.

Tishk Barzanji, Peculiar, 2018.

Tell us about your process - do you go into a piece with an exact idea of the space you'll create or is it a more spontaneous development?

I usually sketch an idea in my notepad from a moment or place I've been to. It is partly random, but I put in a lot of research. Sometimes it's months before an idea turns into a piece. Sometimes it's something someone says, it clicks, and it captures my imagination.

You create a lot of dream-scape buildings, but what would your dream home be like?

It would be an old concrete factory by the sea, with tall ceilings and windows. The interior would be based around my work with vivid colors, strong lighting, and space where others can co-work with me. 

What does modularity mean to you?

To me, modularity describes something that is adaptable and ever-changing. Something that can be customized to your needs - sort of like the worlds I build in my mind.

Tishk Barzanji, Solitude, 2017.