The Istanbul Beylerbeyi Sabancı Technical Institute has launched an exhibition titled "The Most Beautiful Names: Al-Asma' al-Husna," showcasing the 99 names of Allah using the arts of marbling, ceramics and hand embroidery.
The exhibition will be held at the Istanbul Tulip Foundation from March 24 to April 2 and will be displayed domestically and internationally later.
The exhibition features traditional marbling, embroidery, and ceramic arts, with the names of Allah meticulously embroidered on water, cloth and soil by the institute's teachers and masters. Besides, the exhibition displays tulip-patterned textiles, ceramics, and hand-embroidered products produced by the institute. Visitors can also attend tulip motif embroidery, wood painting and ceramic workshops during the exhibition.
The tulip motif is considered the most commonly used pattern in all handicrafts from the Ottoman period to the present. In addition, the tulip has played an important role in Anatolian Turkish art since the Seljuk period, with many monumental buildings and works of art in Istanbul decorated with tulip figures.
Tulips have been ubiquitous in various mediums, including marbling, miniatures, ceramics, fabrics and even the walls of buildings. Some notable figures, such as Ottoman Sultans Suleiman II, Selim I, and Murat III, had caftans with only tulip motifs.
The Istanbul Beylerbeyi Sabancı Technical Institute, established in Türkiye in 1945, is a non-formal education institution affiliated with the Ministry of National Education General Directorate of Lifelong Learning.
The institute offers two-year vocational education and short-term skill training – training qualified personnel for the sector and transferring traditional Turkish cuisine, clothing, and handicrafts to future generations through research, design, production, and promotion.
Meanwhile, the Istanbul Tulip Foundation was established in 2016 to research and reproduce tulip species, promote them on national and international platforms, increase their awareness and develop their production.
The foundation is located in a building used as the outbuilding of the mansions built in Emirgan Woods between 1871-1878. The Museum within the foundation showcases the development of the tulip as a flower and its place as a pattern from the Ottoman period to the present.