It is one of the most interesting subjects of recent times that designs are not only design but also functional in human life. Because people are no longer buying anything just to keep it. Our guest designer in this issue, Gizem Erim, strikes on this issue. We are listening to the design life and how products are produced in accordance with their intended use…
Firstly, can we know you a little bit?
I was born in 1988 in İzmir. I completed my primary, secondary and high school education in İzmir. Then, in 2007, I started to study at Dokuz Eylül University, Faculty of Fine Arts, Traditional Turkish Arts, and Ornamentation Major. A year later, I migrated to the Carpet, Rug and Old Fabric Patterns Department and graduated in 2011 with the first place in the department. Immediately after, I started my master’s degree in the same major. But I left my education because I started working in a company producing auto tuft in Izmir. Later, I settled in İstanbul to work in the showroom of a world-famous carpet company. I returned to Izmir after 5 years and I continue to design as the design manager of the Massimo brand.
What is a must for you while designing?
I have been designing for about 10 years. During the transformation of the customer’s dreamed design into a carpet, I make sure that it is both original and producible. The most important factor in making every design I make usable is that I work one-on-one with customers and production units. Carpet has been evolved to many different places from the past to the present. I am definitely following these developments. But most importantly, I feel like I am designing my own carpet while designing each carpet. This gives me a different feeling every time.
Which trends and designers influenced you during and after your student life?
I was educated with a traditional understanding. Although I had a special interest in palace carpets when I was a student, I was also interested in carpets and rugs produced by people who lived a nomadic life. While carpets and kilims were showing wealth, talent and pomp, it also helped to cope with difficult living conditions. In addition to that the palace carpets were unique; the production of local carpets with the colors, motifs and quality suitable for the purpose of use was a factor in shaping our culture. By understanding the function of the carpet in the education I received at school, it helped me to adapt to today’s carpet design concept more easily.
How did you meet the carpet?
I have always had an interest in painting, colors and motifs since my childhood. Beside this interest, my interest in weaving, knitting and embroidery was always lively because I grew up with my grandmother. Although my family made an effort for me to study in this direction due to the fact that being a civil servant is a guaranteed job, I always opposed it in my own way. Finally, by entering the Ornamentation Department of the Faculty of Fine Arts, I took my first steps in the field of design. While I was studying design on the one hand, I decided to migrate to Carpet, Rug and Old Fabric Patterns Major, as I discovered myself and wanted to be able to design and be happy all my life, and also want my designs to be produced. In fact, although my interest was fabric design at first, I stepped into the real carpet design world when I started working in a company that produces carpets.
What steps do you follow while designing a carpet?
When starting the project, I first start the design experiments by analyzing the direction of the customer’s wishes, the density of the pattern, which material will be used in which motifs, color harmony, and the placement in the usage area. Since each trial improves the previous one, I finally share the design I am satisfied with the customer. Since the carpet to be produced is designed for a special place, I come to the final stage of the design by making revisions according to the wishes of the person who will live with that carpet. That the design the customer approved is exactly the same during production shows how important the analysis made at the beginning of the project is.
Finally, what would you like to add?
While the understanding of personalized carpet design has reached a certain place in the world, it continues to develop at an intense pace in Turkey. We have to shape this development by making use of our own culture and bring new understandings unique to us. For this reason, I aim to continue my education life, develop my analytical way of thinking and keep my excitement alive.
