Omar Baban Design

Omar Baban Design Timeless and exclusive designs that bring ethnic and traditional elements to our everyday lives.

The Governor’s Palace — Byblos, LebanonIn the heart of Byblos, considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited citie...
15/08/2026

The Governor’s Palace — Byblos, Lebanon

In the heart of Byblos, considered one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, the Ottoman era Governor’s Palace is an impressive structure that demonstrates how the past can be kept alive without being perfected.

The work carried out over the years by Joseph Achkar and Michel Charrière is based on preserving the palace rather than recreating it. The 18th-century wall and ceiling paintings, the original spatial layout, stone surfaces, and the traces left by time continue to exist as part of the building’s memory.

Within the palace interiors, different geographies and periods come together, mother of pearl inlaid furniture, carved wooden chairs, Damascene objects, Ottoman style divans, antique rugs, silverware, crystal, miniature portraits, and an elaborate canopy bed brought from India…

None of these confines the space to a particular period. On the contrary, together they create a layered interior world that feels as though it has accumulated over centuries.

The way the relationship between past and present is established not by making the new resemble the old, but by allowing the old to retain its own voice is particularly compelling.

The wear on the walls, faded colours, the texture of aged wood, and objects collected from different periods become parts of the same story. Lived experience takes precedence over perfection; memory over decoration.

It stands before us as evidence that the soul of a space deepens not by erasing the traces of time, but by preserving them.

Images from: Oriental Living
Photography by: Guillaume de Laubier 🧿✨💫

The Interior as a Portrait of the MindSigmund Freud’s StudyCan we read a person’s mind by looking at the space they inha...
10/08/2026

The Interior as a Portrait of the Mind

Sigmund Freud’s Study

Can we read a person’s mind by looking at the space they inhabit?

Sigmund Freud’s study offers one of the most compelling answers to this question. The workspace of the founder of psychoanalysis is not simply a room where books, furniture and works of art come together; it is a personal universe in which his curiosities, obsessions, research and intellectual world become visible through objects.

Freud was an extraordinary collector of antiquities. Over the years, he amassed hundreds of small sculptures, figurines and archaeological objects from Egyptian, Greek, Roman, Etruscan, Near Eastern and Asian cultures. Rather than displaying these objects separately in carefully arranged cabinets, he placed them at the very heart of his daily working life. Ancient figures occupied his desk, stood among his books, filled the shelves and inhabited the furniture around him, sharing the room in which he worked and thought.

The first thing one senses upon entering the room is its density.

Books, antiquities, archaeological objects, engravings, substantial furniture, Oriental rugs, textiles and personal mementos create layer upon layer of visual richness. Even Freud’s famous psychoanalytic couch is inseparable from this world. Draped in Persian and Eastern textiles, surrounded by rugs and objects, the couch becomes almost a landscape of its own within the room.

Viewed through the language of contemporary design, the space could easily be described as “maximalist.” Yet to interpret the density of Freud’s study merely as an aesthetic preference would be to overlook its deeper significance. These objects were not chosen simply to create a decorative composition. Each belonged to a much larger world that occupied Freud’s imagination: mythology, ancient civilisations, religion, death, desire, human history and the unexplored territories of the human mind.

Past and unconscious meet within the same room.

📷 Photo credit Peter Kleijnenburg Interior

KENDİ SOKAKLARINDA DOLAŞAN BİR İÇ GÖÇEBE TULYA MADRABir sonraki köşenin arkasını göstermeyen sokaklarıyla Ayvalık’ta, Sa...
02/08/2026

KENDİ SOKAKLARINDA DOLAŞAN BİR İÇ GÖÇEBE
TULYA MADRA

Bir sonraki köşenin arkasını göstermeyen sokaklarıyla Ayvalık’ta, Santimetre’nin yaratıcısı Tulya Madra’nın evine adım atıyoruz, tapuları birleştirilmiş üç eski Rum evi; altı kapısı, farklı kotları ve avlusunun üzerinden geçen köprüsüyle kendi içinde bir mini Ayvalık.

