The MoMA-curated selection of products by Turkish designers are for sale at the MoMA store in New York

10 different works of Koray Ozgen are exhibited at Spagat !

Homage to working children
Koray Ozgen created this “monument-object”, for a commission in the context of Istanbul, 2010 European Capital of Culture. Seven contemporary Turkish designers were invited to create objects on the theme “Istanbul Otherwise”.

Without a name / Koray Ozgen
When set out to think with an Istanbul Otherwise” approach, the shoe shine box can lead the designer to different concepts. Literally, this object suggests those large shiny boxes that tourists coming to Istanbul are accustomed to see in the lobbies of grand hotels. Yet, as a matter of fact, as we roam the sidewalks or squares of Istanbul, we often come across children who shine shoes using small boxes and brushes made suitably for their small hands. In such context, the designer may express him-/herself through an object, by detaching that object from its contemporary cultural marketing typology with an intervention that establishes a link between the past and the present. One way to cherish in our minds these shoe shine boxes that are identified with children working as shoe shiners deprived of their homes, schools, and non-existent toys during significant periods of their lives, may be to turn them into “monument-objects”. Objects which represent the possibility of a life equal to the respect they deserve as human beings and an “Istanbul otherwise” where they would not have to shine shoes. Objects we can even install in places in Istanbul that have witnessed this “sadness”.

www.istanbulotherwise

The Kasa Gallery celebrates its 10 years of existence and has been exhibiting many Turkish and international artists.
Koray Ozgen has exhibited his design collection in Kasa Gallery of Sabanci University in Turkey, in 2002.

“Seraphim”
Room divider and glassware by Koray Ozgen
Paravent et verrerie par Koray Ozgen

Cité des Sciences et l’Industrie, Paris.

23 October 2009 – 21 February 2010

RAKI set exhibited at “L’objet du design”
An exhibition curated by Sismo for the inauguration of the Cité du Design in Saint Etienne.
October 1, 2009 – August 22, 2010
Ensemble de RAKI est à l’exposition “L’objet du design”
Une exposition conçu par Sismo à l’occasion de l’inauguration de la Cité du Design à Saint Etienne.
1er octobre 2009 – 22 août 2010