Design Study Trip to Istanbul

In April my programme went to Istanbul to look at architecture, design, and generally to feast on baklava and turkish delight. Unfortunately I'm allergic to nuts, so when everyone else was in the bakeries I was outside the window in the rain like the cat at the end of Breakfast at Tiffany's. But I made up for it by eating lots of simit (sesame seed bagels) and hummus. Probably too much hummus. And oh man, they had this little tahini bread/cake thing that was twisted up like a pretzel, and let me tell you that was the most delicious little thing I ate on the whole trip. I will dream about for years.

On the first day we went on a whirlwind tour of famous mosques around the city, such as Suleymaniye (for sultan Suleyman), the Blue Mosque, and the mosque of Sultan Selim I. The Hagia Sophia was built by the Byzantine Romans as an Orthodox Christian church in the 6th century A.D., and was later converted into a mosque. Now it's a public museum, and you can wander around at will inside (unless you are too lazy to wait in line for two hours to get in, like we were). If you've seen the movie The Fall, it's the church that they walk into and see those dudes hanging from the ceiling. If you haven't seen The Fall, put every part of your life on pause and go see it RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Watch it twice cause it's complicated, but it's seriously the most beautiful movie ever made. But it cannot compete with seeing these mosques in person. I mean, damn.

We also went to Topkapi, the old imperial palace complex. The best and craziest part by far is the harem, where the sultan and his family (and their huge entourage of servants, eunuchs, and maids) lived in golden splendour. Every inch of every dome is covered in decoration, and the tiles (all hand-painted) are just plain ridiculous. RIDICULOUS. The Ottomans were definitely part of the 'more is more' camp. There were rooms upon rooms upon rooms, and we all got lost because each part was more tile-y than the last. And they loved their Rococo. Apparently when French designs were coming in during the 17th and 18th centuries, the Ottomans just ate it up. Lots of mosques and most of the harem had some kind of Baroque or Rococo scrollwork going on, and plenty of gold leaf. One of the things I loved about the city was that there were all kinds of styles going on at once, but it all worked together. Our tutors were asking us whether it felt more like a European or 'Asian' city, since the two historical parts of the city are the European and Asian sides. But I don't having a distinct label like that makes any difference. It's much more interesting to be a little bit of both!

Next we met with two professors from Istanbul Technical University who wanted to show us a few local designers in the city. Even if you aren't on the up and up with the design world, you probably know that right now 'craft' is a thing. A really big thing. This includes everything from the 'handmade', to 'traditional' methods, to 'natural' materials. I used a lot of quotation marks because when you are in grad school in a liberal arts programme you know that pretty much any adjective is shady as hell and has about a thousand different meanings in the right context, but you guys know what I mean. The places we looked at were small, independent workshops that made their products in the workshops we visited, and they were all very much a part of their community (as opposed to a large, evil corporation that spreads like a virus through your neighbourhood).

We went to three different workshops, including a glassblowing studio, a dimly lit and jagged-edge-filled metalworking shop of doom, and finally, a bağlama workshop. A bağlama is a traditional instrument kind of like a closed guitar/lute, and they were making everything from really old school plain wooden ones to mother of pearl, Elvis-looking types. Now, you guys know I was all over this place because plucked string wooden instruments are my jam. It was amazing to see them actually making the bağlama, and they had them in all stages around the workshop. I am always really jealous and impressed when I see people making things with their hands from scratch, especially something that requires lots of math and patience, both of which I lack. Lots of unfinished ones were lined up on the wall, and some were polished up and getting fitted for dials and strings and such. One of the owners of the workshop played us a little concert and showed us how they hook up the bağlama, which is mostly wooden, to an electric amp. There's even a video of his solo concert below! Sadly I don't remember his name, there was a lot of translating going on between him and our guide, and we were kind of running from workshop to workshop and some of them were tucked away in buildings without signs or anything. But never fear! I will track him down.