"INTERIOR DESIGN FOR RETAIL" Workshop at Central Saint Martins/ London

Mmmmh London,London ! Most of the people don't like London because of it's cloudy and rainy weather.The climate is also an important reason for me but how come ? This is London ! More than you know.When you are looking to the streets,buildings,atmosphere,people in a hurry and places open 7/24; there is always a mystery,curiousity because you know there is something there more than you see.That's because you don't care about the weather;just carry an umbrella in your bag everytime and take a sweater in summer ! It worths believe me !

4th July 2010 was my 3rd trip to London.The others were 8 years ago when i was 14 so; i felt like it was the first time because i had a different point of view for sure.It was a big luck that it rained only 2 days during my stay.And after Milan's bloody hot weather it was heaven for me to wear sweater.
Anyway i was in London because ; after i graduated i wanted to do something particular so i've find this workshop ''Interior Design for Retail" and  decided to take it.I was planning to continue on my carrier in Turkey and i needed to find something missing.Yes,this course had a title i even didn't hear about and yes this was compeletly missing in my country.We have a great market but sometimes even the very big brands don't pay attention on it.
If i have to explain what is about,it's a course includes also visual merchandising.We were getting into detail about the materials,colours,styling,lighting and display windows about the retail stores in London.Visiting some museums,factories and shopping malls.There were also lectures in class and there was a final presentation we had to do which was "designing a retail space."
Everthing was about displaying and the details behind it.As you know London was a very big opportunity for us becuase of its market.
When you are taking this course it is changing your point of view because you are thinking "oh my god ,i've never looked in this way or you see 1 little detail can make very big difference."
At my next posts i am going to share the places we have visited and the things we have done during this course and believe me it was fun ! ( or maybe London was fun :) ) And now i want to share some photos with you about my lovely London trip.

                                     I am an animal LOVER.So i was in London Zoo !

This is in China Town before a chinese dinner and after a sale shopping !

This is a famous irish pub at the back of Piccadily Circus.At least we 've been informed in that way. But  i  need to say i've inspired from the exterior.

Oh.yes ! We did sketch at the park !

This is a place that you don't have any chance about not seeing when you go to London!  It's a magical place like in the movie.

MC!

The Way We Live With Colour

"The orange of tangerine makes a brilliant impact against a background of cobalt blue;in intense sunlight brightly painted exteriors or blossom of flame trees acquire additional strength in their assertive reds and pinks;in markets the world over,display of fruit,vegetables and,especially,flowers brings visual excitement to city streets and squares.The power of such images to attract our attention and shape our lives suggests that all the constituent elements of the world aroun us.Forms,textures,sounds and colours ,it is the latter which most directly affect our moods and being."

Colour is the factor that we need to consider everywhere in our lives;because they have meanings and they remind something.As everyone know some clichés ;

red is   : love,fire,attention,danger

blue is  : youth, spirituality, truth, peace

yellow  :wisdom, joy, happiness, intellectual energy

pink     :love, beauty

These are the general meanings have proved by researchers;but also colour meanings can change place to place,country to country,person to person.

If we consider interior spaces and architecture we need to pay attention to these meanings.For sure we need to keep in mind the clients' taste.For example white: at small places white can give freshness,enlightment and shows the space bigger but if u apply to a very big space it can give a hospital and insane effect.

I am sure you've noticed about summer houses or the restaurants at seaside.Most of them use blue,white and sometimes green.Because they are the colors of summer and symbolize the sea.

Wide spaces can carry most of the colors,and you can use more than one;but in small and narrow spaces if you use dark colours it gives claustrophobic effect.

 A play of reds,pinks and golds,is the design of an eminent Parisian creator of women's clothing from the
finest fabrics.

This elegant Paris interior a pale colour scheme-including the floor-comes into its own as the most effective    background for the display of objects and furniture.

In this hotel on the fashionable island "Carribean";the combination of blue and green reads like a reflection of the lush island vegetation set in a sea of shimmering blues.

Some colors symbolize some places,countries,ethnics and traditions.The images above are taken at India,Africa,Egypt,Bangkok.You can see 1 image divided into 6 pieces which are accomplishing eachother.


