| Art Profile |
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Mustafa and Füsun Ünlü live in Göztepe district of Izmir. Füsun is from Istanbul, where she graduated in 1978 in Turkish literature. Mustafa is from a village near Izmir, where he remembers women making tel kakma when he was a boy. They make tel kakma art works at their workshop. Although this work was one of the most prized crafts in Ottoman times, there is no direct link with the skills of the past. The Ünlüs therefore have had to be inventive, creating all their own tools and equipment. They have also had to recreate the right materials for their works: they alloy gold with copper, silver and brass to produce varied shapes of gold - red, green and yellow. They must heat the gold and treat it chemically, so that it is malleable and will not beak. Ünlüs’ sons Berat and Onat help their works. Mustafa and his sons are responsible for turning gold and silver wire into fine ribbon strips. The fine wire, whether silver gilt or gold, is hammered flat. Copper and gold needles are used for sewing, and when a piece is finished, a light hammering flattens the work. Some of the Ünlüs’ patterns are based on traditional Turkish designs, including tuğras (the sultan’s flamboyant signatures). The Ünlüs also create their own designs. The most complex stitch, muşabak, produces a wicker effect, with wide holes, and is expensive in both time and materials. The largest piece they have made is three meters long, contains several kilos of gold and silver, and takes up to five months to make. For Prince Rainier of Monaco, the Ünlüs created embroidery of his coat of arms to commemorate his fiftieth anniversary jubilee. The fabric onto which the ribbons of metal strip are sewn in vitally important. Every July, the Ünlüs buy silk cocoons raised on the mulberry trees around Aydın region, and give them to one or other of the two people in Izmir able to weave them into the durable, closely woven cloth that is required. As well as making their mark abroad, the Ünlüs are gaining a reputation for their expertise at home. Their advice is being sought by a new embroidery school in Aydın, and they have acquired a studio near Izmir airport where they plan to combine silk weaving and embroidery skills under one roof.
Reference: Cornucopia, issue 24, vol.4, (Istanbul 2001), p.108-111.
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