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

BALCIOGLU, Tevfik
it is likely that Clive Dilnot is one of the earliest commentators
relating the concept with mass produced objects. Dilnot associates
design directly with fetish:
The effects of advertising and design styling combined to make
“things” less things in themselves and more totems, or images or
fetishes of other things. And the curious situation that has arisen
now is that, amongst the values expressed or represented by the
design things, are those of “design” and “style” themselves. Design
itself gradually became a fetish or a value. (Dilnot 1984: 10).
John Walker makes a similar remark and criticizes design books
since they ‘present industrial products as if they were precious
works of art: isolated from people and the everyday environment,
surrounded by a halo of light, the designed object becomes
a fetish’ (Walker 1989: 58). He thinks that design history
has also supported this scenario: ‘In design history too a fetish
is made of the designed object as indicated by books such as
One Hundred Great Product Designs and Cult Objects’ (Walker
1989: 58). Actually, Deyan Sudjic, the writer of Cult Objects,
explores the notion, gives variety of examples in the context of
product design. For instances, he describes the Jeep as a cult
object and continues: ‘It belongs to a class of artifact which exercises
a powerful, but mysterious fascination. By definition a
cult depends on a group of insiders, tightly knit and linked by
secret signs recognizable only to initiates’ (Sudjic 1985: 11).
For Sudjic, the Jeep as well as the Barbour and the Mont Blanc
are cult objects ‘appealing to small groups of aficionados’ (Sudjic
1985: 11). But there are cult objects accepted by almost all
Figure 2. Traditional coffee pot & Arzum Cezve designed by Kunter Sekercioglu
Figure 3. Homend Pottoman electrical coffee pot.
Figure 4. Glass coffee pot designed by Ali Bakova
people. Zippo, for example, like ‘Other cult objects have exerted
an immediate mass appeal’. According to Sudjic, ‘in the nature
of things, a cult object has to be a mass produced, or at least
has to be suggested in its shape and finish that it is produced by
a machine even if it isn’t’ (Sudjic 1985: 16). He makes remarks
on fashion, an old product like Levis 501 is also a cult object because
‘[a] cult object is not necessarily a fashionable one’, (Sudjic
1985: 18).
5. Cult objects in Turkey: Going which
direction?
The most typical and undisputed cult objects are widely used,
some of the typical everyday items. These cult objects are an
essential and indispensable part of Turkish tea, coffee and raki 5
drinking, smoking habits, and social additions: teapots, tea cubs,
tea trays, coffee pots, coffee cubs, raki bottles, raki glasses, water-pipes,
and so on. They are used daily, consumed and enjoyed.
They are visible, attractive and the subject of common parlance
and mundane conversations. They have a similar status to the
‘Zippo’ lighter described by Sudjic. When people drink tea or coffee,
they talk about it: its quality, how it is made, where to find
the best one, etc. These are issues well studied and published by
Turkish scholars. 6 Yet there are issues that have been ignored,
such as why cult objects are redesigned, the effect of market
demands, and potential political motivation. Leading Turkish designers,
design companies, and companies generating and selling
designs are, one after the other, providing us with new products
and new versions of cult objects. For the first time in history,
Arcelik, one of the top white good brands in Turkey, has launched
an electrical Turkish coffee machine. Soon after that, the typical
traditional coffee pot, which is a simple pot with a handle placed
on a hob to boil the water and coffee, was redesigned. The electric
kettle technology turned it into a self-standing object. Kunter
Sekercioglu, the designer of the Arzum Cezve, has remained faithful
to the original form and added a modern touch, a touch that
somehow reminds us of the curly lines found in Philip Stark’s
works (Figure 2). Immediately, new versions emerged. Homend,
Pottoman 1803 is one example (Figure 3). It looks very modern in
line, shape, and color, as well as being nicely designed and made.
It gives the feeling of a perfect German product; say one of those,
remaining from the days of Dieter Rams, while being a Turkish
product employing a very clever play of English words. Home and
end, pot and Ottoman were combined: Homend, Pottoman. Despite
its overruling modernist form, by referring to the Ottomans
in its title, it claims its stake of tradition and history, as well as the
status and power that comes with it. Strangely enough, it maintains
a conventional yet superfluous handle. When sitting on the
shelves of a superstore, it conveys the message that it is still a
cezve as we know it.
5 Raki is a strong alcoholic spirit produced in Turkey. It is distilled from grape juice
and flavored with anise. Raki, which tastes like French Pastis or Greek Ouzo, is
considered as national Turkish alcoholic drink.
6 See the works of Sebnem Timut Ogut, Humanur Bagli, Bahar Emgin and Harun
Kaygan
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