Architect, industrial designer, businessman, entrepreneur, pioneer, craftsman, educator, researcher, student, thinker, orator, gourmet, art lover and more. Faruk Malhan, whose "apprentice" I am always honored to be, is the guest of this column this month. Happy birthday!
A “Self-Creation” Story
This is how Ömer Madra talks about the designer at the beginning of an interview published in Arredamento Decoration magazine in 1989: a typical “self-creation” story.
Faruk Malhan was born on November 11, 1947 in Izmir. He completed his primary and secondary education in this city and his university education at METU Faculty of Architecture during a politically turbulent period in Turkey. He received a strict modernist education under the influence of the Bauhaus during these years when the university was at its most active both academically and politically. He received his master's degree from Hacettepe University Demography Department.
In 1972, when he completed his education, he started to work directly on the industrial site in Ankara. He started to produce Le Corbusier's and Rietvelt's iconic chair designs with his own handiwork. Here he learned mold making, casting, welding and modeling. Masters accustomed to traditional methods had difficulties in working on these modern products, so he took apprentices and journeymen and trained them to form a staff.
The steel cased hospital beds, which were only imported in Turkey at that time, first came out of this workshop. With the addition of wood, lacquer and flooring workshops, this establishment, which gradually turned towards industrialization, took the name of Koleksiyon.
“An Industry for Design”
The new wealthy class that emerged in Europe in the 19th century after the industrial revolution saw themselves as the new nobility, so they chose to live in "revivalist" and "eclecticist" buildings using ancient Roman and Greek architectural forms. Families that got rich in the rush of migration from east to west in the 1970s and 80s in Turkey were also turning to Baroque style viscous furniture with a similar impulse. At that time, the literal meaning of "Design" was known as "import" by most people, and even Art Nouveau furniture was considered "modern".
Meanwhile, Malhan saw the need for Turkey's new middle class and intellectuals to adapt and maintain the modern western lifestyle. The modernist designs of Koleksiyon were admired in the beginning despite the "cannot be in request here" prejudice of those in the industry, and became a tool for the people who are fond of these products to come to the surface. The collection has increasingly become not just a furniture store, but a pioneer in its subject, a new model for the urban lifestyle.
In Faruk Bey's words, it "shaped the product, the producer and the consumer".
Increasing its recognition with the stores opened in Ankara and Istanbul, the company later moved its production facilities to Tekirdağ and its headquarters to Istanbul.
Having set out with the goal of "putting the industry at the service of design", Koleksiyon has become a well-known, respected, leading organization that works with international designers and manufacturers in the 1990s, follows the current agenda, sets the agenda.
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Products of Dreams and Thoughts
In the 2000s, Faruk Malhan went on an extensive East trip, just like Le Corbusier did. The international modernist line of Koleksiyon would now be nourished by the forms, symbols and production styles coming from the tradition of these lands.
The products of Koleksiyon, born from the combination of knowledge from traditional craftsmanship with contemporary industrial infrastructure, have entered homes, offices, executive rooms and security booths for years. This was not enough for the experienced designer, he wanted to reach wider audiences.
Thus, Malhan set out to create “products of dreams and thoughts” rather than producing purely functional furniture, and started to operate in all design fields from jewellery to tableware, lighting elements to home textiles, architecture to urban planning. He institutionalized these efforts under the name of “Design Foundation” in 2013.
Today, Koleksiyon is a global brand with representative offices in all corners of the world with its unique and diverse design products that touch every moment of life.
“My passion is to beauty, care, effort, rebellion, new; in short, to everything that is creative”
Throughout his career, Faruk Malhan has adopted the principle of seeking innovation against the "status quo", questioning everything, including his own decisions, and thus "creating himself in perfection".
In addition to his work with his son Koray Malhan, who is the design director of the company, he is the art director of designers, workshops, exhibitions, participates in competition juries, and passionately pursues the mission of bringing design to economies, society and production culture with its international dimensions.
Participating in world congresses as a member of the Design Management Institute and Design Cities Europe, Faruk Malhan is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Siena 2019 European Capital of Culture project.
Watch..
Sources
Koleksiyon official website: www.koleksiyon.com.tr Ömer Madra, “Faruk Malhan: Ürüne, Onu Üretene Ve Tüketene Şekil Veriyoruz”, Arredamento Decoration Journal, 04 1989 Ömer Madra, “Türkiye’de Mobilya Sektörünün Dünü, Bugünü, Yarını”, Arredamento Decoration Furniture Special Issue, 1991 Benan Kapucu, “Faruk Malhan”, Icon Journal 04, 2007 Gökhan Karakuş, “Türk Tasarımının İki Mihenk Taşı Sarıyer ve Malhan”,. Icon Journal 14, 2008 Dirim Dinçer, “Sanat, Tasarım ve Zanaat Arası Geçişler“, XXI Journal, February 2016 “Tasarımcının Coğrafyası”: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KS7QqpZfjXs
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