Outstanding ARMAGGAN Opening

Last week Istanbul for Aficionados had the pleasure of attending the opening of the new ARMAGGAN location in Nuruosmaniye, and it was a pleasure as always. A lovely shop with their signature exquisite gold jewelry, original natural-dyed textiles and more, all hand-made in their artists' studios. To make it all that bit more enticing, there is a gallery featuring great contemporary Turkish art, plus innovative cuisine at Nar Restaurant, run by members of the team that have made the Feriye an Istanbul institution. Just for the curious, these are the highlights of their press release:

DESIGN, CULTURE, ART AND CUISINE COME TOGETHER UNDER ONE ROOF… WITH THE OPENING OF

“ARMAGGAN Nuruosmaniye”

ARMAGGAN, which crafts unique limited edition pieces inspired by Anatolia and infused with contemporary design in its own workshops and studios, opened its second location whose architectural sensibility complements its setting in the historic Nuruosmaniye district of Istanbul.

ARMAGGAN, which opened its first location in the select Istanbul shopping district of Nişantaşı in April of last year, opened its second location, a seven-story shopping emporium, in the heart of historic Istanbul’s Nuruosmaniye district, on May 31, 2011. ARMAGGAN Nuruosmaniye is the first store of its kind to combine a range of retail outlets from different categories under the same roof, including exclusive pieces from our jewelry, design objects, natural dye textiles, carpets, leather and home textile collections, as well as NAR Gourmet, NAR Restaurant, NAR Coffeehouse, the YESAM Culinary Arts Center, the ARMAGGAN Art Gallery and Bora Travel.

NAR Restaurant and NAR Gourmet Specialties

NAR Gourmet, which breathes fresh life into centuries-old Anatolian culinary traditions, opened both a restaurant and a shop at ARMAGGAN Nuruosmaniye. Featuring the finest Turkish and Ottoman cuisine, NAR Restaurant is the newest must-try destination on the Istanbul culinary map. NAR Restaurant’s extensive menu features the full spectrum of Turkey’s culinary heritage from palace cuisine to village fare, in an atmosphere whose elegant décor is the perfect setting for a unique selection of rich and exotic flavors.

ARMAGGAN also offers a wide selection of Nar Gourmet specialties. With gourmet treats ranging from an exclusive collection of fine olive oils and tart molasses, and from village jams to marmalade, as well as from organic dried fruits to rock candy, not to mention a delectable line of sweets including everything from grape molasses to traditional Turkish Delight, ARMAGGAN Nuruosmaniye is sure to please even the most demanding gourmets.

YESAM Culinary Arts Center

Located on the fourth floor of ARMAGGAN Nuruosmaniye, the YESAM Culinary Arts Center, with support from the Turkish Cultural Foundation (TCF), is dedicated to preserving Turkey’s culinary heritage, reviving forgotten dishes and styles of cooking, reinvigorating those that are threatened and ensuring that this rich tradition continues to be handed down from generation to generation. Directed by Vedat Başaran, YESAM is designed to add a new dimension of value to Istanbul, with three conference halls, a show kitchen and a world cuisine research library.

ARMAGGAN Art Gallery

Located on the third floor of ARMAGGAN Nuruosmaniye and also supported by the Turkish Cultural Foundation (TCF), the ARMAGGAN Art Gallery helps prominent and promising Turkish artists reach a wider audience. The opening exhibition at the gallery includes sculpture and functional art by Turkish artists who have exhibited at SOFA Chicago and SOFA New York, an important first step in the gallery’s mission of helping to promote and support Turkish artists working in a variety of disciplines and media.

At least since Lady Mary Wortley Montague in the 18th century, virtually every Western writer, including such other luminaries as Voltaire and Agatha Christie, at some juncture in their musings on the city inevitably comments on the streets, the commotion, crowds, colors and sound. Many also mention Istanbul's plethora of maze-like narrow winding streets. What they do not touch on, and for that matter, neither do most Turks, is the names of the streets. This may simply be because, since there are so many of them, no on can manage to remember their names.

