Sadi Ozis had to use water pipes or construction metal bars for the first time to produce metal furniture at Kare Metal.

Sadi Ozis tells how they managed to come over the hardship:

“… In that time there was nothing for producing metal furniture. Only water pipes and construction iron bars and they were crooked and uneven. We were looking for a way to make them straight. We found the Mico in Persembe Bazaar. He was a well known guy. He had a filthy shop. He was heating our metal bars, rolling and straightening. When we had new orders, it became very difficult to find straight pipes. During that time Huseyin Kocabiyik and Asım Kocabiyik started to produce pipes. But it was necessary to make them ready for furniture production. Mico found a solution to that problem too. We had steel molds made and worked the round pipes with these to produce pipes in different structures.

Chair made from real fishnet

Even pipe producers were surprised. Therefore we produced metal pipes for furniture production.” I was a student at the Academy in 1960s. Those pipes were an innovation back then.

We could use these pipes that we saw for the first time to produce various articles. These pipes were used in furniture production and interior design&decoration for many years. In 1960’s there was no sub-industry for furniture in Turkey, thus Sadi Ozis had to invent continuously. Let him tell us how it was:

“…All the material we used for furniture production was produced for different purposes. For instance we used metal sheets that were used in sieve production in some of our furniture. We asked cable producers to make cables without wires in them because it was necessary for weaving. We ordered special nets to women who were making mussel nets. We had serious problems when it came to upholstery of metal furniture. Because nobody knew how to do it, they never worked with such furniture till then. Upholsterers were nailing the fabric to wooden furniture. We found solutions to put metal and wood together, trained upholsterers. There was no foam either. We trained a couple of people who were producing bad quality foams in primitive ateliers. Actually this foam lost its flexibility in 1-2 years and turn to dust but we have no other option. Painting was another problem. Cellulose paint was not available in Turkey. There were no ovens to dry the paint. We made an oven using hundreds of incubator bulbs.

Armchair made from chicken frame

The only bright side was that the Academy community was very much interested and almost everyone purchased these. Unfortunately I was very tired of it and let go.” Therefore the metal furniture production lead by a bunch of artist from the Academy faded after 1967. However these efforts bear fruit soon. Especially after 1968 metal furniture industry shows a surprising development.

The events I summarized above set the foundation of extraordinarily developed furniture industry and design in Turkey. On the other hand, if people who purchased this rare furniture are still keeping them it means they have a very special collection of Turkish furniture design.

Source: Art + Decor 1995 by Onder Kucukerman

Onder Kucukerman and Sadi Ozis in 1995

Sa­di Öziş, the Turkish painter and sculptor stayed in France for 5 years, studied at Andre Lhote, Fernand Leger, Academie Julian ateliers and at Ecole de Louvre. He also worked with Paul Colin on stage and poster design. This article is based on his memories, documents and original furniture he presented to MSÜ Department of Industrial Design. Compared with today’s developed furniture industry, this humble enterprise may not seem spectacular, however, it had a very significant place in the 1950s Turkey where even wooden furniture was scarce.

İlhan Koman, Hadi Bara, Şadi Çalık and Sadi Öziş… These 4 people from the academy founded the Metal Sculpture Atelier and became the milestones in Turkish design history with the furniture they designed in the 50s. Despite tough times they created these “sculpture furniture” with extraordinary effort and persistance and we present this story through Sadi Öziş’s memories and documents.

A small group of artists at Mimar Sinan  University started to produce the first examples of metal furniture at the Metal Sculpture Atelier they founded in 1950s.

In the Ottoman period in 1850s, apart from the first products of the European Industrial Revolution, foreign craftsmen lead the furniture industry. 100 years later this situation did not change much, it was still that way in 1950s Turkey. In addition to that the depression of the World War II was still effective. It was hard to find good quality wood for furniture production. Wood industry in those days meant fruit boxes, clogs, plain wardrobes, primitive house and office furniture. Therefore the furniture industry was not developed in the country and importing was almost impossible. Especially in the metal furniture area only examples were simple office cabinets.

Sieve Armchair by Sadi Ozis

METAL SCULPTURE ATELIER and the ARTISTS

The Metal Atelier founded in the 1950s enbaled a bunch of young artists – who would be very famous later – to work on metal furniture design. Therefore sculptors and decorators started the first metal furniture production in Turkey in 1950s which continued for many years. Those who purchased them around that time may still be using these metal furniture and this first production in a way is a milestone in Turkish design history.

In the Sculpture Department of the Academy, a metal atelier was founded in 1953. The manager was Nejat Sirel and he supported the efforts. İlhan Koman, Sadi Öziş, Hadi Bara and Zühtü Müridoğlu were interested in the new atelier and later on Şadi Çalık joined them and they started to work together in this atelier.

Sadi Ozis, Gevher Bozkurt, Sadi Calik

Let Prof.Sadi Öziş continue to tell the story: “…In the deprartment of sculpture, we founded the metal atelier. Equipment such as oxygen welder, electrical welder, spot welder was arriving. It was so hard to find these during that time. Finally everything was ready and in 1953 İlhan Koman, me and Şadi Çalık started to work in the new metal workshop.

