ArcheThink, which offers innovative ideas in architecture and design communication, held the seventh edition of its “A Design Problem” event at SALT Galata, with the goal of developing Turkey’s design culture and discovering designers. At the event, designers Çağlar İşbilir, Elif Taştekne, and Murat Dede shared with the participants the relationship they establish with materials in their own production practices, the problems they encounter, and the unique solutions they develop.
The seventh “A Design Problem” event was held at SALT Galata in collaboration with theme supporter Serge Ferrari. At the event, whose main theme was recycling, the designers shared the design problems they encountered in the projects they selected and the unique solutions they developed during these processes in their presentations titled “Touching the Earth,” “Revolution with Plants,” and “Flexible Resistance,” respectively.
“A Design Problem is the stage for those who never give up trying”
Selin Uysal, founder of ArcheThink and creator of the A Design Problem series, summarized the theme of the seventh edition in her opening speech at SALT Galata: “Design is the story of those who continue to produce without giving up, despite constraints and encountered problems.”
“The main issue is not to compete with nature, but to negotiate with it”
Çağlar İşbilir, who stated, “Earth is not a standard material and asks you to try again each time,” explained his production relationship with nature, especially with earth, in his presentation “Touching the Earth.” He emphasized the importance of learning to produce with nature, rather than just processing a resource taken from it. İşbilir, who works with compressed earth at Mono Earth, which he co-founded with his partner Can Cumalı, expressed that the main issue is to understand the variations nature offers and to relearn with each production.
A practice of awareness: Revolution with Plants
The second speaker, Elif Taştekne, discussed her approach that redefines sustainable production culture in fashion in her presentation “Revolution with Plants.” She shared the formation process of the brand PREV, which reached a wide follower base with its collections designed using plant-based leather. Taştekne stated, “What begins with a design brand actually transforms into a consciousness revolution.” The core problem she addressed is that materials perceived as “natural” in the fashion industry actually contradict nature. While animal leather is perceived as a traditional material on the surface, it becomes plasticized during its processing and turns into a structure that cannot decompose in nature. Taştekne defines this project not just as a brand, but as a practice of awareness.
The secret of design: Less material, more ideas
At the end of the event, Murat Dede, who practices interior design with Urbanjobs and also engages in product design, shared his “Flexible Resistance” project. Dede emphasized that durability is often associated with weight, thickness, and hardness; however, true strength comes from flexibility. In his Paperworks project, which follows this thinking, he produces modular furniture from cardboard tubes using interlocking systems without glue or screws. For Dede, design is based on the balance of “less material, more ideas,” and this understanding is defined as the materialized form of a design problem that has been ongoing in his mind for years.
The transformative power of design
In the one-hour A Design Problem event, consisting of three 15-minute presentations, designers rediscover the power of design through creative projects that push boundaries by sharing the unique solutions they found for the problems they encountered in their chosen projects.
You can watch all of the “A Design Problem” events on the @BirTasarimProblemi YouTube channel. For details about the event, you can visit the @birtasarimproblemi social media accounts on Instagram and LinkedIn, and the website https://www.birtasarimproblemi.com/tr.
