Today we’d like to introduce you to Michal Puchalski.
Hi Michal, we’d love for you to start by introducing yourself
Me and my friend Pawel first met in the drawing classes, in high school times. We both wanted to be architects and it is mandatory in Poland to pass the hand drawing exam, to be accepted at the technical university architecture department.
Although we are totally different in all life aspects (maybe that’s the point?) our friendship started, we passed the exam and together, as best college friends, we went through architectural studies, where we were sharing our successes (sometimes failures, too!) and overcoming all obstacles. We quickly discovered, that renderings and, generally speaking, the whole 3D world is the best part of the design process and it’s something that gives us a lot of fun – even more fun than designing buildings.
We shared the 3D passion and we have spent a lot of hours developing our skills and learning new rendering technologies. Although after we graduated, we worked in “pure” architectural offices, we couldn’t make it without 3D. Working after hours on renderings was hard, but necessary. No time for anything else.
First clients, first money earned that way made us confident about the decision to start our own business – so in 2019, after 2 years after graduating, Picksell Studio officially started.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Oh no, it’s never smooth running your own business. At first, we needed to find a place to work – we had no savings back then, so it needed to be cheap. We organized our first “office” in one of the rooms in Pawel’s personal apartment.
All money we had was spent on two high-performance computers (powerful machines are unfortunately a necessity in this business), two screens, two chairs, and two desks. We had been working 24/7 to find clients, improve rendering skills and finalize our first contracts – no sleep, no eat, only one clear goal – to grow, to produce better images, to have more clients.
The first contracts came from the USA and we were very happy about it. One of our biggest problems was delayed payments – a lot of first projects were paid after 2-3 months after the final images have been delivered to our clients. We simply had no financial fluency during the first year, even though we were working to the fullest.
An awful feeling, definitely an experience we will never forget.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Picksell Studio – our company name is a wordplay containing hidden meaning; “PICK our vision, SELL your idea”, says our motto. We create marketing images, renderings with the purpose to sell an investment – interiors, buildings, or even whole housing complexes.
Our visualizations are used by real estate developers to help people understand spaces and make them see what their future apartments can look like. We also cooperate with architects, who use our images to visualize their concepts. It starts with a 3D model, that we create based on 2D drawings (plans, sections, etc.), then we set lighting, materials, scenery, and mood – which is the most interesting and creative part.
As for today (02.03.2022), Picksell Studio is a group of 6 architects (the seventh person who comes to us next week) with a great atmosphere in the office and a big portfolio of interesting projects from all across the Globe (the mostly USA and Germany). We are always ready for new challenges!
Have you learned any interesting or important lessons due to the Covid-19 Crisis?
Luckily the Covid-19 crisis didn’t affect our business – it basically had no impact on the amount of new contracts.
I guess a reason for that is, that, thanks to the internet, we work globally. I think the only way Covid-19 had influenced our workflow was a short period of a home office. We didn’t like it though, and now we are all back in the office.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Website: www.picksellstudio.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/picksellstudio/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/picksellstudio
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCWkELqlUsTk7WqMPKbMGGcA
Image Credits
Picksell Studio, 2022
