Atolye on Dereboyu

Atolye is Turkish for studio or workshop, cognate with the French atelier, and it is our friend G’s studio, the one she got after we gave up the lease on the space we shared with her down by the sahil yolu (seaside road).  This one is directly above a kuaför, which is two flights up from the entrance on Dereboyu Caddesi, Ortaköy’s main street, which takes you straight down the waterfront.  It’s far enough from the late night noise of the bars and clubs but still only a short walk away and on a street that is always bustling with activity throughout the day and evening.

It’s a privilege and a treat for us to come here during our time in Istanbul and a wonderful reminder of the years when our shared atolye in Ortaköy was a haven for us in the city every weekend.  This may be only sentimental nostalgia, but I love finding in the cupboard the same dishes and cups we always used at the studio and sitting in the same folding chairs we bought at the eskici (second hand & antique dealer) and eating off the big table G’s brother made for the space.

Lorraine added to this when she pulled out a pale blue mug with musical instruments and notations painted in various glazes and asked if I remembered where we got it.  It’s like our memory of Turkish, which had faded so much over the years we’ve been away.  On the plane we couldn’t even remember the words for fifty and a hundred, words we used so much when we lived here, but once we arrived the language began to come back.  As E. put it, when you get there, it’s as if the language chip in your head becomes activated again.  So I did remember as soon as I saw it – we bought the mug in Iznik (Nicea) on our first overnight trip away from campus back in 2003, not exactly the original Iznik ceramics, but a memory chip of a time and place activated.

I have written before about our Second Life; that is, our life here in Istanbul, our second home, and it’s the studio that represents it so well.  So we make tea in the morning, bring back simit and borek, walk down to check the Bosphorus, practice keyif, a uniquely Turkish form of hanging out, talk about art and language, listen to the traffic and conversations from the street, watch the moon rise and the lights on the First Bridge change colour, pick up beer at the tekel across Dereboyu, and decide what we’ll do or not do tomorrow.  

It’s a good life here at the atolye on Dereboyu, and we thank our dear friend G. for letting us share it with her.