About Us
BTURKTWEEN is the manufacturer of Bturk tshirts designed by Reha Erdogan. "BTurk" by Designer Reha Erdogan is a radical and broad design project. Initially it has been applied to T-shirts which are currently being exhibited at IDW (Istanbul Design Week) between 12-17 September at the Old Galata Bridge.
Different meanings of BTurk (Be-Turk) are expalined, and detailed information about Reha Erdogan is given below:
1. TO BE "TURK"
2. A REFLECTION OF A COSMOPOLITAN CULTURE THAT HAS SURVIVED THROUGH THOUSANDS OF YEARS, INHERITING A MULTICULTURAL,MULTIRELIGIOUS AND MULTILINGUAL STRUCTURE.
3.BRINGING THE "LEGENDS, AUTHENTIC AND ETHNIC TURKISH VALUES,SYMBOLS AND VISUAL OBJECTS THAT HAVE EVOLVED THROUGH NATIONAL HISTORY" TOGETHER, ENHANCING THESE WITH TODAY'S AESTHETIC VALUES.
4.USING THE MAGICAL EFFECTS OF DESIGN WHILE IMAGINING THE FUTURE,AND BRINGING ABOUT A FORM THAT COULD BE ACCEPTED,LIKED AND ADOPTED BY THE DIFFERENT CULTURES OF THE WORLD.
5. RESHAPING DESIGNS WHILE BEING LOYAL TO THE ORIGINAL FORMS, INSTEAD OF COPYING THE ALREADY KNOWN ITEMS.
6.PRESENTING THE SYMBOLS OF TURKISH CIVILIZATION, KNOWN AS THE HEART OF MYSTIC "ORIENT", TO THE WHOLE WORLD.
7.A RADICAL TURKISH DESIGN MOVEMENT APPLIED TO VARIOUS ITEMS RANGING FROM FASHION, MUSIC, INTERIOR TO FOOD CULTURE.
8.BRINGING OUT THE "TURKISH" ITEMS THAT WE ARE ACCUSTOMED TO DAYLIGHT, REDEFINING ALL SO THAT THE WORLD COULD REDISCOVER THEM.
Reha Erdogan has graduated from Istanbul Academy of Fine Arts, Deparment of Graphics, with both BA and MA degrees. Designer studied silk screen and stone printing by Süleyman Saim Tekcan. After he has worked as art director for "Nokta" weekly magazine, he has founded "Mart Ajans", an advertisement agency, with Salih Memecan. Since 1989' he has been working as the art director of Hürriyet newspaper.
He studied "newspaper design, info-graphics, colour" during 1991-1995 with Dr. Mario Garcia, Peggy Starck and Nigel Holmes.He has also attended St. Petersbourg Times, Kansas City Star and Orange County Register newspapers to counsel their design staff. Since 1995 he created more than 50 newspaper and magazine designs which are currently being published.
Designer exhibited his 14 pieces of 3D designs at "ADesign Fair 2004" in Istanbul for the first time. One of his designs, the "Jenga" chair, has been invited to Berlin Brohan Museum By Torsten Brohan. Another one, "Wantuz" chair, has been included in Prof. Mel Byars' recent book "New Chairs".
Last year his armchair "Sketch" was chosen by BBBulletin, the official publishing of Bread & Butter, to decorate its special lounge at the Barcelona and Berlin "Bread & Butter Fair", which were realized recently between January 18-30.The "Sketch" armchair is part of the collection he has designed for "Damat Tween LIFE Co.", which is composed of 90 pieces of masculen furniture and their matching accessories, manufactured by Orka Group.
Between dates September 12-17 2006, Reha Erdogan will be presenting his new project "BTURK" at the Istanbul Design Week (IDW) in Istanbul. Also Tween has attended the fashion fair at Tokyo, Japan on October 2006 with Bturk t-shirts. Mainly his designs are based on the authentic Turkish culture, figures used during the Ottoman Empire history and religious symbols. These designs are transformed into today's minimalist, modern forms and applied on T-shirts by Reha Erdogan in a creative way. BTurk project will be expanded later on broader concepts, T-shirts being the initial phase (fashion design). Eventually Reha Erdogan will apply "BTurk" to interior, food and sound designs