Priscila Lena Farias / Anna Calvera Marcos da Costa ... - Blucher

Redesigning Turkish cult objects: from tradition to ‘Modern’?
BALCIOGLU, Tevfik / Prof. Dr / Yasar University Izmir / Turkey
Turkish design / Design Identity / Redesigning traditional products
/ Cult objects / Design criticism / Turkish design & politics
This paper investigates Turkish designers’ search for design
identity in terms of cultural values. Culture provides a basis for
all political groups to express themselves through design, especially
with cult objects and icons. Independent designers and design
companies redesign cult objects for prestige and easy marketability.
Consequently, cult objects are turned into a battlefield
for various ideologies and aspirations.
1. Introduction: Some problems
At the opening speech of the 4T (Turkish Design History Association)
conference in 2009, Jonathan Woodham set forth the
question: ‘…will Turkish products conform to aesthetic global
markets or manage to retain some aspect of local, regional or national
identity?’ (Woodham, 2010:17). Although what Woodham
indicates is perfectly legitimate, trends in the global market appear
to encourage variety and diversity. In New York, the MoMA
Store has introduced some Turkish products under the title of
‘Destination Istanbul’ 1 in May 2011. In a paragraph, the MoMA
Store advertisement successfully manages to fill the text with
cliché expressions such as ‘east meets west’ and undertakes a
heavy orientalist discourse. Edward Said would be turning over
in his grave if he were to see this: (Figure 1):
Figure 1. The MoMA Advertisement.
1 Since the project of selling Turkish product is over, the MoMa Store does not
publish the relevant web page anymore. Information was available on other web
pages at the time this paper was written. See: Tore, 2011.
‘[A]n amalgam of Byzantine and Ottoman influences’ and ‘distinctive
lifestyle products.’! Here you are! This is what the global
market has awaited from Turkish designers. The former stands
for ‘historical’, (it means it has historical value) and the latter
signifies ‘exotic’ (it means attractive and appealing to you). What
salesman-like language! We shouldn’t blame the MoMA Store for
this though; they are not the only ones. Let’s look into the latest
incidence: The Telegraph published an essay concerning Turkish
design on April 16th, 2012. The title reads: ‘Modern Turkish
design spreads across globe’ (Cumming, 2012). What do we see
on the cover page? The Blue Mosque! A mosque built 400 years
ago. Although the text is about the work of Zeynep Fadillioglu,
a woman designer, the author falls into the trap of old rhetoric
and keeps mentioning Byzantines, Ottomans, the Grand Bazaar,
sumptuous palaces, and Ciragan Kempinski Palace in the introduction
of his essay. Therefore, answering the question of Woodham,
one would say: whilst these orientalist approaches are still
surviving, perhaps, even predominantly, designers from Turkey
will always have the opportunity to satisfy these expectations
with products reflecting “’local, regional or national identity’.
Nevertheless, this is not without its price; on the contrary, it is
very costly. Seeking ’local, regional or national identity’ is often
a strategy employed by designers operating with agendas and
intentions, which could have worrying political consequences as
explained below.
2. The circumstances: Actors demanding
design with identity
It is important to underline that the first debates on Global versus
Local took place in the mid 1990’s with a slightly different
vocabulary but with great significance. ‘Cultural identity’ has
been advanced and highly emphasised. It was recognised and
proposed as a legitimate channel to deal with the objects of
global markets as well as a vehicle of survival within globalization
(BAYRAKCI, 1996; SEZGI, 1996). Actually, at that time, it was
felt that globalization was forcing design towards the production
of similar, mundane and monotonous objects, perhaps, valid and
functional all around the world, universal in that sense but with
no identity belonging to a place. The suggested solution was cultural
diversity. Some designers had already begun to use, make
reference to, or be inspired by the rich historical culture of Turkey.
Since then, aspects of ‘cultural identity’ within globalization
have been studied regularly. 2
What interests us is the shift, which has occurred within Turk-
2 In one of the studies, tendencies towards local, regional, national, traditional
and cultural designs have been analysed, described and categorised as
neological approach, morphological application, topographical execution,
formal interpretations, allegorical interpretations and conceptual inspirations.
(BALCIOGLU, 1999).
Design Frontiers: Territiories, Concepts, Technologies / Proceedings of the 8th Conference of the International Committee for
Design History & Design Studies - ICDHS 2012 / São Paulo, Brazil / © 2012 Blucher / ISBN 978-85-212-0692-7