I've been the partner for Assouline in Turkey since 2010, and we have two stores in Istanbul. My main vision was to create books about Turkish culture and our cities, to open a window for the world to see it.
Nevbahar Koc had the beautiful idea of creating a book on the Bosphorus lifestyle, so this project was really about taking her childhood and past on the Bosphorus, and bringing it to life. We worked with photographer Emre Guven, a fashion photographer for Turkish Vogue, and Andrew Finkel, a journalist and expat who has lived by the Bosphorus in Istanbul for many years.
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Take the Bosphorus out of Istanbul and it would be a very different place – it really is the magic of the city, where East meets West, and it gives Istanbul its energy, so we wanted to portray this to the rest of the world.
Some of the homes featured in the book are traditional yalis, but many of them are much grander and more contemporary now. The word 'yali' essentially means an old wooden house by the water, and they were mostly built as summerhouses, holiday houses and hunting lodges.
Besides the yalis, we also have other historical homes featured in the book, which overlook the Bosphorus, but are not directly on the water's edge. There are houses along the Bosphorus that date back to the 16th and 17th century, and the interiors of Ottoman houses were built in a very particular way, reflecting how people used to socialise at that time. Rooms generally opened up towards a central, inner room we call the sofa system.
Indeed, as Serdar Gulgun – author of Ottoman Chic by Assouline – mentioned, Ottoman design was very cosmopolitan even before the word cosmopolitan was coined. There are Italian influences that come from trade; you can see the Chinese influence of blue and white, which influenced the design of tiles and mosaics at the time; and towards the end of the Ottoman era there were French influences, so lots of different cultures are combined.
There's a lot of history on the Bosphorus, and you can see many palaces along the shore, such as Dolmabahce Palace, Ciragan Palace and Beylerbeyi Palace. But Istanbul is a city of contrasts, and when you look at the skyline, you see the yalis, palaces and traditional Ottoman-style buildings as well as many new, modern structures.
We really wanted to show that the Bosphorus is a place you can visit all year round, so we photographed the houses at different times of the year to capture the rich colours of spring and summer, as well as the mystery of the winter.
Nevbahar Koc
I grew up on the Bosphorus and, while I lived in LA for a number of years, I came back to the Bosphorus. I live on the Asian side, where there's more nature and it's more residential. The European side is the more commercial part of the city with more hustle and bustle.
We particularly wanted to show contemporary yalis in this book, because while most of the traditional yalis are designed in the older Ottoman style, the younger generation has brought a much more contemporary dimension to the designs, and the old and the new really complement each other, whether it's through art or furniture.
Life on the Bosphorus is constantly evolving, but many things remain the same. It's still a connected and close-knit community and a lifestyle where you do everything by the water, for example people go to other people's houses with boats. There's a constant flow of events happening, and in the summer it's very lively, with lots of parties and fireworks at night.
One thing that has changed, which I miss, is that there used to be a lot of fishing boats so you could buy fish in front of your yali straight from the boat, but this doesn't happen so much anymore. However, there are some amazing, authentic fish restaurants along the Bosphorus, as well as modern international restaurants such as Zuma, so you can find a broad range of cuisine.
We spoke to a wonderful selection of vibrant personalities, who welcomed us into their private homes to share their unique stories of the Bosphorus, but perhaps the person we were most excited to include was Belma Simavi, one of my family friends and an icon of entertaining, in the book. She's so iconic in her spirit and her look, and everything about her and her home is incredibly colourful and fabulous.
You can spend all day exploring along the Bosphorus, and if I was hosting guests, we'd start the day having breakfast outside in the garden by the water, then we'd go to the Grand Bazaar or Spice Bazaar, walk around and do some shopping. For lunch we'd probably go to an authentic Turkish fish restaurant, or Lucca, a popular cafe in Bebek.
In the evening, I'd recommend a restaurant called Kahraman near the Black Sea, which is famous for its turbot. It's very traditional and located right at the end of the Bosphorus, so if you travelled here from the Grand Bazaar, you'd have covered the whole length of the Bosphorus to the Black Sea.
I've cruised up and down the Bosphorus hundreds of times, and its beauty never ceases to captivate me, as there are always new surprises.
Irem Kinay has collaborated on several books with Assouline, including The Grand Bazaar Istanbul, The Light of Istanbul, and Ottoman Chic. Her passion for the arts and for books resulted in a complete career change from banking and finance to become Assouline's partner in Turkey.
Nevbahar Koc was born and raised on the Bosphorus. She graduated from Loyola Marymount University with a fine arts degree, and her passion for art, design, and photography and her love of Istanbul inspired this book. She currently serves on the board of Acikkapi Social Responsibility Association to help children deprived of basic and social rights.
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