From Ancient Anatolian Crafts to Contemporary Designs



Turkey Design Council initiated the project, "From Ancient Anatolian Crafts to Contemporary Designs" which is financed by the European Union under the Grant Scheme for Common Cultural Heritage: Preservation and Dialogue between Turkey and the EU–II (CCH-II), with the partners Brumen Foundation, Slovenia and Traditional Arts Association, Turkey.  

Within this 15-month project from April 2021 to June 2022, five traditional Anatolian crafts were selected as ceramics (Iznik style), felt making, quilting, stone carving, and inlaying to be promoted in Europe.  Documentary films of five ancient crafts were prepared to create a video archive, where craftsman explains the ropes of craft, materials, and production techniques in their own workshop.

We’re inviting designers from all across the European Union to get to know five very different Anatolian crafts and reinterpret one (or more) of them for a contemporary audience. 10 designers, authors of the selected design proposals, will be invited to Turkey to join the craftspeople in their workshops and create product prototypes, which will then be exhibited in Istanbul and promoted throughout the EU and Turkey. 

For further information about the open call, please click here. 

Anatolian craftspeople and European designers will then collaborate in Turkey to bring to life new products, which will prepare the ground for knowledge transfer to future generations.  

Within the scope of this project, it is aimed to spread the examples of ancient values combined with contemporary designs in Turkey and Europe, and to carry the Anatolian crafts at risk of disappearance into the future by means of intercultural cooperation.