Life & Leadership · Cultural Awareness · Healthy Transitions
Around this time last year I had a significant inner moment of realisation (or something…bear with me) that completely altered my attitude about work and life. Eyes closed, music on, my mind wandered and I pictured myself being shown round … Continued
Before I started at Poppy’s workshop, I used to attend local council run painting classes. Back in 2011 we had a trip to the home of çini, İznik. Here’s my account of the trip: As an end of term treat, … Continued
So you may recall that penç (“pench”) forms are a view of the flower looking down from the top (literally a bird’s eye view), or a horizontal cross section of the flower. Hatayi forms are similarly a cross section but taken vertically … Continued
Having spent months clogging up the dining room table with paper, books, eraser rubbings and coal dust, my husband decided it was time for me to relocate to the back bedroom… And so we visited Koçtaş (B&Q equivalent) and bought … Continued
‘Mankind should know that nothing is eternal. Years, centuries, and ages will come and pass and things which were considered to never be forgotten disappear in the course of time.’ – İlhan Ayverdi The sun over the great age of … Continued
It’s a slow journey to perfecting the art of cini. .. to break up all the practice I decided to paint a pomegranate (here shown nearly finished and pre-firing). Not my best work ever but a fun mini – project … Continued
(Here’s some I prepared earlier… funnily enough the tablecloth also has a giant ‘penç’ on it too!) I was thrilled when Poppy looked at my leaves and decided I could graduate to the next step… Step 1: Leaves Step … Continued
This year we enjoyed a somewhat traditional English Christmas with my family in Turkey, albeit with a few Turkish twists thrown in. One of the highlights was that my family could come and visit Poppy’s workshop with me for the … Continued
Progress check: Been drawing these darned leaves for approx 30 hours – thankfully not in one sitting – and Poppy still wants me to continue! Gahhh! So what makes a good leaf? It must be slender, follow a continuous sloping … Continued
(Take a glance at stunning examples of İznik Çinisi in the video above) At the height of the the reign of Sultan Süleyman (Suleiman the Magnificent) in the 16th century, çini had garnered an acclaim and appreciation that became synonymous … Continued