Studio Kink
A kink education studio founded in 2015 with a strong focus on Japanese-style rope, running a four-week Introduction to Shibari series each month, Shibari Fundamentals, and themed intermediate weekend intensives.
Studio Kink was founded in 2015 as an educational cooperative by Mark De Viate, Aleni De Viate, Lani De Viate, Nawarei and Precipice. Alongside shibari it teaches wider BDSM subjects, including introductions to BDSM, impact play, power dynamics, breathwork and kink yoga, and it publishes a code of consent and conduct and a shibari syllabus.
Introduction to Shibari
Newcomers start with Introduction to Shibari, held as four consecutive Tuesday-evening classes from the first Tuesday of each month, or as a single three-hour Saturday intensive with the same content. It covers basic knots, safety, negotiation and consent, bondage patterns, and choosing and caring for rope. No partner is needed: students can tie on themselves or on furniture, mannequins are provided and class rope is supplied, though the studio recommends 7–8 m natural-fiber rope such as jute. The class list continues with Shibari Fundamentals, Intermediate Shibari and Shibari life drawing.
Practice evenings
On Wednesday and Thursday evenings the studio opens as an unstructured practice space for anyone, with no partner or experience required. Participants stay within their skills, tell a team member before attempting suspension, and keep heavy SM scenes out of the room; in 2025, anyone holding a ticket for that month’s class came in free.
Online
Studio Kink sells recorded courses, most taught by Mark De Viate: Introduction to Shibari, Shibari Fundamentals (a takate kote course), and the DV8 series, which builds hishi ties on a two-rope takate kote, includes a second set based on his monthly intensives in St Peters, and adds hishi ties using hojo cuffs. Aleni De Viate teaches a partnered rope-meditation course. The studio’s events have also included Sydney Mardi Gras parade entries and themed parties.