karazi design featured in expat + HAREM

I have just been informed that one of my blog posts (a day in the life of two Turkish goldsmith's) has been featured in the summer edition of expat + HAREM. Scroll down and Check it out!! Yay, I love Turkey..


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Byzantine Treasures & a day in the life of two Turkish goldsmiths

The magic happened..

Today was the day. I wandered, I looked and explored the Grand Bazaar, Istanbul. a maze of jewelry shops, carpet shops, cafes and a lot of scams. I asked a lot of questions, but the answers were not coming and suddenly there they were. A duo, best friends from childhood.

I was looking in their window, as I had so many other shops and somehow this one was different. I walked inside their pint size shop, they gave me Turkish coffee.

They had one work bench and they sat facing each other.. All these years, maybe 40, maybe 50 years, maybe more... One, a character excited and gregarious, the other, quiet and contemplative, Ilhan and Sabahattin.

I showed them photos of me working in India. They laughed and patted me on the back. They showed me how they work, (no one else here would do this).

They fed me lunch. I found some beautiful vermeil pendants. Ilhan told me the origins of the designs.. Somehow, in our broken languages. We laughed, they gave me tea..

Sabahattin, showed me how to take gold off of silver, I took photos, we smiled and laughed.

I bought hundreds of pendants.

It was a happy day for all!!

The Byzantine collection will soon be ready. I am designing and thinking and can not stop smiling about these two best friends...

a little more of Istanbul

Steven is flying back to the states to day and I have 3 more days on my own in Istanbul. It will be fun to explore and wander on my own a bit. I have plans to go to the goldsmiths and try to hang with them, but if that doesn't work out, there are about 4 million other things to do here..

We love the city.. After traveling to many places in the world, I have to say, from my limited time here, Turkish people and culture are absolutely amazing. So friendly and kind. I could definitley live here.

Istanbul is a huge bustling city, but there is a laid back feel, even in the high tourist areas. I love cultures that embrace and value relaxing.

Yesterday, we made our way (via ferry) over to the Asian side of Istanbul, mostly to visit a restaurant ciya we had heard about. It was so worth our time, we actually went over twice in one day. It's in a very cute little part of town called, Kadikoy. There is a beautiful little market, cafes, and people enjoying themselves. There were several cafe's with live music and it is so wonderful to see so many people out and enjoying themselves.

The other thing I love about this city is the public transportation. There are trams, metro, buses, minibuses, ferries (so many ferries), and of course taksi's (as they call taxi's here). the traffic as far as i have seen has been quiet and not so bad. I'm sure I haven't seen the worst of it. And the pollution seems to be low. but again, i have only been here 3 days. I can love anyplace for 3 days...

And one amazing story.. the other day we were walking through this crazy full of people walking area and I saw an old friend. We ended up having dinner and I will meet up with him again today... I love this small world..

so, i'm off to find a new place to stay and wander around for the day....

istanbul = love

Loving Istanbul... We made it here two days ago. It is a fantastic city.

It's super modern, super chill and super clean. I love the food and am still loving the Turkish people. Yesterday we did the tourist circuit of the Blue Mosque, Hagia Sofia, the Grand Bazaar and the spice market.. today we are going to go to a totally different part of town to hang with the musicians and hopefully get to play some music, go to the Turkish bath (which i am totally in love with) and eat another AMAZING meal... the food here is out of this world super yum!!

yesterday in our wanderings we also happened upon the goldsmith part of town, which I am going to explore more after steven leaves on Monday. I am going to try to hang with the goldsmiths and get a feel for how they work.

All is well here.. still in love with Turkey!!