Heval Zeliha Yüksel Mimar / Architect
IN OUR EVERY ISSUE, WE TRY TO PRESENT TO YOU THE GOOD AND DEDICATED EXAMPLES OF THE MEETING OF THE NEW AND THE OLD. WHEN DOING SO, WE CRITICIZE THE EXACT EMULATION OF THE OLD STYLE ATTEMPTED TO BE DONE FREQUENTLY THESE DAYS AND INDEED, WE REITERATE ON EVERY OCCASION THAT THE OLD STYLE OF THE TRADITION MAY BE PRESENTED WITH WHAT THE PRESENT BRINGS, IN A SPECIAL MODERN STYLE. THERE IS A DESIGNER WHO, IN THAT CONTEXT, CARRIES HER DESIGNS FROM THE TRADITION TO THE FUTURE BY HER OWN INTERPRETATION. WE TALKED ABOUT HER CURRENT PROJECTS, LATEST DESIGNS, HER DESIGN FURNITURE WHICH CAN ALTER THE WHOLE SPACE WITH JUST A FEW PIECES AND TODAY’S ARCHITECTURE, WITH ZEYNEP FADILLIOĞLU WHO EXTRACTS THE NEW OUT OF THE OLD, WHO PRESENTS OTTOMAN AND SELJUKI STYLES TO US IN A MODERN CONCEPT, WHO IS KNOWN WELL NOT JUST IN HER COUNTRY BUT ALSO ALL OVER THE WORLD.
Now, it seems normal to us that iconic structures are talked about continuously. The pyramids in Egypt, Eiffel Tower in Paris, London Bridge, Coloseum in Rome, Gaudi structures in Barcelona, domed mosques of Istanbul and Saint Sophia had been architectural elements entrenched in our memories, yet now we witness in sorrow that residences, shopping malls and sheltered residential complexes are the main topic of architecture. Yet, in fact, the visible popular architecture well beyond the buildings pumped into minds subliminally, today narrates the sociological developments of societies. How do you assess today’s architecture?
Early 1800s are times when the Ottomans partly, and 1900s the Republic in our entire country, have launched the “Westernization” movement in our country. Today’s Turkish architecture too got its share of the cultural shock created in society of the obligation to change imposed from the top towards the bottom for two hundred years. As architecture tried to play its own role in this change, it was deprived of the support of the nations comprising the “Ottoman Nations Assembly” without which the Republic started and therefore, the multi-culturality attributable to them. It was specifically snatched from the implementers of this culture. Perhaps, architects were the most important human capital lost in this break. There isn’t a Sinan, a Balyan anymore. We can say that a society demanding these types of buildings is still developing. Because “Skill is subject to praise,”. As you quite rightly pointed out in your question, the relationship between the aesthetic issues relating to the popular architecture of today and the social development of the society should not be disregarded.
I had an interview with you on Şakirin Mosque and actually toured the mosque with you in person. You have had many more accomplishments since then. But you stood out most with this project and got a lot of praise abroad. Perhaps at first, a woman’s designing a place of worship had drawn attention but then you became a popular topic with your design criteria. Then your mosque project in Doha had reverberations. Those were the days when we discussed the details of designing a place of worship a lot. Maybe one cannot grasp it at the time but it can have a more profound impact layer. How do you assess those days? What is the segment which made its mark in your mind most?
I always had a yearning for designing a mosque. In the Ottoman and Seljuk periods, the highest levels of handicrafts and art were exhibited in the mosques. The sultans would deploy their greatest means so that artistic workmanship would take place in the mosques that were the meeting places of the people. We see the best examples of masonry workmanship in the Seljuk period mosques and of Iznik tiles, silk carpets, handicrafts and architecture in the Ottoman ones.
In the post-Republic periods, mosques not committed to handicrafts and hand work, are being built. It bothered me that a perception unreflective of our time was formed as if those who live in this period have no visual taste, as if Muslims did not value places of worship in that time period.
I used to dream that with the theme of the past; to be able to present the artists we work with, our own handicrafts, high level workmanship to local and foreign masses in a mosque where people came together. Thanks to Şakir family, this became a reality with the Şakirin Mosque. Not only that Şakirin Mosque is preferred by people for worship, its being one of the locations recommended to be visited to tourists alongside of our classic mosques also make me proud.
