Story of Natural Stone at ‘Milan Design Week’

ISTANBUL

The unique story of Turkish natural stone will come to light at Milan Design Week, taking place April 9-14. Organized by Istanbul Mineral Exporters’ Association (IMIB) and curated by the Turkish design firm Demirden Design, a special exhibition on Turkish stone will be shown. The second edition of the exhibition first held last year, ‘Thus Spoke the Marble: The Journey Alters You’ will be spread over 900 square-meter Art Garden of Superstudio Piu in Zona Tortona with the new title “Bathing in Light.”

Six designers and architects from different disciplines, taking the subject of marble, which has a tradition going back 4,000 years, are bringing Turkish culture, history and mythology together with contemporary designs that complement their apparent contradictions. The architectural aspects of marble will be developed by architects Massimiliano-Doriana Fuksas (Italy), Melkan Gursel-Murat Tabanlioglu (Turkey) and Alişan Çırakoğlu (Turkey), from an industrial designer’s point of view designer Mathieu Lehanneur (France), the fashion duo Dice Kayek (Turkey) and last but not least Arik Levy (France), a designer whose work has evolved more and more in an artistic direction.

The second edition, “Bathing in Light” will focus on the way in which marble, water and light have always come together as an ideal combination to express notions such as cleansing and purity. Marble positions itself in this interplay as the ideal surface, smooth and reflective, while in turn it only attains its full splendor when touched upon by these elements.

The installations, in which marble, with its unlimited potential is the main material, will be created as an inexhaustible source of memories, dreams, myths and legends from the past to the present. Executed by Turkish manufacturers and workshops, the installations will be connected by a wooden path like the beads of a necklace.

The exhibition is going to expose the tactile and visual characteristics of marble and natural stone and invite visitors on a mental journey while introducing them to their spiritual aspects. Marble has served as the basic material of the greatest works of art and architecture in the lands of Turkey. This marble, untouched by the ravages of time, is still the prime witness of civilizations from classic antiquity to the Byzantine Empire, from Ottoman to Modern times.

Following the tremendous success of the “Thus Spoke the Marble: The Journey Alters You” exhibition, widely hailed as one of the highlights of last year’s Milan Design Week, the second edition will be held in Milan as part of Fuorisalone. Under the new title “Bathing in Light,” the exhibition will again be organized by the Istanbul Mineral Exporters’ Association (IMIB) from Turkey, and curated by the Turkish design studio Demirden Design.

The exhibition’s curator Demirden Design, an Istanbul-based studio from Istanbul engaged in corporate identity and interior design, was established in 1994 by three designer siblings; Mehtap Obuz, Demir Obuz and Sema Obuz. Demirden Design develops graphic, product, brand, event and exhibition design, and has been granted numerous international design awards.

In 2009, it created ilio, a highly successful and innovative tableware brand, widely considered to be pioneering in its field.

For the first edition of the exhibition, the group of designers and architects consisted of Werner Aisslinger, Emre Arolat, Birsel + Seck, the El Ultimo Grito duo, Alfredo Häberli, Richard Hutten, James Irvine and Can Yalman and were asked to reflect on emotions that emerge over the course of an inner journey and to communicate these in an installation.

Marbles and Turkey

As one of the world’s oldest producers of marble, with a tradition of going back 4,000 years, Turkey has been fascinating the world with its natural stones that have become well-known brands. Turkey is ranked 28th in terms of production and value and 10th in terms of the diversity of the minerals among 132 countries in the mining sector.

It is number one among exporting countries with its unique treasure of marble of consisting of 120 colors and designs.

The exhibition “Bathing in Light” is being held under the ownership of the Istanbul Mineral Exporters’ Association, which aims to communicate the importance that the Turkish natural stone industry attaches to design and innovation while strengthening the notion of the country as a powerful manufacturing center for these precious materials.