Under The Radar: Turkish Designers You Should Know

Sisters Pınar Yegin and Deniz Yegin İkiışık create surreal worlds on the surfaces of Rumisu silk scarves through their illustrative worlds. You’ll find spaceships taking off, safaris at their wildest peak, and Moby Dick’s whale coming up for air. With the silk sourced from Turkey and printed in Istanbul, the designer sisters also utilize handmade crochet charms with participants of a United Nations Development Project supporting female entrepreneurs in Southern Anatolia.

If handmade leather and canvas goods are your thing, then Envanter Heritage will definitely peak your interest. Can and Gaye Dağlı make all their goods in their home workshop in Kadıköy, including beautiful wallets, leather key chains, bags, iPad cases, and pencil holders. The two designers are constantly rolling out something new, so make sure to follow them closely.

Hamburg born designer Banu Kent befittingly chose a German name for her collection of gorgeous jewelry designs. Der Liebling serves up an ethnically inspired aesthetic, including pendants in the shape of stag horns, simple rings that respect the natural shape of their stones (tourmaline or opal), and hoop earrings inspired by Indian goddesses.

Another designer sister team, Bornn Enamelware was created by Öykü Thurston and Başak Onay, who produce unique tableware that uses natural and marbling techniques on porcelain surfaces. A contemporary approach to classic enamelware, you’ll find both basic dishes and cups with bold colors as well as darker-colored collections inspired by the drip painting technique.

Model Ezgi Bozkurt and dancer Buse Uğur translated their daytime talents into 5thposition, a line of women’s swimwear that speaks of flowing forms and freedom of movement. Having sewn her own dance suits for years, Uğur’s inclination to create bathing suits was the natural next step. You’ll find sexy cuts in bold colors that are anything but usual.

Designers Deniz Yurtkuran and Merve Tatari were inspired by nature when creating NYKS, their unique collection of organic candles in handcrafted copper holders. Made from olive oil from Adatepe, the candle fragrances are derived from plants obtained from all over Turkey and include mint, thyme, bay leaf, pine, lavender, cedar, bergamot, rosemary, and green mandarin. They’ve also recently begun to produce beautiful copper cocktail shakers, mirrors, and teakettles so make sure to follow their latest collections.

Another lover of nature, Gülriz Sansoy creates beautiful terrariums under the name Müz that are like little contained bits of wild nature, which urban dwellers have come to appreciate greatly. Within the geometric glass and metal objects, various succulents live alongside natural stones and sometimes even a mini animal sculpture.

Güliz Mustafaoğlu gave up her job as a set designer to focus on her true passion: beautiful geometric and asymmetric jewelry. Yuka Studio‘s unique creations include spherical earrings with lapis lazuli stones, gold-plated geometric rings with matching bracelets, and hand woven pendants (among many others).