Brought up with natural stone culture, young architect Yeşim Yüce pursues a big target…
We visited the stands at Marble Izmir. Huge book matches and slabs were everywhere. However, one of them drew our attention when we noticed different stones which were given a mountain-like appearance. As we examined this original artwork, which we had never seen before, we went to visit Erol Yüce, board chairman of Yüce, without losing time. We asked who designed the stand and Mr. Erol answered us smiling, “My daughter.” That’s how we met Yeşim Yüce, who is a young architect. An interior architect that was brought up at natural stone quarries learning its culture. First, we asked how this beauty took shape, and Ms. Yeşim reminded us of the motto of Yüce Marble: “Natura gave its secret to marble.” Then she said, “This year we’ve opened new quarries and we wanted to symbolically represent our new quarries with mountains, as nature’s secret. It’s drawn a lot of attention so far. Everybody is curiously taking photos of it.”
Then we mentioned architects. As we stated that Turkish architects seem to be unaware of the fact that Turkey is a natural stone country. Yeşim Yüce agreed, nodded, and continued, “Marble is a natural source that changes each year following fashion. Even though I’m in the sector I can barely follow this, and the fact that architects prefer only black, white, or light grey shades in their projects proves us right. Unfortunately, they work with so few marble materials and they don’t use them actively. We see marble in luxurious projects or foreign projects. But the cost is also an issue. Interior architects tend to use tiles instead of high-cost marbles. The popularity of marble has increased in 5 years, however, there’s still a lot about it.”
What should we do then? What should the natural sector do? The young architect emphasizes a weakness of the sector: “The sector is concentrated on export and making all the profit out of export. Many stones are directly exported, so Turkish architects don’t get to see them. To pave the way for them, we must show the stones to them, organize workshops, and open showrooms. Marble has to be more accessible. We need to display the products in their final form in places where people can easily reach them. We had fallen behind in craftsmanship, but we are developing. If we can make marble accessible as a table or a statue, we can encourage Turkish architects to invest in these products.”
Before going, we mentioned design. For an architect that has raw materials, this is the keyword. Yeşim Yüce concluded her words, “We need to shine out with applications and projects. For years, we have exported our stones to China. Then China processes them in its domestic market and sells them to the world. We are creating our own rivals. I agree, selling blocks is good. You sell the block and get the money, however, if we have all these natural sources, we need to process them well and sell them for better prices. We need to show everybody the capability of Turkish marble in more special projects and with better applications. And all this goes through design. It remains in the background in Turkey. Turkish architect comes, looks at the stone, and says, “There’s nothing special about it, it is not mobile.” Later you sell the same stone to a foreign buyer, he turns it into something else and you say “wow.” That’s why the design is the key. That’s what we must solve as the sector and elevate Turkish stone altogether.
