Press
Interviews, articles, and publications about us reflect our design approach, work discipline, and the original projects we bring to life in the public eye. Through diverse channels we reveal the passion, vision, and creative spirit that drive everything we do.
MAG, Interview, October 4, 2022
Beyza Aksöz, an Interior Architect and Environmental Designer, emphasizes that she continuously nourishes and develops herself at every age, with each new concept and employer. In her own design studio, she shares with MAG readers the trainings and services she provides, the art-infused designs she creates in her projects, and the aspects she pays attention to.
I was born in Adana in 1980. I completed my high school education at TED Ankara College in 1998. After finishing high school, I spent a year in London attending various design and curatorship workshops. In 2005, I graduated from the Faculty of Fine Arts, Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at Bilkent University.
In Ankara, I completed my construction and site experience by working with “A Tasarım Mimarlık,” founded by senior architect Ali Osman Öztürk. Then, invited by the world-renowned architect Eren Yorulmazer, I moved to Istanbul and worked at “Mazeron,” an office where architecture is transformed into art. When I decided to return to Ankara in 2011, I felt confident and experienced, as if walking firmly on the soil I know. For many years, I worked freelance in Ankara, designing and implementing my own interior architecture projects. Four years ago, I created an office in the attic of a building on the main street in Ümitköy, where I infused every detail with my own stories. My office also serves as an art center where we can watch the sky amidst the greenery of the rooftop gardens I built. I proudly say that I have an amazing team whose personalities, work, and friendships I deeply appreciate.
My office, named Beyza Aksöz Design Studio, operates as a multidisciplinary collaboration environment encompassing interior architecture, design, technology, art, and craftsmanship. I particularly strive for this because I was deeply influenced by a knowledge I learned from the books of Doğan Hasol, one of the most important representatives of contemporary Turkish architecture:
“Architecture is the mother of art.”
As a design studio, we have signed dozens of projects across Turkey—in cities such as Ankara, Istanbul, Antalya, İzmir, Bodrum, Mersin, Adana—and internationally in countries like the USA, Netherlands, UK, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, and Jordan. Our projects include residences, restaurants, cafes, offices, stores, spas, and product designs.
Our main principle in all projects is that the elements forming the whole are unique designs tailored to our clients. With this principle, we design all components ourselves—from lighting to seating, from tables to rugs and objects. Regardless of the function, in every space design, I design and commission each accessory and product to be unique to that space, because throughout my professional journey, I realized that when you reflect a space’s story intertwined with its users, what you see is a work of art. I want those who work with us to enjoy the difference and exclusivity in the spaces they inhabit as the reward for choosing us. In brand creation projects, we take responsibility for designing all brand identity elements—from spatial concept to business cards and even napkin designs. I collaborate with artists in almost every project. Our works include special sculptures, mosaics, oil paintings, dioramas, and many forms of art and craftsmanship. In my works, it is always noticeable that as much attention is paid to the artistic language of the projects as to their functionality.
I can say that I have grown extensively in design and continue to nurture myself with every new concept, employer, and even with each passing year. Besides design, we offer interior architecture project planning, consultancy, implementation supervision, turnkey projects, and improvisational renovations we call “makeup.” We organize workshops that bring artists and art lovers together, fostering the transfer and spread of art and providing a platform for enthusiasts. We have sculpture, mosaic, ceramic, and oil painting workshops. We hold “evening talks” that gather artists and art lovers, offering participants a delightful “break from routine” as well as a cultural nourishment.
When things don’t go as I wish, I look back at the notes I wrote in 2011 when I returned to Ankara—notes about my career plan I aspired to build on my own path—and I remind myself how much I have loved my profession from the start, each period bringing new awareness and consciousness. For this reason, I can say that now I will talk to you about my favorite and best-known topic. I describe my profession as a two-armed structure, both abstract and concrete.
Abstractly; it is the realm where dreams turn into lines, lines into plans, and plans into reality. This is the best part: living in what does not yet exist, and making people live in what exists. It is a feeling that combines the joy of creation with discovery. You recognize the limits of imagination and then move beyond to infinity. In short, design is the act of producing equipped with knowledge of time and space, combined with a desire for timelessness. Architecture is both a way of life and a shaper of life. It is a continuous learning and development process fueled by curiosity and R&D. If done with passion, you do not settle for standards, you push the impossible, and every success adds extraordinary experiences to your bundle.
Concretely; it is the contextual wholeness between points. It is the knowledge where need turns into art, the embodiment of all your emotions in matter. Moreover, this concrete part has a beautiful reward: it allows you to leave a mark of yourself on the world, which is actually the signature you leave on civilization. Above all, it adds vision and innovation—an intellectual accumulation that completely changes and broadens our perspective.
When you enter and work in this field, you cannot stay with architecture and design alone. You witness your development in every aspect. Being constantly in the experience of turning the abstract into the concrete is like continuing your journey on a magical path. I believe that choosing this profession was not a coincidence. The joy and peace I feel from shaping, coloring, and delighting those who desire creation manifesting in me is unique.
