Giulietta Pinna’s Prop Up Shop is Where Business and Wonder Mix

The first space had 10 racks full of props and about 20 custom surfaces, a big component for creating an environment for shooting. Pinna’s collection includes hand-painted panels, wood, marble, metal, tile, vinyl, and seamless and fabric backdrops.

And then, as Pinna and Bachmann had done before, they decided to choose disruption. They sold their Canton house and most of their furniture, moved into Pinna’s parents’ home, and then headed out in January 2022 to spend six months traveling the world. The idea was to spend about a month in each country.

“We didn’t want to be somewhere new each week,” says Pinna. “We really wanted to feel like we’re leaving roots and try to understand the country—learn about the culture, learn about the art, and give me time to source things.” Pinna shopped in every country, shipping items back to the Prop Up Shop from Mexico, Colombia, Peru, Thailand, Vietnam, Indonesia, and Turkey.

They didn’t realize what it would be like to only be with each other every single hour of every single day for months on end. “We learned so much about ourselves in this six-month period of time, I think more than any other time in my life,” says Pinna. There was also a lot of introspection about their marriage and their future.

After some emotionally fraught conversations, they took a week apart in Vietnam and then came back together, both wanting to make everything work. “We’re going through this really intense period full of joy and adventure, right? But it was really hard on our marriage,” Pinna says.

In the end, though, they were both really glad that it happened. When they got home, they moved the studio down the hall into a bigger space. Bachmann, who had left his job as a graphic designer for the trip, came on to the Prop Up Shop/Limonata Creative staff full-time and they hired photographer Emily Schultz to manage the studio, which now includes over 100 surfaces and backdrops and so many props Schultz hasn’t finished cataloguing them all yet.

The new space also houses a small photo studio that Pinna and Schultz use and rent out.

It was a whirlwind. “And instead of being in a foreign country, we’re like, back in a room at my parents’ house,” she laughs. (The two are now renovating an original Sears-Roebuck Catalogue Foursquare home, built in 1902 and nestled in the Riderwood community.)

Pinna’s days are busy. She’s styled cookbooks, including José Andrés’ The World Central Kitchen Cookbook: Feeding Humanity, Feeding Hope; been a prop stylist for Real Simple, Better Homes & Gardens, Southern Living, The Washington Post, McCormick, and countless interior designers; and just signed on with the national talent agency, Big Leo Productions. Next up, working with Sally McKenney, of the popular Sally’s Baking Addiction blog, on her second cookbook.

“Giulietta represents in action the ethos of what our collective Baltimore design community is—innovative, collaborative, and caring,” says Shawn Chopra, founder and creative director of Good Neighbor Shop and its design garage. “Prop Up Shop is her beautiful gift to us.”