Written by: Okan Özgür Uşaklıgil
Since the fifteenth century, carpets have been among Türkiye’s most important export products. This success is due not only to the high quality of the carpets, but also to the variety of patterns and aesthetic superiority. Even today the richness of Turkish carpet designs ensures a great interest.
There are over a thousand carpet designers, currently working in carpet production, which needs superior designs every single day.
We would like to present some of the most talented young Turkish carpet designers, all of whom found opportunities to design very successful carpets.
Betül Bulut Turan
Design is a game of form and colors for Betul Bulut Turan. Both the designer and the user should experience the excitement of this game. She plays with motifs of carpet designs, just like a child playing with her toys.
For her, life should be beautiful and happy for everyone. Carpets are the designer’s small presents for homes’ beauty and happiness.
Betül works for Koza Carpet and Calvin Klein.
Bahar Ersoy Kuzu
Design is a living entity for Bahar. “Every line is a trace of a feeling, every texture is a memory, every surface is a silent emotion. I don’t create designs. I exist with them. Because the true uniqueness of a design lies not in its appearance, but in the connection it establishes with people.” says Bahar Ersoy Kuzu.
She is currently directing design in an important Turkish carpet manufacturer, Otto Carpet.
Read more: Turkish Carpets Inspire Fashion Award for Young Designer
Cansu Altındaş
Cansu thinks carpet design is a cultural responsibility. As a designer she feels the richness and the deepness of carpet culture and history, but she believes designers should be responsible also about tomorrows trends and aesthetical understanding.
“With this vision, I continue to build a design language that honors our traditional craftsmanship in every pile of carpets I design, while addressing the dynamics of the modern world and setting the aesthetic standards of tomorrow. I carry this responsibility, which I received from the past, into the future as a trace of us, right in the heart of the international design world.” says Cansu Altındas.
Cansu is currently working as design director of an important Turkish carpet manufacturer, Kaplan Kardeşler Carpet Company.
Esad Yaldız
Esad is the design leader of one of the most successful Turkish companies, Empera Carpet.
He considers design as a strategic brand language, which is the sum of contemporary architectural and fashion trends. He focuses on directing trends, not following them. As an in-house designer, he combines aesthetical values with commercial realities in a balanced way.
“When developing collections, my goal is not just to produce products, but to build a design culture that guides the brand.” says Esad.
Burak Bilgen
For Burak, design is a refining process. Compositions and motifs continuously refine themselves both during the design activity and throughout a designer’s career. For a design problem, the mature solution involves the purest style.
“For me, design is the art of removing the excess and finding the essence.”
Burak is currently working for a leading Turkish carpet producer, Kaplan Kardeşler Company.
Bedirhan Kaan Ünal
Bedirhan Kaan Ünal believes in the independency of design and designers. Just like carpet weavers living in their small villages and weaving the best they can imagine, he designs freely. He is bringing the freedom of hand-woven carpets to the machine-made carpet world, trying to go beyond the conventional design of machine-made carpets as much as possible.
Bedirhan is currently working for an important Turkish carpet producer, Milat Carpet.
Berke Aşık
According to Berke Aşık, design is a way of bringing art into our lives.
Berke says, “For me, designing a carpet is taking the floor and the character of the space and transforming it into an art installation by blending minimalist discipline with an expressionist spirit.”
Berke is currently working for one of the topmost Turkish carpet producers, Empera.