Bir iç göçebenin hikayesi bu. Kendi evinin sokaklarında dolaşan, her köşede kök salmış ama hiçbir şeye bağlanmamış, nesnelere değil, taşıdıkları hafızaya tutunan bir kadının hikayesi.

Domus dergileri arasında geçen bir çocukluktan New York SoHo’ya, Türkiye’de el yapımı porselenin yolunu ilk döşeyen ellerden birinden son sözün hep fırında olduğu, tornada dönen bir hayata uzanan katmanlı bir sohbet.

✨ Fotoğraflar çok şey anlatır ancak yazının tamamını okumak fotoğrafları daha iyi okumamıza da olanak tanır. Tulya’nın hikayesini ve yaşam alanındaki izlerini keşfetmek için yorumlara “TULYA” yazın. Yazının tamamını sizinle DM üzerinden paylaşalım.

Fotoğrafçı ve editör: Tarık Cengiz
Yazar: Dalia Maya
Konuk seçimi ve kreatif direktör: Omar Baban
Konuk: tulya madra ™️

🌀

AN INNER NOMAD WANDERING HER OWN STREETS
TULYA MADRA

In Ayvalık, where streets never reveal what lies beyond the next corner, we step into the home of Tulya Madra, creator of Santimetre three old Greek houses joined into one, with six doors, different levels and a bridge over the courtyard: a mini Ayvalık of its own.

A story of an internal nomad: a woman who wanders the streets of her own home, rooted everywhere yet bound to nothing attached not to objects, but to the memory they carry.

A layered conversation reaching from a childhood spent among Domus magazines to New York’s SoHo, from one of the first hands to shape Turkey’s handmade porcelain to a life spinning on the potter’s wheel, where the final word always belongs to the kiln.

✨ Photographs tell us a great deal, yet reading the full story allows us to read the photographs even better. To discover Tulya’s story and the traces it leaves in her living space, comment “TULYA” below. We will share the full story with you via DM.

ANATOLIA IN BLOOMA Suzani bedspread by Omar Baban Design where hand embroidery meets handwoven moiré Kutnu fabric and th...
30/07/2026

ANATOLIA IN BLOOM

A Suzani bedspread by Omar Baban Design where hand embroidery meets handwoven moiré Kutnu fabric and the traditional art of Anatolian quilting transforms the bed into the visual and emotional heart of the room.

Crafted from Suzani textiles entirely hand embroidered in Uzbekistan and brought together with the traditional Anatolian quilting tradition, each piece is hand stitched in Istanbul.

Finished with Gaziantep's historic Kutnu fabric, these designs unite exceptional craftsmanship, cultural memory, and a timeless aesthetic sensibility.

Created one by one by artisans, each piece carries the character of a collectible heirloom designed to be preserved and passed down through generations.

ANATOLIA IN BLOOMSuzani embroidery flowing from Uzbekistan’s silk roads and Anatolia’s centuries old quilting tradition ...
20/07/2026

ANATOLIA IN BLOOM

Suzani embroidery flowing from Uzbekistan’s silk roads and Anatolia’s centuries old quilting tradition build a bridge in this design the colorful handcraft of Central Asia and the patient craftsmanship of Anatolia breathe side by side on the same fabric.

Suzani fabric, emerging from the hands of Uzbek embroidery masters, arrives in Istanbul like a memory of the thousands of years old Silk Road. Here, it is reinterpreted with Anatolia’s quilting technique passed down from generation to generation two different hands, two different traditions, meeting in a single piece.

Gaziantep weaves the final layer, Kutnu fabric, woven on the same looms for centuries, becomes the final stone of this bridge. The embroidery language of Central Asia and the weaving heritage of Anatolia write a shared alphabet here.

This is far more than a bedspread, a work where two cultures join hands, where craftsmanship speaks rather than borders. Each one is unique, each one carries a craftsman’s labor and is ready to be passed down through generations.