 

In fact, street addresses are something of a polite fiction – everyone has one, but no one really uses them. When going some place for the first time, one dutifully records the street address, but what really matters is the directions, preferably in minute detail, that guide one to one's destination. It is a shame, however, that no one pays attention to the street names, because Istanbul has what, to my knowledge may be the most interesting, and sometimes funniest, street names in the world. Just the streets where I myself have lived are fascinating. The first was Dubaraci Sokak, which means literally, "One who throws doubles in backgammon lane", or something to that effect, but put more accurately, it means "Four-flusher Lane". How this street came to get that name and how much backgammon was or was not played there was something I would wonder from time to time.

 

Next I moved to Beyazgul Caddesi, or "White Rose Street", which is, perhaps, prettier but certainly not so interesting. From there it was on to Boyali Kosk Sokak, or "Painted Mansion Lane". I always found that one significant, because it seemed to me that it must have indicated that most of the Bosphorus-side mansions were not painted, whether as a matter of tradition or for economic reasons. Also, that name to me implies that some street names may have crossed over from landmarks used in oral direction-giving, as in, "Walk down the street in front of the painted mansion". Not far away is another eccentric one: Dul Kadirogullari Sokak, or "Sons of the Widower Kadir Lane".

 

This name also indicates the historic nature of some street names.

Currently, our offices are on Mesrutiyet Caddesi, or "Constitution

Street", which must have been given its name during the early

Republican period. The same is certainly true of Cumhuriyet Caddesi, or "Republic Street", which is the main artery feeding into Taksim Square. Another unknown historic name for a street is Kennedy Caddesi, named after the American president of course, which is not far from the airport but which everyone refers to simply as "the coast road".

 

My friend, the poet, John Ash, lives on Timarci Sokak, alternately

"Groom Lane" or "Stableman Lane", in the part of the historic district of Pera at the foot of the Galata Tower, which is, referred to as Kule Dibi, literally, "At the Base of the Tower". This was, in its heyday, a very wealthy and fashionable district full of grand townhouses, so it is hard to imagine that there would have been a livery stable there, but then what is the source of the name? Equally, my girlfriend lives on Vezir Kosku Sokak, or "Grand Vezir's Mansion Lane" and one is naturally impelled to ask, "Which Vezir?" casting one's mind back through the long and colorful cast of Ottoman grandees who held that title.

 

Other street names are simply quaint, such as Aynali Cesme Sokak, or "Mirrored Fountain Street". There is also the occasional literary name, like Omer Hayam Yokusu, which requires a digression onto the concept of the "Yokus". The word literally means incline, slope or gradient and, as a street name is usually rendered as "uphill street". In Istanbul, a city originally built, like Rome, on seven hills that, as it has expanded, has come to be a city of hundreds of hills, each seemingly in competition to be the most precipitous and daunting and to have the steepest, windiest, most treacherous streets. Fittingly, just as the Eskimos have 40 words for snow, so do Istanbullus have a word for steep streets, the one mentioned previously being "Omar Khayam Uphill Street". Thrusting straight up hill through a rather seamy district of gypsies living in now dilapidated grand mansions with laundry strung across the streets in a riot of color and mysterious glimpses into other lives, his Uphill Road is a fitting tribute to the poet.

 

Another one that is interesting not so much for its name is Yesil Cam Sokak, "Green Pine Street", which is prosaic enough, but because, just as the Hollywood district of LA gave its name to the American film industry, so has the Turkish film industry, especially of a certain era twenty to thirty years ago, come to be known as "Yesil Cam" for the street where most of the film companies of the time were located.

 

In closing, I will touch on my favorite street name. I have never seen the street and, to preserve my imaginings of it, may choose never to go. A director we sometimes work with was editing a film at a studio on the street, which is not far from Omar Khayyam Uphill Road, and I had to send him a package by motorcycle messenger. Dutifully writing down the address, it was only after I put down my cell phone that I was struck by its name, which is Pur Telas Sokak. It is not quite translatable, but a good attempt might be "Unadulterated Haste Street". Not only is it simply unimaginable to me how and why this street name could have been selected, but I also think it perfectly apt for the world of commercial film and post-production, where there is never enough time, virtually no sleep and Pur Telas is the reigning state of mind.

 

With all due respect to U2: Istanbul, where the streets have names, but no one knows them...

let's try this...

Istanbul Bargain-Hunting, or, The Dangers of Cheap Blue Jeans