Exhibition inviting to explore power of ‘One’
MELİS ALPHAN ISTANBUL- Hürriyet Daily News
Armaggan is a Turkish design and manufacturing brand producing limited-edition handcrafted contemporary design products inspired by Anatolia.
A new exhibition titled Armaggan Young Output, featuring works by 20 young Turkish artists exploring the concept of “One,” interpreted as “one, oneness, unity,” opened two days ago at the Armaggan Art&Design Gallery in Istanbul’s Nuruosmaniye.The exhibition’s concept of “One,” in addition to its lexical meaning as the first number, also embodies the Armaggan brand’s integration of design and production, its synthesis of past and present and its uniting of different disciplines in a single center and invites artists to explore the powerful concept of “Oneness.”
Armaggan, a Turkish design and manufacturing brand producing limited-edition handcrafted contemporary design products inspired by Anatolia, started its design and manufacturing activities in Istanbul back in 2008. The brand, first introduced to its worldwide clientele through invitation-only sales at its showroom at Taksim, opened another store in Abdi İpekçi street, Nişantaşı, during April 2010. The brand’s unique fine jewelry, fashion jewelry, silver and marble objects, home textile and natural dye textile products are presented in this showroom.
Discovering new and creative ideas
The Armaggan Art&Design Gallery, located on the third floor of the Nuruosmaniye store, was opened with support from the Turkish Cultural Foundation (TCF), giving art lovers the opportunity to view and enjoy works by Turkish artists and to discover new and creative ideas. The gallery’s objective is to support aspiring Turkish artists working in a range of fields and help raise awareness of them and their work.
In addition to building a name locally, the Armaggan Nuruosmaniye Art&Design Gallery also seeks to earn a place on the international arts calendar by hosting exhibitions drawing worldwide attention to both Nuruosmaniye and Turkey. At the same time, the gallery also hopes to give its artists the opportunity to participate in international arts fairs.
Also on special exhibition at the gallery are works from the private collection of Yalçın and Serpil Ayaslı: Burhan Doğançay’s “Cone on a Wall,” Mustafa Ayaz’s “Composition with Figure” (1989), Adnan Turani’s “Musicians,” Seçkin Pirim’s “Gathering” and Bahar Oganer’s “Secret.”
Through talks and workshops held in conjunction with its exhibitions, as well as events encompassing the entire Nuruosmaniye district, the gallery seeks to reach out not only to the Istanbul art community but also to the area’s international visitors.
Inaugural exhibition by Turkish artists
With its second store opened in the heart of historic Istanbul’s Nuruosmaniye district May 31, 2011, Armaggan combines exclusive pieces of jewelry, design objects, natural dye textiles, carpets, leather and home textile collections. It also owns Nar Gourmet, Nar Restaurant, Nar Coffeehouse, the Yesam Culinary Arts Center, the Armaggan Art&Design Gallery and Bora Travel.
Its inaugural exhibition featured sculptures and objects by Turkish artists who exhibited at the SOFA Chicago and SOFA New York (Sculpture Objects & Functional Art) Expositions. The exhibition, which ran until Sept. 30 last year, featured works by Ayhan Tomak, Beril Anılanmert, Ebru Döşekçi, Ebru Yılmaz, Emel Vardar, Gamze Araz Eskinazi & Yasemin Sayınsoy, İlker Yardımcı, Malik Bulut, Mehmet Kutlu, Meral Değer, Nejat Kavvas, Seçkin Pirim, Semra Ecer, Serdar Şeremet, Yasemin Aslan Bakiri, Yıldanur Ketenci, Yılmaz Zenger and Yücel Kale.
