Villa in Antalya. The interior, designed by designer Rayya Mokan

Passing the gallery

Text: Ekaterina Ivanova

Materials: - (c) Henry Wilson

Magazine: (Pumping)

Once, back in the 19th century, there was an ordinary shop where they sold everything that they did not get: bathrobes and soap, furniture and dishes, hookahs and tobacco. On the upper floors, as usual, lived. Now this typical Turkish building, with all the charms of past antiquity, has been restored and turned into a luxurious private residence. The villa is very close, according to current ideas, from the center of Antalya. But if there are teeming with modern hotels, then here time barely touched the old narrow streets. In the business center of Antalya, the Gonul family has a modern-style apartment. And on the outskirts of the city the owners wanted to live in a completely different way. A talented designer, Raya Mokan, a native of Turkey, who became famous for her work in many countries and lives in London, is the person who could perfectly cope with the task of combining national color with modern comfort. It turned out not just a folklore house "a la turkish", but an elaborate, competently executed, and simply very beautiful, design project. In order to maintain accuracy, the designer was guided not only by her own artistic intuition, but took up serious research not just anywhere, but in the British Museum. Patterns of carpets, accessories, handicrafts - everything corresponds not so much to the period of Atatürk’s rule, as to the era of the Ottoman Empire. The layout of the house with a courtyard (which allows al fresco dinner), the modern principles of space zoning do not destroy the whole image of the former Turkish shop, but, on the contrary, bring their share of the exotic and charm into the interior.