CHOCOLATE DESIGN

CHOCOLATE DESIGN

In the past weeks, I attended the CHOCOLATE DESIGN WORKSHOP with the invitation of my designer friend Gökçe Kırımlı. 

For 37 years, the city where I have lived; designed and produced; ISTANBUL. My muse of inspiration. Over the years, it has always made me curious, excited, happy, angry and sad... It has been my source of inspiration for many ideas and products I have designed.

CHOCOLATE In terms of design; of course, came to my mind first.

My ISTANBUL Chocolates; 

• Istanbul; SEGULLS
• Historical peninsula; THEODORA'S Nipple.
• Karakoy; CELEBRATION.
• Bosphorus; JUDAS TREE's LEAF.
• Istanbul; SEAGULLS  are  everywhere. Accompanying the ferries on the Bosphorus and behind them. Dancing with thousands of colours of the water that divides the city in two. Waiting for dry bread on the balconies of our houses. 

What kind of friendship do we have with these birds that are always with us?

I cannot imagine an Istanbul where I do not see seagulls and hear their voices.

Please do not forget that on a ferry journey from Europe to Asia or vice versa, you should buy 1 bagel ( simit)  for the seagulls.

• Historical Peninsula; THEODORA'S Nipple. Istanbul; Historical Peninsula, the region in which I have enjoyed exploring every square of it for years. It is an open-air museum in which you can walk, enjoy  and work. Or a different definition; a big kitchen. 

A huge kitchen where I realise my designs. This is such a kitchen that it continues to keep the history of Byzantine, Ottoman and Republican Turkey in it layer by layer. 

When I say history, the first thing that comes to my mind is the Byzantine period; Empress Theodora for me. The woman I admire as I read about her life.

• Karaköy; CELEBRATION. If I wanted to give Karaköy a colour; I would say BORDO.

Karaköy's magnificent buildings and production workshops in the alleyways. Lamps, various metal and wood workshops; you can enter in the morning and walk in the evening or in few days with a finished product.

And fishermen on the beach; various places to eat and drink.

When you walk a little inland, all those narrow streets invite me to celebrate life.

To live every day by celebrating. Designing, producing, eating, making and sharing life with our loved ones. Celebrating is important.

And marvellous; Galata Tower and its surroundings: always the feeling of red wine. An intense, rich red wine with the flavours and smells of various dried fruits as you drink it. It offers hidden flavours when you keep walking patiently, when you start to discover its contents. 

To CELEBRATE life in Karaköy; a plump GLASS /or /  a  round chalice.

• İSTANBUL The Bosphorus; THE LEAF OF THE  JUDAS TREE ; Undoubtedly the most important place of this curved water, city that separates two continents; THE HEART. Two continents and one city. I can't get enough of watching the colours it offers me at every hour of the day and in different seasons.