Çukurcuma is one of the most fascinating Beyoğlu in Istanbul, with its narrow streets overflowing with objects brocanterie exposed by antique dealers, antique bath, art galleries and studios of young artists / designers: everything comes together to create a unique atmosphere, bohemian and refined. Faik Paşa Sokak just embarked on one of the first small shops whose windows before you are amazed by what is Mine Kerse (Faik Paşa Sk no. 1 / a, tel: 0212 2493561). From behind the glass you see her hats, her bags, shoes, displayed with great grace and discretion beside old chest full of yellow and brown leaves and delicate small bouquets of dried flowers. The atmosphere is full of beige, the nuances of cream to brown, from light gray the green just mentioned. The same elegance shy of branches and withered leaves that decorate the shop. Mine creates its models in the studio on the top floor which is accessed with an iron ladder and there amongst the stuffs there are other leaves, small stems of other plants collected. The enchanting music with which he works, he says, has no words because they do not want to turn away from his work: the music seems to have the same hushed tones of the rest of the wrap. There are the old tailor's dummies in the shop. Mine found them to be
one of the many small antiques Faik Paşa, just outside the door of his shop. They are objects to her family since he was a child, since he watched enchanted work of her mother who sewed wedding dresses and her grandmother creating bags and corsets. A symbolic reminder of continuity with the past, this family is still clearly visible in each of his bags which are used as handles, shoulder straps or decorations that turned the same chords in the wheels of the old Singer sewing machines. Mine has inherited a tradition of ancient artisans valuable knowledge that, after an apprenticeship and collaboration with the turkish fashion designer Ümit Ünal, then united, in his studio, a great creative capacity and a recognizable style and very sophisticated. 
The lights are low and it is as if all things remain a bit 'hidden.
Her hats have the large commas of cloth on one side, as if to cover part of the face. She explains that the feeling that motivates them is what may prove a little girl who wants to watch the world curious, but secretly, without being seen. And 'why Mine loves the autumn tones and instils in his creations. Autumn is something for her protection, a hiding reassuring: the sun, like a child conceived after her hats, can be hidden, sometimes in the clouds. Summer is a lie, he said. There is a hair of a dusty light blue but the colors of an autumn sky.
expected to increase in future Mine the production of shoes (simple models from neutral tones, delicate). Reversing, in fact, the common vision that gives unquestioned centrality dress for her shoes or bags should not be considered "incidental," but the real protagonists of dress which is pretty else that needs to adapt. Mine notes that when a woman leaves the house you often change their clothes, but not empty his bag every time.
In its inspiration not aware there are references to a certain style or period of art history. If, however, to imagine a distant echo to his models, maybe they found something in the middle ages. It 's a suggestion perfect for his creations and is reflected in the elegance that does not claim to show, but waiting to be discovered. Front of his shop is not taught, its customers have known through case-by Faik Paşa or through word of mouth. When asked who they answer me that her clients are women of all ages who identify with a specific taste and, above all, do not pretend to look at all costs. A lesson in true elegance ...
( The Journal of Istanbul , a. XVII, No. 1, January 2009)
