O Tannenbaum!

Surprisingly, this post is not about glasses; it is the story of a wooden box.

For Marko Paşa gift package, my mission was to find a very simple wooden box... So on internet there were very promising offers but for wholesale. No one wanted to make only 3 boxes of course and they suggested mdf (Medium Density Fiberboard;enlightenment) boxes that wood painters use for non-wholesale. Mdf boxes are good in size, variety however they have this dishonest color and character. They are basically used for painting over, actually now I feel kind of sympathy for mdf since they remind me of goalkeepers waiting for an attack made by them. It would be nice to show a mdf without hiding it with paint but I am off the topic right now, mdf boxes are not alive and although it is sad that they will never be exhibited without painting over, it is a school project and I need actual wood,not the medium density.

In search of a simple wooden box which is not mdf, I went to Çemberlitaş to see a carpenter. I said to the guy there that my uncle suggested this place as it was the case. The owner of the carpenter's shop did not remember my uncle and this caused a discomfort in him I guess. (why am I having this Jane Austen language?!) So he offered me a cup of fine tea with milk while the clocks were showing 5, kidding, but he actually ordered regular tea in incebelli and said the price. I immediately left the place while the clocks were showing 5.05...It was expensive. So I called my mom (I'm 22) and a friend to see what can be done. Mom said come back home and the friend gave his father's number. Coşkun Amca was ready to make the simple wooden box. It was good luck but I wanted to step by to Tahtakale since it was on my way. However sad mdf's were all over the place.A guy suggested Şarkhan. Şarkhan had everything except my simple wooden box. This place was like a center for Derya Baykals and they had overdecorated overcoloured over everything. So on my way back home which was including a second pass from Tahtakale to the port, something super happened. The answer was right in front of my face and it was already on my blog.

This place was called as the gate for time-travel in my previous post about Tahtakale. A carpenter with a very narrow entrance made my wish come true. They had the very simple wooden box which is not mdf and for good price I guess. We shook hands while my warm tears were wetting the narrow entrance of this magical carpenter.

Although the final of the story is that I found the box, what one can infer from the story is countless. (ibretlik bir hikaye)

First, being VACD student is like living in the huge gap between Derya Baykalling and mass production. Simple wooden boxes are available for the ones who can order 100 and for the hobby establishers, mdf's are waiting to be painted over with sailboats. (sorry hobby owners, it was an over-generalisation)

Second, as a Sabanci University student, I learned that Tannenbaum (pinetree) is not only a Christmas Carroll lyric but it is the material of my box. What this means, we live in such a theoretic and spurious environment in campus that Tahtakale again showed the realities of needs and production. As a design student I decided to have more teas with carpenters in incebelli rather than only admiring scandinavian behance parades.