“Since the beginning we were so enthusiastic. We were always looking for the better and newer.”

“While we were working on metal, a couple of students started to show interest in the atelier such as Kuzgun Acar, Tamer Başoğlu, Aloş, Samahat Acuner… Thus the first metal sculpters production in Turkey started in our atelier.” As a matter of fact the artists involved in this atelier had all studied abroad for years and became members of  the Academy after coming back to Turkey.

” As a matter of fact in Painting/Sculpture competitions organized every year in Ankara, Sadi Öziş, İlhan Koman and Şadi Çalık has awards and their award winning pieces are still in the museum.”

“Nobody was interested in buying sculptures back then. We all needed a side income. That’s why we thought this was both art and furniture and started that way. That’s how we’vee started to design furniture.”

“To find the accurate measures in chair design we sat on the sand and made trials. When we found the best measurements on sand, we made plaster molds. We produced plaster samples using the mold and  let everyone sit on the chair to experiment the measurements. Then we arranged metal bars on these samples to check the angles.”

Sadi Calik working in the metal workshop

PRODUCTION PROCESS of METAL FURNITURE

Moderno was a well known decoration company back then and showed interest in the artists’ metal furniture.

Moderno realized the importance of this atelier immediately and decided to open an atelier together with the artists. They spared a part of their own atelier in Elmadag for this job. Sadi Ozis and Ilhan Koman started to work in this atelier.  It was built of wood and welding was dangerous in that atelier so they opened another atelier in Şişli. Sedad Hakkı Eldem was creating the best works of his life by then and he was also interested in this furniture. He decided to use them in the new hotel he was building in Kilyos. Artists were overwhelmed upon this demand because it means mass production. Sadi Öziş talks about the difficulty they had:

“… We were only interested in paintings, sculptures and fine arts in Paris. We never had metal furniture in mind. But then there was no decent furniture in Turkey. When we were working on these in the metal atelier, we were considering if Architect Fazıl Aysu and decorator Baki Aktar from the Academy are owners of this company. In fact, Moderno was the first address to apply for the graduates of Academy’s Decoration Department. In those days metal furniture the artists were working on was a significant design area in Europe. Famous architects, designers and artists were creating furniture with their own interpretation of the existing industrial products. 1950s were the beginning of the golden years of metal furniture throughout the world…

“… Sedad Hakkı was ordering continuously; 50 of this, 100 of that, 25 of those… The numbers were high and we panicked. We prepared the molds and employed qualified workmen through newspaper adds. Today’s well known names Ahmet Pilevneli and İsmail Sakız worked with us. We were producing and creating new designs at the same time. When the business started developing, relations wirh Moderno changed.

Kare Metal Furniture at Moderno Showroom

With the support of our friend Mazhar Süleymangil, we founded Kare Metal Atelier in Şişli. We bought the equipment, found the emplyees and started production. We were exhibiting the products in Moderno or in Oskar at Harbiye. Ahmet and İsmail worked very precisely. They have done a lot of good work later on working with many artists, archirects and decorators.” Artists continued to work on metal sculpture as well. They spent what they earned from furniture for sculpture. In 1958 things changed. There was a World Exhibition in Bussels and young architects such as Utarit İzgi, Muhlis Türkmen, Hamdi Şensoy and İl­han Türegün got the project for Turkey pavilion. Many artists participate in the pavilion such as İlhan Koman, Sabri Berkel, Namık Bayık, Gevher Bozkurt, Füreya Koral, Bedri Rahmi Eyüboğlu and others. İlhan Koman’s metal tower sculpture and furniture are also used in the project. That year foumder of Art et Architecture d’Aujord’hui Andre Block was trying to form “Group Es-pace” in Paris. He wanted to contact some artists from Turkey. He heard about the metal furniture in the Academy. The designs were sent to Paris and they asked for the prototypes. However, the procedure of sending such a huge parcel from Turkey was very difficult both financially and bureucratically. Prof.Öziş continues to tell the story:

“… Nobody was interested in us but Knoll International. They invited Hadi Bara and me to Paris. Back then, you can only take 500 TL worth of foreign currency abroad. Knoll International’s Paris representative was very enthusiastic and we were invited to USA headquarters one week later with patents of the designs. It was only then that we realized we had to go to Switzerland with all the designs, photos and other documents for patent applications, complete the procedure and then go to USA. But all we have is 500 TL worth of money.

After a couple of more meetings it was understood how difficult, almost impossible for us to carry.”

Meanwhile artists continue designing new furniture. However İlhan Ko­man moved to  Stockholm and the atelier is left to Sadi Öziş, In 1958 Şadi Çalık joined to worshop. Soon Şadi Çalık left too and Sadi Öziş founded Galeri T with his friend Gevher Bozkurt. They produced the first metal furniture using metal tube pipes. Sadi Öziş tells how they managed to come over the hardship: “… In that time there was nothing for producing metal furniture.