BILGEN COSKUN&DILEK OZTURK

In-Between Design Platform, Co-founders
Istanbul, TR

 

1.What's the idea that's obsessing you now? 

We are experiencing a very unique transformation right now. Pandemic is directing us to think further than usual. In the recent years, we have been observing a tendency towards design products as well as brands and publications being transformed into 'experiences'. We are researching about how we will be merging online and offline experiences in our daily rituals as a vast amount of activities are shifted to online as a result of the pandemic. However the intensity of offline interactions still stay unique. This is why we believe in the importance of encouraging creative fields by formalizing methodologies which will continue to create differentiated experiences in the long term. If we start with the idea that we have infinite possibilities whenever we can shut down our minds, the following months and years will bring very interesting offers where we can build our realities and construct our experiences. In the end it is all about perception and constructed realities. 

2.What would you like to create next ?

We have been working on a limited edition design collection with a Canadian designer which is taking its references from the refraction and artisanal heritage of Turkey, for a while. We were supposed to open the exhibition in early April. We would like to create a program around this exciting exhibition including talks, interviews, experiential events which will invite the audience to get involved in the creation process of the design collection. 

3.Where do you go for inspiration?

As design professionals we go to some of the major global design events where we have the chance to be part of the current design discussion. Besides this, our private travels serve as good source of inspiration. We believe that taking the time to be by ourselves and reflect the input we gathered is as important as the journey itself. 

4.What is your favorite everyday object ?

Alessi moka espresso maker we both use every morning are essential source of creating an immersive ritual. It enables involvement, requires dedication of time and serves experiential interaction stimulating all the senses. From the very basic model to the collaboration with David Chipperfield all the models serve a certain design approach without being over-designed. 

5.What’s the last book that made you inspired?

Kenya Hara's Designing Design is discussing the notion of emptiness in both visual and philosophical traditions of Japan and its application to design. We would like to finish this compact refreshing interview with Kenya Hara's wise words: “To understand something is not to be able to define it or describe it. Instead, taking something that we think we already know and making it unknown thrills us afresh with its reality and deepens our understanding of it.”