ÇİNİLİ KÖŞKIstanbul Archaeological Museums, Gülhane Park, Cankurtaran, Osman Hamdi Bey Yokuşu, Fatih, İstanbul This eleg...
18/07/2026

ÇİNİLİ KÖŞK
Istanbul Archaeological Museums, Gülhane Park, Cankurtaran, Osman Hamdi Bey Yokuşu, Fatih, İstanbul

This elegant summer pavilion, set down by Sultan Mehmed the Conqueror in 1472 amid the groves of Sarayburnu, changed hands over the centuries now an imperial museum, now a storehouse, now a forgotten backdrop and each time waited to be rediscovered. So it is today the oldest surviving example of Ottoman civil architecture in Istanbul has reopened its doors after a restoration lasting three and a half years, and now houses the rarest examples of Seljuk and Ottoman tilework.

The delightfully airy Çinili Köşk is the sole survivor of three pavilions built for Mehmed the Conqueror, each representing an entirely different style. This one is believed to have been constructed by craftsmen brought from the newly conquered principality of Karaman, men who had never lost their kinship with Timurid Bukhara; the Conqueror’s historian Tursun Bey describes the building as being “in the Persian manner” and praises it as a “paradise on earth.” The clue in its name is telling, too: instead of the Persian “kâşî”, the “sırça” of the Konya–Karaman basin was preferred and there are still those who call it the Sırça Saray, the Glass Palace.

The building was conceived in stone, made to last, in an age when wood reigned supreme. Its four iwan plan, opening onto a great domed central hall, is nothing less than a monumental interpretation of the domestic tradition the Turks carried from Central Asia to Anatolia. Its façade, adorned with turquoise and white mosaic tiles, geometric patterns and Kufic calligraphy, gives the building that light, almost airborne appearance. Though the fourteen-columned marble portico took its present form later probably in the repairs that followed the fire of 1737 the spell remains unbroken.

The collection numbers some two thousand pieces; understandably, only a hand picked few are on show.
But most of what is displayed is breathtakingly beautiful, and the natural light quite mesmerising. The pieces date from between the eleventh and twentieth centuries alongside the finest İznik and Seljuk examples, there are ceramics from Kütahya and Çanakka

Çınarlı Mosque and Saatli Mosque – AyvalıkOnce serving Ayvalık’s Greek Orthodox community as the churches of Agia Iorgi ...
16/07/2026

Çınarlı Mosque and Saatli Mosque – Ayvalık

Once serving Ayvalık’s Greek Orthodox community as the churches of Agia Iorgi and Agia Ianni, these two monumental buildings were converted into mosques during the early years of the Republic.

As you step inside, it is the architecture that first captures your attention. Then your eye begins to notice the details. Corinthian capitals… Baroque inspired plaster ornamentation… Acanthus leaves, clusters of grapes, and elegant scrolling vines… These are not merely decorative elements. Since Antiquity, the acanthus leaf has symbolised the continuity of life, while the grape cluster has represented abundance and spiritual rebirth in Christian iconography. Even though beliefs have changed, these symbols continue to live on in the memory of the stone.

One of the most remarkable details of Çınarlı Mosque is its iconostasis. This monumental architectural screen, which in Orthodox churches separates the sacred space from the congregation, still stands today in all its elegance. Beside it, the wooden ambo, where sermons were once delivered, is now used as the minbar. Although its function has changed, the delicate carved craftsmanship created by master artisans continues to live on.

At Saatli Mosque, the eye is inevitably drawn to the former bell tower. The clock, added later, gave the building its present-day name while also adding a new layer to Ayvalık’s skyline. The façade, built of Sarımsak stone, reflects the Aegean sun in different tones throughout the day; it takes on one character in the morning and an entirely different one in the late afternoon. This volcanic limestone, unique to the region, has become an indispensable material of Ayvalık’s architecture not only because of its durability, but also because of the relationship it establishes with light.