In the design process of Şakirin Mosque, I didn’t feel any different treatment relating to my being a woman. After the mosque was completed, it gathered a lot of attention especially abroad for its design. I took notice of it when there was a question regarding my being the first woman designing the mosque, during an interview. I believe that the difference created by Şakirin Mosque originated from my designer identity. Of course, the implementation of my designs became possible because Şakir family did not refrain from any financial support even for a donated building. The family’s being a world scale collector and its aesthetic awareness gave me support in doing the best. The British have a say: You can only be as good as your customer.
Some worldwide institutions supporting woman entrepreneurs like Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network of US examined the Şakirin Mosque project and held a seminar on “how you can get society to accept novelties, how to integrate it with society” under 5 main titles.
Could we also talk about the mosques in Doha?
In Doha, we did the interior of two mosques whose architectural shells are finished, and also the cladding of one of them. Racing against time, we not only designed but also did the construction taking our 40-person main crews from here. We were asked to design inspired by the Ottoman style. We did different studies in that direction and got accolades.
Only very few people would have got this chance.
Yes, we were very proud. We designed a magnificent mihrab in a room in Burj Dubai building. The mihrabs of both Doha Mosque and also Burj Dubai are almost art works.
Coming back to Şakirin Mosque once again, maybe this was asked a lot before but were you expecting to receive so much criticism?
I did but I was expecting architectural criticism. A few people picked to criticize personally, instead of doing it from this perspective. I was expecting this from the religious community but it came from people who saw themselves to be the indispensables of modern design; yet whose names are not even mentioned in the world design community.
You have a style where you combine the Ottoman and the Seljuk with the modern. You’re extracting the New out of the Old with your most original designs to boot. How do you define yourself?
Thanks to also my family environment, design was always part of my life. But my style developed entirely naturally. I can say that my studying History of Art and Design was a turning point. I grew up at a time when just living as a western and copying the west blindly were in fashion and I tried to deepen in my own culture. At Inchbald School of Design, I got an education where we applied all periods and their details in museums. We also had courses on textile and furniture. Looking at furniture and fabrics at Victoria Albert museum, certain patterns reminded me of the textiles of my grandmother’s garments. I did my thesis on carpets. Turkish wool carpets at Sotheby’s and Christie’s auctions were never appreciated in my own country. Especially Turkish wool carpets used by foreigners in their homes took my breath away with their patterns and colors. When I visited a Dutch friend of ours, I met Iznik tiles. For me, actually all these were novelties although they belong to my own culture. I think these experiences were passed onto my style but as I reflected these onto my style, I always tried to act with a contemporary accent. I used inspirations from the past in a motif in a detail; I used some textiles in a lot of places so that they would survive. I try to create universal designs carrying elements of the local culture. I won international prizes as I had a style never tried before. Batching the demands and tastes of our customers with my own style, every time I try to create a space special for that person. Rather than buildings for which even the human being is too much, where just form stands out and where the designer is in front of the person to live in the space; I opt for creating spaces with high functionality, exuding the feeling of being lived in, facilitating life. As Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu Design, we complete 40-50 projects a year all over the world.
You are known as the woman designer reflecting this culture abroad. How did it start?
House and Garden magazine, 17-18 years ago, published my home as a very different piece of design. Then numerous restaurants I remodeled were in the foreign press. We won Andrew Martin International Design Award in 2002. In the same year, I was one of the 4 designers picked for House and Garden and Daily Telegraph trade fairs. We received the modern designer of the year award at Design and Decoration Awards of British industry in 2005.
Well, which projects are receiving your attention these days?
We have projects on various fields. As Zeynep Fadıllıoğlu Design, we do palaces, mosques, stores, restaurants, hotels, offices, residences and products. So far, in all of my projects, I attempted to capture what’s perfect. I believe the reason for this is that we have been working in Europe, the Far East, the Middle East and America for many years, not just in Turkey; our interest in different sociologies, psychologies and cultures and their accumulation is the main reason for this success. We do logistics and planning well. My whole crew consists of people enjoying their work, who work hard, create solutions and are team players. I think we get proposals from different regions because we develop our designs with respect to the local culture with the awareness of who we would be serving.
