Studio Oneki is a design studio founded by artist Aya Shalkar in 2021 in Almaty, Kazakhstan. Studio Oneki’s multidisciplinary practice, experimental and heritage-based, finds its roots in looking for new and unseen in the old and forgotten. With its projects and collaborations Studio Oneki is on the journey of rediscovering the Central Asian visual identity.

Oneki—12—is a sacred number in Kazakh culture. According to ancient beliefs, one’s very life is made of 12-year cycles (müshels), and each marks an important period of the individual’s evolution. Inspired by indigenous tradition, Studio Oneki has its own cycles of life: reinventing itself according to zeitgeist and studio’s growth process.