Perhaps what makes these two buildings truly remarkable is that they do not belong to a single period. For centuries, they have hosted changing communities, different languages, and different forms of worship, while preserving the unifying power of architecture. They remind us that exceptional craftsmanship and enduring architecture can continue to live on, even as id

PAPAVERİN UYANIŞITUBA OSKANNATURA KARMAEtiler’in en eski sitelerinden birinde, gizemli Avusturyalı bir anneden miras Viy...
12/07/2026

PAPAVERİN UYANIŞI
TUBA OSKAN
NATURA KARMA

Etiler’in en eski sitelerinden birinde, gizemli Avusturyalı bir anneden miras Viyana antikaları, modern heykeller ve çiçekler arasında, Natura Karma’nın yaratıcısı Tuba Oskan’ın evine adım atıyoruz.

Bir papaver hikayesi bu: Dışarıdan sıradan görünen bir kesenin, 42 yaşında yırtılıp içindeki muhteşem çiçeği ortaya çıkarışının hikayesi.

Kayıpla sessizleşen bir çocukluktan gizlice hayali kurulan yarış pistlerine, annesinden kalan 1893 tarihli tabloyu küle çeviren yangından kusurların ve yaraların güzelliğini kutsayan Wabi-Sabi felsefesine uzanan katmanlı bir sohbet.

✨ Fotoğraflar çok şey anlatır ancak yazının tamamını okumak fotoğrafları daha iyi okumamıza da olanak tanır. Tuba’nın hikayesini ve yaşam alanındaki izlerini keşfetmek için yorumlara “Tuba” yazın. Yazının tamamını sizinle DM üzerinden paylaşalım.

Fotoğrafçı ve editör:
Yazar:
Konuk seçimi ve kreatif direktör:
Konuk: .karma

🌀

THE AWAKENING OF THE PAPAVER
TUBA OSKAN
NATURA KARMA

In one of the oldest residential complexes of Etiler, among Viennese antiques inherited from a mysterious Austrian mother, contemporary sculptures and flowers, we step into the home of Tuba Oskan, creator of Natura Karma.

A story of a papaver: an ordinary looking pod that, at forty two, tears itself open to reveal the magnificent flower hidden inside.

A layered conversation reaching from a childhood silenced by loss to racetracks dreamed of in secret, from a fire that turned her mother’s 1893 painting to ash to the Wabi-Sabi philosophy that celebrates the beauty of imperfections and wounds.

✨ Photographs tell us a great deal, yet reading the full story allows us to read the photographs even better. To discover Tuba’s story and the traces it leaves in her living space, comment “Tuba” below. We will share the full story with you via DM.

ANATOLIA IN BLOOM A Suzani bedspread by Omar Baban Design where hand embroidery meets handwoven moiré Kutnu fabric and t...
03/07/2026

ANATOLIA IN BLOOM

A Suzani bedspread by Omar Baban Design where hand embroidery meets handwoven moiré Kutnu fabric and the traditional art of Anatolian quilting transforms the bed into the visual and emotional heart of the room.

Crafted from Suzani textiles entirely hand embroidered in Uzbekistan and brought together with the traditional Anatolian quilting tradition, each piece is hand stitched in Istanbul.

Finished with Gaziantep's historic Kutnu fabric, these designs unite exceptional craftsmanship, cultural memory, and a timeless aesthetic sensibility.

Created one by one by artisans, each piece carries the character of a collectible heirloom designed to be preserved and passed down through generations.

Anatolia in bloom.A Suzani bedspread by Omar Baban Design where hand embroidery meets handwoven Kutnu fabric and the tra...
01/07/2026

Anatolia in bloom.

A Suzani bedspread by Omar Baban Design where hand embroidery meets handwoven Kutnu fabric and the traditional art of Anatolian quilting transforms the bed into the visual and emotional heart of the room.

Crafted from Suzani textiles entirely hand embroidered in Uzbekistan and brought together with the traditional Anatolian quilting tradition, each piece is hand stitched in Istanbul.

Finished with Gaziantep's historic Kutnu fabric, these designs unite exceptional craftsmanship, cultural memory,
and a timeless aesthetic sensibility.

Created one by one by artisans, each piece carries the character of a collectible heirloom designed to be preserved and passed down through generations.

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