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Elif AKARLILAR
'Designing Maviterrenean'
Elif Akarlilar (1969) studied at the University of Vienna and received her post-graduate degree in International Politics. She then
joined International Human Rights seminars at Strasbourg University. As she worked for Mavi New York offices she completed her
masters degree in the New York University in the Costume History field.
In 1991, Elif Akarlilar started to work for her family company in the foundation process of Mavi Jeans brand. Since 1999 she has
been working as the Global Brand Manager at the Istanbul and New York offices of Mavi Jeans. She acts as the creative head of the
brand by managing the design teams in Istanbul and NY as well as the marketing and visual merchandisng teams. Her longtime
collaboration with Adriano Goldschmied, known as the gold hand of jeans design, and her other projects including Rıfat Özbek for
Mavi, Maviology magazine, Martin Parr's'Style Hunting in Istanbul'Photo-book, Organic Denim and Istanbul T-shirts all bear her
signature.
Designer, Birsel + Seek
Ayşe BİRSEL
'My Disorderly Mind'
Ayşe Birsel grew up in Izmir, Turkey. In 1989 she received a Fulbright Scholarship to complete her Master's Degree at Pratt
Institute, Brooklyn, NY
Recipient of the 2001 Young Designer Award from the Brooklyn Museum of Art, Birsel was a finalist at the Cooper Hewitt National
Design Awards In 2002. She was named a Fellow at the International Design Conference at Aspen, and has taught at Pratt Institute.
Her work is in the permanent collections of Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum and the Museum of Modern Art. In 2002, a
collaboration with Bibi Seek led to the creation of their studio Birsel -i- Seek. Fueled by curiosity, disrespect for existing solutions and
a love for drawing as a way to think, they have designed products for Herman Miller, Hewlett Packard, HBF, Merati, Target and Acme.
Their work was included in the National Design Triennial 2006.