 We pretty much created the pumpkin market. Every year we think that pumpkins can't get any better and we can't refine what it is we do anymore. And every year, you know, the pumpkins keep getting better and better. We're here at the Brooklyn-based pop-up shop of Maniac Pumpkin Carvers, founded by Chris Soria and Mark Evan. It started as a hobby, but after a huge order from the New York Yankees, this seasonal business took off. We've recruited a handful of other artists that we're friends with. If you can draw and paint, you could probably carve pumpkins. I mean, we're carving sometimes 50, 100-plus pumpkins within a 24-hour window. So why do you think brands are so attracted to, like, promoting through pumpkins? Halloween is one of the biggest holidays in the U.S., so it's a good go-to for advertisers. We did a time-lapse for Jack Daniels, we've done a time-lapse for Disney. Some of the more individual and personal requests will be a lot of signage we've been getting, like a lot of will-you-marry-me pumpkins. But my favorite thing to do is carve live, and sometimes we carve humongous pumpkins. And last time we did a really cool piece where it said Luna Park, and we cut pieces out of other pumpkins and then attach it to the big pumpkin so it looks like the tentacles are like bursting through the pumpkin. And we've actually shown our pumpkin four years in a row at MoMA. We've done Van Gogh's Starry Night, one of Matisse's Cutouts, Magritte's Treachery of Images, and Edvard Munch's The Scream. So we're dealing with pop culture, but we also are really interested in elevating the art of pumpkin carving itself. We also get a lot of portrait requests, which is one of the more difficult things to capture in a pumpkin. You're not just capturing the image, it has to look like that person. You're really trying to create a likeness. So could we try a Virg logo? Maybe we could Halloween it up a little bit and add some bats, make it a little spooky. A lot of these tools, you can get them at any arts and crafts stores, and they're usually used for other things, so like china markers for drawing out your design, linoleum cutters, ribbon loops, an X-Acto knife, paring knives. And the only thing we really use that's specifically a pumpkin tool is the pumpkin scooper. The technique and method that we're using is subtractive, so it's almost counterintuitive. Like the deeper you go, the more light you're bringing out. So what happens if you make a mistake on a pumpkin? Do you just have to throw the pumpkin out and start over? There are ways to save a pumpkin that's kind of going the wrong direction. Every once in a while, it's past the point of no return and we have to toss it. Actually what may happen more frequently than that is our typos. So how long does it normally take if you're doing a pumpkin this size? If you're doing like a logo, I guess. A logo might take about an hour and a half. And how much would a face take? A face could take four plus hours. So we actually cut the back out, not the top. There's very little you can do to preserve the pumpkin. There's like techniques that people talk about, like putting Vaseline on the cut areas or like spraying it with lemon juice. The best thing to do is just take a picture. The light that we use, it definitely punches through the pulp better than candles and it also eliminates the need for fire. Up until now, I've been just kind of guessing and carving the different depths that I think the values show up in. But now that the light's in, I can see all the lino cut strokes and everything. On a macro level, it's almost like landscaping. Now you've got all the techniques and you can win all the pumpkin carving competitions. Because it's not really fair for us to enter them anymore. You're like so good, it's like rude. It is, it is. It's not cool. We judge them now. The spirit of Halloween should be like celebrated with everybody. You don't have to be a professional artist to enjoy pumpkin carving and everybody should do it.
 We pretty much created the pumpkin market.
 Every year we think that pumpkins can't get any better and we can't refine what it is
 we do anymore.
 And every year, you know, the pumpkins keep getting better and better.
 We're here at the Brooklyn-based pop-up shop of Maniac Pumpkin Carvers, founded by Chris
 Soria and Mark Evan.
 It started as a hobby, but after a huge order from the New York Yankees, this seasonal business
 took off.
 We've recruited a handful of other artists that we're friends with.
 If you can draw and paint, you could probably carve pumpkins.
 I mean, we're carving sometimes 50, 100-plus pumpkins within a 24-hour window.
 So why do you think brands are so attracted to, like, promoting through pumpkins?
 Halloween is one of the biggest holidays in the U.S., so it's a good go-to for advertisers.
 We did a time-lapse for Jack Daniels, we've done a time-lapse for Disney.
 Some of the more individual and personal requests will be a lot of signage we've been getting,
 like a lot of will-you-marry-me pumpkins.
 But my favorite thing to do is carve live, and sometimes we carve humongous pumpkins.
 And last time we did a really cool piece where it said Luna Park, and we cut pieces out of
 other pumpkins and then attach it to the big pumpkin so it looks like the tentacles are
 like bursting through the pumpkin.
 And we've actually shown our pumpkin four years in a row at MoMA.
 We've done Van Gogh's Starry Night, one of Matisse's Cutouts, Magritte's Treachery of
 Images, and Edvard Munch's The Scream.
 So we're dealing with pop culture, but we also are really interested in elevating the
 art of pumpkin carving itself.
 We also get a lot of portrait requests, which is one of the more difficult things to capture
 in a pumpkin.
 You're not just capturing the image, it has to look like that person.
 You're really trying to create a likeness.
 So could we try a Virg logo?
 Maybe we could Halloween it up a little bit and add some bats, make it a little spooky.
 A lot of these tools, you can get them at any arts and crafts stores, and they're usually
 used for other things, so like china markers for drawing out your design, linoleum cutters,
 ribbon loops, an X-Acto knife, paring knives.
 And the only thing we really use that's specifically a pumpkin tool is the pumpkin scooper.
 The technique and method that we're using is subtractive, so it's almost counterintuitive.
 Like the deeper you go, the more light you're bringing out.
 So what happens if you make a mistake on a pumpkin?
 Do you just have to throw the pumpkin out and start over?
 There are ways to save a pumpkin that's kind of going the wrong direction.
 Every once in a while, it's past the point of no return and we have to toss it.
 Actually what may happen more frequently than that is our typos.
 So how long does it normally take if you're doing a pumpkin this size?
 If you're doing like a logo, I guess.
 A logo might take about an hour and a half.
 And how much would a face take?
 A face could take four plus hours.
 So we actually cut the back out, not the top.
 There's very little you can do to preserve the pumpkin.
 There's like techniques that people talk about, like putting Vaseline on the cut areas or
 like spraying it with lemon juice.
 The best thing to do is just take a picture.
 The light that we use, it definitely punches through the pulp better than candles and it
 also eliminates the need for fire.
 Up until now, I've been just kind of guessing and carving the different depths that I think
 the values show up in.
 But now that the light's in, I can see all the lino cut strokes and everything.
 On a macro level, it's almost like landscaping.
 Now you've got all the techniques and you can win all the pumpkin carving competitions.
 Because it's not really fair for us to enter them anymore.
 You're like so good, it's like rude.
 It is, it is.
 It's not cool.
 We judge them now.
 The spirit of Halloween should be like celebrated with everybody.
 You don't have to be a professional artist to enjoy pumpkin carving and everybody should
 do it.