Aslı Tunca and her husband Carl are living and creating in this inspiring building in Galatasaray, Istanbul.

Aslı's background in fashion design and Carl's professional knowledge of sculpting, painting, and restoration of antiques joined forces to create their company based in Istanbul.

Spaces they decorate fascinate people due to their sublime skills and taste for using antiques and designing contemporary furniture and accessories.

 This painting belongs to Ismail Acar, a painter who specializes in Ottoman Culture.

One of the favorite pieces of Carl is hand carved wooden garland from 17th century stands next to the chair of their design.

Turkish and Belgian cultures, often visits to Venice, and their open-minded personalities all merge in this space and create a harmonious and charming atmosphere.

Books and files in the chestnut-paneled shelves, which look like taken from an ancient library, are actually their own design. They have been coated with goatskin parchment that they processed themselves and hand labeled on the spine.

When the train arrived to Bergamo, I was still sleeping. I was wishing that the travel took longer because Milan to Bergamo is a really short, hour-long, ride.
But she arrived with her Vespa to pick me up and as soon as I hopped on, the fresh air awakened me immediately.
After buying our bread and newspaper from the cute city center, we arrived at her house in an 20th building. 

Her family.

 

Striped pants and top, both of her design. She purchased the leather fabric from Istanbul.

        Pistachio cake with cream and plums served with her mothers porcelain cups. It couldn't get better...

Risotto with beans for lunch.

She was one of my classmates from college, whose works I liked. The visit to her house was also a farewell. She will be working in Copenhagen in the upcoming months for a really prominent designer.

I started liking these limited Martin Margiele Tabi boots when I saw on her.

While she was purchasing these photos from a second hand market, the seller told her that these photos were army boy's 'best friends' in old times.

Ismet Dogan is a comtemporary artist who lives in this historical building situated in Beyoglu, Istanbul. The room behind him is where they watch movies and installations and discuss them with other people and the photo above is the entrance of the building.

Besides his natural intelligence, he reads voraciously. Huge library of his own design is a fortress for his most valuable belongings. 

In most of his work he utilizes mirrors, mostly to distort and create an illusion, to manipulate reality.

His last exhibition called "All is External: Yerim Seni", offers us figures who try to bite, tear, and cut one another.

 

Even though removing the doors would be more useful with respect to light and space, he chooses to keep them as they are to respect the original construction of the apartment.

The apartment overlooks the backyard of a historic high school, Lycee de Galatasaray.

  

As I am sipping on some coffee in this beautiful historical villa, surrounded by trees, I talk with the owners of the place. Princess Island is where they spend their summers. In this silent part of the island, the only noise is surely their laughs.

This is probably the most interesting plant I have ever seen. All phases of the leaves are very different from one other and in its blossomed state it reminds me of a beautiful fabric with prints.

 

What I like the most about this house is the faces with different expressions watching you everywhere. Sometimes it is Fornasetti's Lina Cavalieri, sometimes it is babies from Kezban Arca Batibeki painting...

 Painting purchased from Far East hangs on the wall temporarily; it stands in for a work by Seda Hepsev, which is being displayed at Istanbul Museum of Modern Art.

Salt shakers purchased from Japan.