WE DESIGN THE ROOTS OF TOMORROW...
We design tomorrow with all the choices we make, what we eat, what we buy and what we do. We create new paths with the people who surround us and the choices we make in our business lives.
Let me start with the words that came to the surface for me in 2021.
FREEDOM . BREATH . SHARING . TABLE . TALKING
FREEDOM
I got my car license in 1992. I only used it for a few months in England at the end of 1994. I returned to Istanbul in 1996. I only got back behind the wheel 27 years later. And I hadn’t planned on taking such a long break. But as the years went by, I realized that the idea of driving terrified me. It was on my ‘to do list’ every year, but it could never be crossed out with a green pen. With my brother Olcay’s insistence, I broke the Devil’s leg at the beginning of this year, so to speak. Experiencing driving in Istanbul after the age of 50; Magnificent. A chaotic forest of flesh and blood: Can I compare driving in Istanbul to walking in high heels in a wolf’s den? What do you think? I continue on the roads of Istanbul and the Northern Aegean, leaving 19,640 km behind in 9 months in 2021. Overcoming the fear I have grown over the years and realizing the design of freedom; extraordinary. The feeling of power and freedom that comes from properly managing a machine weighing approximately 2000 kg makes my eyes sparkle. Did I make you smile? Remember, we all have different paths to achieve something.
It is refreshing to DESIGN life fearlessly.
BREATH
We all sometimes feel "breathless". Either what we do or what we fail to do takes our breath away... What we fail to achieve as much as what we achieve, what we leave behind as much as those who walk beside us. What we leave silently in the box of desire as much as the dreams we realize...
There is much more to that 'enthusiastic' well than the known productions of designers. Sometimes we miss the things we left in that well, but we also know that their traces continue in what we produce today...
Making a new DESIGN = taking risks.
We design our lives over and over again every day.
While making these designs, the first circle consisting of our loved ones is with us. We walk around breathing in the circles we live in, big and small. Who designs these circles? Who does what and how? The first circles around us are important. If the first circle were not people, breathing would often be difficult.
We all open doors here. Right?
Is it possible to DESIGN life freely and honestly, without harming our loved ones?
TO SHARE
Writing and designing a book was a first for me. Being able to produce on an unknown and difficult subject... I think I went through a scary but also creative process. It was a journey that transformed me.
When I look back...
Sharing from my life and design journey. Seeing what I did and couldn't do. Noticing my successes and failures. Trying to understand the transformation I went through with my designs and products, finding the courage to calmly evaluate and put it in writing, all of these were an amazing experience.
I DESIGN new dreams, swimming excitedly in the turbulent sea.
TABLE
For me, one of the places where we live and share our lives the best is the dinner table. We can talk, laugh, cry and discuss all the details of life with our loved ones around the table. While doing all this, think about the nutrients we need to sustain life, slowly taking them into our bodies... Isn't it wonderful?
I feel free to design a table and share it with my loved ones, but first of all, what do the people I will share it with like? Hospitality and sharing. What should I cook? Should I choose the plates and bowls according to the meal we will make? Or should I choose the friends I will share it with? Should the table be prepared according to the seasons?
The exciting part is that we can DESIGN our tables with family and friends every day, depending on our mood.
TO TALK
We are leaving the second year of the new decade behind. Let's see, the countdown begins on the 8th. They say we will run out of food in the 2030s. Do you believe it? What will we consume to move the seasons even further? While we used to experience 4 seasons in 1 month in the past years, now we are experiencing them in a day and why are we not surprised? How will we accelerate climate change? What kind of a world are we leaving behind with our greed and ambition? Do we care?
What kind of home and world should we design? How can we design the present and the future together? Who should take responsibility and how? I want to talk and share more. Let's understand each other by talking. Why should we try to explain and understand?
Let's sit down at the table to DESIGN the coming years with good intentions.