Q & A: Hussein Chalayan

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The Scene talks to maverick designer Hussein Chalayan about being inspired by Istanbul's collision of cultures.

TS: Why do you like Istanbul?

HC: Because I think it's a city full of unexpected moments. There's no linear structure, you could be expecting to see one thing and you end up seeing something else. The unexpectedness and spontaneity of the city keeps makes me feeling energized It keeps me open to new things constantly, It's almost like an exercise for me in remaining spontaneous and flexible.

TS: How does it inspire you?

HC: Every time I come here I discover something different. It is a place you never discover fully. It always surprises you. You smell the legacies of the past, of the different cultures coexisting. It feels like it once it was the center of the world in some respects, because of the vast Ottoman Empire. You feel it has this decaying grandeur that still has remnants of the past.

TS: What singles Istanbul out from other cities?

HC: For me it's a place were the culture is so kind. There's a lot of humanity, but still it's a competitive city. It's like any other metropolis. But I feel that there is a weird sort of bridge between provincial life and metropolitan life. You can be in the most European neighborhood and you can turn the corner and see a lady washing her carpets like she would in Anatolia in eastern Turkey. The fact that she doesn't really care, I find quite interesting, quite genuine. On the other hand it is a city getting more and more westernized. Most of it has a western feel. One minute you feel like you're in Paris, the next in Prague. At times it kind of looks like Moscow and then a bit like Barcelona, then Venice. I think it's such a mixture.

TS: What are the main attractions?

HC: There's a lot to be said about water here. The fact that it's next to water makes the city look very open, it lightens up the hustle and bustle. One minute you could be in the Beyoglu, in roads full of cafes, and the next you have the beauty of the Bosphorus with boats passing by like a dream.

It's full of so many layers. You can be in so many places at the same time. Even culturally, the way people live is very different from what people expect. It is obviously very secular, of course there is a small percentage of people who are more religious, but really I'd say it's a very much secular city. In fact Turkey is completely secular, but Istanbul is the New York of Turkey, and I think actually the New York of this region generally, compared to the countries surrounding it. Of all the Balkan countries and the north, I definitely think it's the most vibrant city.

TS: What about the artistic scene?

HC: There's a real dynamic young generation of people that are doing interesting stuff, and I think because of the multi-cultural and multi-ethnic mosaic that they live in, I think there are a lot of interesting ideas coming out. There's a feeling that people live for the future and don't care so much about the past, I think most of the rest of Europe, for me, still really lives with the past.

It is very much, for me, a city looking at the future and not preserving the past so much. Generally I find people here are open minded and they're open to foreigners and open to new things, much more so than many other European places.

TS: What defines Istanbul's culture?

HC: The thing about the young population of Turkey is a lot of people don't get the opportunity to travel. It's hard for them to get visas. It's really expensive for them. What they're exposed to is the diversity of Turkey but really not the diversity of the world. In a way Turks have been quite isolated, apart from the ones wealthy enough to travel. But they are luckier than people who come from small countries that can't travel, because here you get the Aegean culture, the eastern culture, the northern Black Sea culture, the Balkan culture then the Istanbulian culture, which is a thing in itself.

TS: How is that received outside Istanbul?

HC: I think the young kids here have a lot to draw from but they don't get enough exposure. People don't really know that much about Turkey, they think it's just this sort of underdeveloped Islamic country. For me when I hear about people's stories of Turkey, either they've gone on package holidays to the coast or they've been a voyeur here without seeing the more interesting tucked-away places.

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