In Oman, we completed and delivered a villa of 2,000 m2 in Louis XVI style. The home we designed in Jordan has Moroccan inspiration. Qatar Emirate has asked us to design two mosques and a restaurant when we were creating a new living area in Qatara, Doha. We completed the design and applications just in 5 months. Now, we’re designing 3 more restaurants and the applications will be by our office. We are designing our 6th project in India. The project, the architecture of which we took on in Holland, was congratulated by the local administration with its environmentally friendly design.
We are designing Stepevi’s Munich and London stores after the ones in New York and Genova. We designed Martı Hotel in Istanbul just in 7 months, getting it ready to be opened. We completed the design and application of 2 mosques in Bahrain, the 3rd one is yet in design phase.
In line with the new concept we created for Molu Jewelry, we are designing their Istinye Park store after the ones in Zorlu Center and Akasya.
Besides seaside mansions and various residential projects, we completely renovated the restaurant and lounge section of Ulus 29. Among our current projects are Fenix Restaurant and Lacivert we totally altered, opened in place of GQ; Gürallar office building in Lapis Han and designs of products we made for different brands.
How many jobs are you multi-tasking? Do you have a limit? For example, everyone has a scale, do you have any concepts like I like “i won’t go over this size, quality could deteriorate”?
We consult with our crew on every topic. We do not compromise quality. We have a lot of store of knowledge. For example, we do not take on many private homes at the same time. Because they take a lot of time in terms of the relationship with the individual customer. There may be delays in buildings for an individual, decisions may change a little. But a venue with commercial concerns is more worried in terms of time than you are. For launching urgently. There of course, you can be more efficient and you can schedule better. Therefore, we can work at a certain capacity.
And mostly, I am curious about your projects where you combine art, design and spaces. Did you have works where you went outside of your usual professional practices recently?
In my designs, I have always strived to include art. In all my applications, I work with fine artists and craftsmen. I am doing my best to keep the handmade, the handicraft of our own culture alive.
Recently, we completed a project where art and design are intertwined. In this home belonging to a very important collector family; we used the old and the new, the classical and the modern together. The job of laying out a high number of paintings, sculptures and antiques of the family was on us. When deciding the locations of the works as a result of a serious cataloging, we especially tried to give the impression of not a museum or a gallery but a home. Again, for that reason, instead of categorizing the works by their periods using the museum logic; we created a language original for our client using different periods together. For example, we used an orientalist painting of Jerome’s side by side with a Schnabel. We used the same design logic also in selections of furniture, fabrics and accessories. For example, we complemented a classical sofa with an acrylic cast coffee table produced in limited numbers. We used a Bonnetti coffee table alongside a Louis 16th bergere.
I try to design spaces where design and art are intertwined in line with the taste and budget of a client. For example, Ulus 29 is a restaurant where contemporary works of local and foreign artists are exhibited, where the collection is renewed at certain intervals. When picking the works by artists like Ömer Uluç, Mustafa Horasan, Kutluğ Ataman, Ivan Navarro, Liu Bolin and İnci Eviner; I considered them not just as a background but that they could be part of the conversations of those coming for dinner.
When selecting art work, I also make sure that they don’t overshadow the space and the individuals to use that space. For example, there is the first Peter Beard wall art in the world at Etiler’s Fenix Restaurant. The work designed specifically for the venue working together with the artist himself is approximately 5,60×7 m. Still, you don’t feel that you are at an exhibition, as it is totally combined with the overall decor of the space.
I believe that changing design concepts brings along a changing art concept as well. Today, a furniture coming out of the hands of an artist is evaluated not just by its design but also in terms of being an investment. Significant auction houses like Phillips put these types of furniture a few times each year on sale.
In home projects, I also use furniture manufactured in limited numbers as art work; of course within a budget.
Your interview on BBC, your news item on CNN… These were all developments we viewed with pride and enjoyment. I’d like to ask you what you would want to tell about here and your designs over there or abroad…
The desire to make a contribution to design out of what belongs to us; and the greatest enemy of this, is imitation.
