Pioneers of Advanced Handmade Mediterranean Gourd Lamps

As far as I am concerned, tulips are the only flowers that create one single tulip from a single bulb. Unlike the rest of the flowers which

Yes, we can... and we will. It was a crucial decision we took a year and a half ago. Our region and our country weren't going through the best of the times. Problems in Syria and millions of refugees moving to Turkey. We had serious problems with Russia as we took one of their army planes down for accessing our borders. The Russian president Putin wasn't happy at all. And eventually, Russians were banned to visit Turkey for their holidays which created a 7.0 scale earthquake

Counting down for the Christmas day and the new year, most of us feel happy. Happy to reunite with our families, preparing for that special day, getting prepared for the dinner as well as organizing gifts. Almost every night is occupied with an event with friends, colleagues, relatives, and people we love and care. It is the best time of the year for most of us. I know quite a few people who hate Christmas time for their own reasons but it is undeniably a busy time for all wo

Whats known in the western world as an 'evil eye' is called a 'nazar' in our country. I didn't know that our 'nazar' was known as 'evil eye' until I started my online business. I was very surprised to see that something, some symbol or some object which has been adored by our culture for many centuries had a name associated with 'evil'. I can understand why it is called 'evil' but whoever has come up with it could have come up with something more descriptive and I am afraid t

My intention in keeping this blog has never been about only and only promoting our gourd lamps and our business. From the very beginning, I wanted to introduce other gourd artists, other local crafts and other things about our culture and our way of living. Yes, we have a lot of arrogant people (like all races do) but most of us are genuine people, simply trying to make a living and look after the family. Exactly like yourselves. After living in several countries for over 20

Designing a lampshade with a Panda theme has been on my mind for a very long time. Maybe two years at this stage. I came up with many different ideas but for some reason, I couldn't really conclude. I think I was stuck by the idea of coming up with something black and white and that was what kept me thinking and bothered me concluding. Eventually I decided that the lamp shouldn't be all about panda as pandas are almost extinct. At the end of the day, extinction is a massive t

I think it is the time to tell you about the voyage that a calabash takes until it arrives to your home as a gourd lamp. A 7-8 months process. I will start from the farm and explain until the stage that the preliminary works take place. Right before they are turned into lamps. Our gourd lamps are made from calabash so my article will focus on the calabash rather than other gourds. Why do we choose calabash? Well first of all they grow here, where we live. We are in the middle

I thought it may be a good idea to show you a little bit of where we live and where we work. I believe our environment has a lot of influence on our work as well as our psyche. Our productivity and of course our creativity. Avsallar is a small village right on the Mediterranean coast and in borders of famous Turkish resort, alternatively known as Turkish Riviera, wonderful Alanya. Our village hosts thousands of people during the summer. Comes winter, we are only a bunch of fa

Home is 'the' place. The place to be. Home is our kingdom. Home is our shelter. Home is where we hide, we cry and we rest. Home is where we return every night. Home is where we die every night and born again every morning. I believe most people would agree with me. World Peace Now It is sad that there are many people out there who can't enjoy even the simplest pleasures and security that a home brings. As an individual I invite world leaders to stop building weapons but homes

Classic Mediterranean gourd craft involves a lot of drilling and beading work. Most of us start drilling holes on a calabash, pre-designed or spontenous, and than gently hammer beads into these holes. We change the size of the drill holes and the diameter of the beads to create different figures, colors and illumination. Drilling on a calabash can be a hard task. The dried surface is usually slippery. The entire body is curvy and as you go up the neck and head section, the su