“Ya da?” in Turkish is known to English speakers as “or”. It’s the name of the design brand which is lately created by graphic designer Aslıhan Özgen and architect Nuray Togay. They have created the “white series” that consists of extraordinary patterned and hand binded notebooks and they are available in various spots in Turkey. Here is a short interview with the creators.
How did the idea of making notebooks first occurred?
Today, there are hundreds, thousands of types to every single object. And it’s boring that the varieties are only repeating each other in such wealth. For example, notebooks are objects which are produced in high amounts and consumed casually. It’s challenging for us to think that even though there are so many different types to them, they are produced in strict standards. Not that it’s bad to have standards; but notebooks tend to be more free objects, yet they always are made up of lines with constant distances. However, notebooks are like playgrounds where everyone can express themselves however they want. In order to make the user conscious of this, we started the process with the lines. We challenged the order and the stability and gave it a white binding. White being a messy colour is also helping the freeing of the object. It scares the buyer, but it was intended. You can wipe them clean, don’t worry about it. The production process was quite adventureous. Hand-binding issue complicated the whole process.
Do the hand-binding process point out that you actually hand made them in your studio?
Having our own studio is the one thing we want to have most. But we don’t have one yet. We transformed the printing houses’ bookbinderies to studios and this was quite extraordinary since we kind of unsettled their territory. But with all the staff, except for the bosses, we had so much fun. We were there during the whole process, even as much as asking the printing houses to start paying us salaries. We needed to be there all the time because of the sensitivity the work requires and the current conditions of the printing houses.
So is the reason behind the “limited amounts” a result of both wanting to create a special products and giving it a hand touch?
Hand-binding is not the only reason behind the limited amounts of production. It would be a controversy to talk about mass production with the things we did and will be doing that question the relations beteen consumption and design. We are not after growing habits. We are after building consciousness. This is a game for us and there are many more different notebooks we want to create.
What kind of difficulties did you face while producing the notebooks?
The easy models we made became inextricable once we started trying to produce them. There were even more problems to be overcomed while we were at the point of “What else could go wrong from no on?” The biggest obstacle was the current system in printing houses being suitable for mass production. And when you want to do something else, the system does not let you do that very easily. This is very particular to Turkey. “Boutique” therefore cannot improve here. That might bring up the question: If the production is that difficult in Turkey, why do we insist on doing it here? It’s because the common situation of buying the design from outside and producing the inner materials outside is irritating us.
You have a strong manifestational ground like “a life beyond consumption”… What determines you to define such a stage in terms of the current designing ideologies?
Ya da is a brand that wants to be alternative. Instead of reproducing what already is there, we move on by questioning the standards and usual habits. That’s why we called it “a life beyond consumption”. Ok, we are aware that there is no escape from consumption but we believe that today the designer has to take some risks. Instead of taking off from the habits of the market and doing what is told to be “good”, change has to take place. If the boundaries are not pushed, there is no way for the design neither to be placed in its correct place, nor to be demanded.
www.yadatasarim.com