This book "The way we live with colour" i 've bought from Milan-Rinascente Design market and it gives a very clear explanation about the connection between colours,styles,traditions,countries and places.It can be a very nice guide for the people who are designing international.
(All these photos are taken from the book.)

MC

What is DESIGN ?

  

You can have many answers to this question; but if we consider today, the answer will be probably "Design is something is created by someone for usability,comfort,better look and needs to be luxury,expensive,hard to reach,famous etc."

In past years, design sector is growing extremely fast.We can say that design is in its golden ages.Because people are searching design for everything they have.In my opinion, there was always design ,i don't know since when;but design doesn't have to be a brand,doesn't have to be famous or doesn't have to be expensive.There are cheap,reachable designs nowadays with the collabration between brands;but generally when you say design most of the people remember the word "expensive"

Imagine ! When all the brands were not existing or the people were not crazy about design clothes,furnitures or houses,they were still living in houses,they were still wearing clothes,they were still using bed,sofa,table,lamp,spoon,fork,plate or whatever.Someone was designing all the things that we use in our lives but people didnt pay that much attention as today.Everything we use in our lives is a design if we think in this way.

Why,design is so popular now? Why people are dying to have designer pieces in every area of their lives ?
Yes we can see Chanel in early 1900's,or  Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe designed "Barcelona Chair" in 1929 but what about 500 years ago ?

These questions may have too many answers and we cannot even find the correct one.For me there are some important keywords about this issue:Population,Technology,Competition,Dissatisfaction,Addiction,Deficiency.

Population is increasing so ideas do.We are seeing more designs,people are inventing new technologies and here appears the competition. They are making addiction because they are making our lives easier and we get used to live in that way.When we see we can reach something which we can not imagine to have them years ago so here comes dissatisfaction and deficiency;because we know,more and more will be invented.It looks like this will never end;but this is happening because of us,because we don't know how to settle for something,we always want a new one,more features,better look or a piece no one has.

Yes i am using technology,i am in interest to design due to my job and i am happy about all these facilities but in limits,we all need to have our limits or i am afraid people are becoming a robot !
If i need to answer in one sentence what design is,for me is everything we create to use ! Everyone can create something to use but this doesn't make them designers.

MC

Archives !

              These books and magazines are just a little part of my library.

Lucky me ! I had a big chance to crate my design library in these 3 years.As everyone know Milan is a design city and you have too many options to reach.Big design shops,shopping malls,bookshops,markets,vintage markets..Even in a very small bookshop you can find very interesting and special design books that you cannot find at famous ones!They can be in Italian but most of the shops have in English.It's better for me to buy in Italian not to forget speaking :)From most of the cities i 've visited in Europe i tried to buy books and magazines,because every country has its own style so ,there can be something that you can never find ! I also have bought design magazines from cities that i even don't know

the alphabet;but design is visual so why not ?

Unfortunately,in Turkey it's hard to reach this diversity of design books and if you can find ,you need to pay a lot !!I don't know about other countries that much but if you have facilities to go or order through a friend,just ask it.For the people may go to Milan i will give some names below to

buy books.And for the other countries i've just entered to bookshops that i saw.

-La Rinascente

-Mondadori

-Hoepli

-Triennale

-all the ''Libreria'' s you see just get inside !

MC !

Who is this?

Since i was dreaming "What should i be?" i don't remember any other job in my memories.Yes, there was design and i was interested in many of them but i realized as a proffesional job i should be an ''interior designer''.And i left the others as a hobby for myself.
I was not a person who didnt know what subject to choose at collage.I've known it since secondary school.I was conscious about it so i went ahead ! But i definitely need to say that my real education and experience about design started in 2007 when i suddenly decided to leave my university in Turkey and moved to Milan for a new start! It was tough but worth it ! As all you know,when you say design many people pronounce Italy.It was such a big experience for me both educating and practising.
And now yes ! years passed and 3 months before i started to introduce myself as an "Interior Designer" officially !(which is i am still not getting used to =)
So this will be a blog that i want to share the things I've seen,took,read,touched,enjoyed,loved,designed etc. with everyone.Because we are all living in design ! Even if you are not a designer ,you are demanding on design !
MC !