Who We Are

We're Utku and Başak. We live on Büyükada. Utku is a musical theater artist, Başak is a sculptor and illustrator.

When we first walked into this house, it was in ruins. But there was something in the walls — in the fire bricks, the wooden floors, the seventy-year-old Greek architecture. We couldn't quite name it, but we couldn't walk away either. We spent three months working with our own hands. Every tile, every color, every texture was chosen one by one.

When the renovation was done, we stayed here ourselves first and looked at the apartments through a guest's eyes. And we were sure. What came out of it is neither entirely new nor entirely old — the original soul of the house intertwined with our own touch. Two apartments in the heart of Büyükada.

Başak still fills the house with new plants every season. Utku keeps track of every detail. This isn't just a place to stay — it's a place that transformed along the way, one we look after like our own home, because it is.