To conclude with an example: I have two sons whose names are special to me—Asil Destan and Arş Arhan. Many years after naming them, while painting the walls of our studio with an artist friend, I wanted to include Göktürk script symbols, which I love and draw inspiration from, into the painting. After researching many inscriptions, I found one mentioning my sons’ names: “Between Arş and arz there is light, where epics are written…” It symbolizes the light placed between sky and earth, representing humans. It is the pure, radiant being created by the Creator, the source of true inspiration, which we all desire and strive to be. It is the form I want my children to transform into, to remember what is in their essence. This moment, where the abstract creation from ten years ago reveals itself beyond the concepts of past, present, and future, is exactly the magic I speak of. The relationship between abstract and concrete, shared with our mind on a common ground. A dimension equipped with knowledge of time and space where the mind experiences timelessness. Only a mind programmed to turn dreams into reality can provide this. This is why I love this profession—it continuously feeds imagination, lets you witness the realization of dreams, and turns the journey into a playground.
For some time now, I have also been serving on the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Interior Architects to introduce our profession at this scale to younger colleagues, address our professional problems, and pass on better working conditions to new generations.
MAG, Interview, June 5, 2023
Interior Architect and Environmental Designer Beyza Aksöz, who designs her projects with every element tailored specifically to her clients, shares the key values and priorities she emphasizes, along with details of her latest original designs…
In every new project, we comprehensively analyze the client profile, the target audience who will visit and use the space, and the employer’s requests and expectations. Designing with a clear awareness of whom we will serve has always ensured that our work ends in client satisfaction. In fact, when measured as a percentage, our client-architect satisfaction rate is very high. The most important principle we uphold in each project is to always produce unique and original designs.
Beyza Aksöz Design Studio, located on the rooftop floor of a building on a main street in Ümitköy, is often likened by visitors to a museum; it is also a studio composed of art workshops. We are a multidisciplinary team including designers, architects, artists, illustrators, and artisans. Our multidisciplinary approach is evident in every project we undertake.
I would like to mention two projects that embody our principle of merging art and craft. One is a software office designed for Mehtap Özdoğan. We aimed to tell a story fitting the purpose of the office. Just as writing connects humans to their roots, we wanted to add artistic touches to the supporting columns of the structure. We envisioned a time gateway between the digital writing language of today’s technology—1s and 0s—and the ancient symbol-based writing systems. Referencing the linear flow of time, we created a visual “tear” that does not pry into the past from the present but instead gently unveils a secret from the past to the present. On one of the columns, where we engraved cuneiform script on horasan clay using a hammer technique, we depicted the emergence of digital writing from inside a cut. We quoted a passage from the Orkhon Inscriptions that holds meaning for our client. Architecture becomes unique when combined with art.
Another project is a personal museum and hobby office designed for a client who is a software professional and an avid collector, Erdal Yılmaz. This space hosts numerous mosaics, lead-cast soldiers, models of modern epic movie heroes, ceramic artwork depicting the Battle of Waterloo, and mosaics featuring main characters from the Star Wars films on the floors, which we worked on for months. We have completed the design and planning phases of this extensive project, which exhibits the client’s long-accumulated collection, and are currently continuing its implementation. You can see some images of this modern museum and hobby office.
For a long time, due to observing a certain repetitive pattern in residential projects—especially in Ankara—we avoid taking on more than two housing projects simultaneously. Our desire is to contribute our own equipment, aesthetics, and knowledge of art to the design, and the greatest enemy of this desire is imitation. I can proudly say that I am a designer who truly honors the essence of design. I do not see originality as a commercial risk and I am a bold entrepreneur. You will never see consecutive projects from my studio that resemble each other. Since our main principle is to achieve an authentic identity and break the mold in our work, we spend significant time on the design process. Our relationship with residential clients requires a delicate balance that takes time, as we strive to understand their tastes and budgets, and integrate design with art. This inevitably increases the parameters we consider in our work and limits the volume of projects we can take on.
Clients who know that we collaborate with artists and artisans often request our “make-up” service after the interior architecture of their spaces is completed. We provide consultancy and implementation support to transform, strengthen, and enrich the overall texture of their homes or commercial spaces.
In completed and livable residences, we first conduct an assessment. Then we offer our own designed products to the client for artisans and artists to create. Working closely with the artist, we produce custom-made artworks tailored to the space. The implementation of these works—from design through installation—is fully under our responsibility, delivered as a turnkey service. When reviewing our work, it’s evident that we joyfully put great effort into preserving and continuing the handcrafts and traditional arts of our own culture. One example, shown in the photos here, is from a residence in Binsesin Site, where the architecture was completed by a colleague. The client requested our make-up service to add artistic touches, including a mosaic mural depicting Istanbul’s 1940s skyline. Especially in mosaic work, we have had the pleasure of meeting and collaborating with many art historians, restorers, and academicians, which is one of the most rewarding aspects of our work.