I feel like we design our personalities and characters by our choices. Throughout my childhood, I’ve been interested in forms, shapes and functionalities of different things.    

My choices have not always been towards the direction I currently am heading towards though. Especially considering I went on to study computer science at TU Delft for a year. Throughout my childhood I’ve had a connection with design, but I just wasn’t sure how that would be realized into a profession. Considering I was competent and interested in technology, I decided to go with computer science.  That choice wasn’t easy though.  

In high school, I was into graphic design for fun. I used to create stickers and I would design t-shirts both for personal use and our senior class. Besides this affinity towards digital design, I have always been into art, but I just didn’t pursue that part of my personality enough to affect my decisions towards my career. But this changed when I first started photography on the last year of my high school. 

Growing up in Bodrum, I had the luxury of being connected with nature and the exteriors more than my peers who grew up in the cities of Turkey. This also meant that I had more trust and naiveness in me as I didn’t have to face the challenges or dangers of big cities. I moved to Istanbul for my high school and Istanbul has been the formative city that shaped me to become the person I am today. The sensory overload that comes from experiencing Istanbul has an unexplainable property. This big city has swallowed me and I have grown to enjoy every moment of it. My time inside Istanbul has taught me to treat everything as a journey, no matter how cruel it might be.  

Besides this personal aspect, the multicultural heritage of Istanbul has also shown me approaches from different cultures, people and times.