I’ve heard you say that you express yourself by your work. How do you reflect this fully? What are your indispensables?
My job is a way of life for me, I enjoy doing it. My language is design, I express myself by it. Most importantly, I like to get to know my clients closely, to examine their lifestyles and I plan my design in line with their wishes. I aim to create spaces which will be least affected by the destruction of time.
We know that you design specific to location in all of your projects. But now your designs are mass produced and we find them in stores. Could we talk about the objects and furniture you design a little? About the production processes…, How this idea came up…
Our collection of furniture and accessories is just 1.5 years old. But what’s behind it is the accumulation of mine and my office over the years, the high quality materials and hand labour we have used in more than 400 projects. From the designs of the products to preparation and prototypes, and eventually offering to sale took approximately 2-2.5 years. Although we are very new in this field, we’re quite happy with the popularity of our collection locally and abroad. We prepared a product collection which is committed to functionality besides the visual with which everyone can change one’s home with just a few pieces. Our “Sini” side tables we designed based on Anatolian food culture and our “Kazan” seat found a place most recently in the October issue of “The World of Interiors”. We were the only name selected from Turkey at the event held at Christoffle Building under the sponsorship of Christoffle which took place in January in Paris where the works of selected designers of the world were on display. Our special design glass accessories produced by Ottoman underglass technique are largely chosen as giftware. Our coffee table choices offered with our textured glasses again manufactured by this technique, our special dye effect sofas are among our most popular designs.
Do you have objects that remain unchanged?
Paravans, glass metal separators, leather curtains, chandeliers, drapes made of industrial materials and lanterns…
How did your interest in textiles began?
When I was studying in London, a lot of the courses took place in museums or private homes; to get to know better, paintings, furniture, the glass and ceramic ware of the period… V&A Museum was one of the places we spent most of our time and the textile section was quite rich. Here, I got to know valuable Turkish textiles very well and later this lead to my travels to countries like India and Italy to enhance my store of knowledge.
Who are the designers you like?
Of Turkish designers; Rıfat Özbek, Hüseyin Çağlayan, Ela Cindoruk, Sevan Bıçakçı, Tulya Madra, Alev Ebuzziya Siesbye, Melissa Denizeri, Ümit Benan, Benjamins, Günseli Turkay, Iznik Foundation and Gorbon’s çinis, Stepevi’s modern carpets, Ipek Irgıt (Kiini).
I’d like to ask about your relationship with natural stone.
I’m very keen on using natural stone. We have a stone expert in England. We carry Turkish natural stone to our projects abroad. We are determined to use it even in the building we are designing in Holland right now. We’re trying to take high quality natural stones and labour from Turkey to wherever we go. Even the marbles of the restaurant we designed and implemented in London went from Turkey.
We carry examples of good architecture onto our pages. What is good architecture of recent times?
I believe that buildings like Guggenheim Bilbao designed by Frank Gehry, Louis Vuitton building in Paris or Zaha Hadid designs are important for bringing a statuesque look to cities and to draw people to view them.
As I’m committed to add soul to places in addition to functionality in my own works, I also find important the buildings which contribute to nature and function, in the crowded life of the present. “One Central Park” standing out with its horizontal gardens designed in Sydney by Jean Nouvel, Han Tümertekin’s B2 Home, Moshe Safdie’s Sky Habitat, Sancaklar Mosque designed by Emre Arolat under inspiration by Hira Cave, “Citta della Scienza” designed by Vincent Callebaut as a self-sufficient eco-system, modern beach house where nature is integrated to the building designed by A-cero Architects, Adrere Amellal Hotel in Egypt, design by Marcio Kogan – Studio MK27, Mororo House situated in the cold mountainous region of Brazil, again designed as a modern building not detached from nature. I like Tabanlıoğlu Architects’ style a lot overall, they are doing very important things. Olympia Park in Munich is among the buildings I find successful in a different concept. Also, I like Zaha Hadid’s Baku Olympic Stadium.
Verba volant, scripta manent… Thank you.
