Akan Erdem

Akan Erdem

Erdem Akan followed his studies, in Istanbul-Turkey, He graduated from Bosphorus Univeristy with a BSc. degree in Mechanical Engineering. British Council Chevening scholarship and his desire for creativity brought him to University of Salford in Manchester where he received his Industrial Design Masters degree. He completed his design studies with Design Culture and Management Programme in Istanbul Bilgi University. From 1996 to 2001 he has undertaken several design and coordination activities for commercial vehicle projects at Ford Motor Company Design Studios in Istanbul (Turkey), Dunton (England) and Dearborn (United States). From 2001 to 2004, he was the design manager at Gaia&Gino (Istanbul). Since 2004, he is cofounder of ?maybe design studio?. To promote Turkish Design he gives lectures, workshops, seminars at various universities, and organizes design exhibitions at various art galleries. Like his homecity Istanbul, where throughly modern ideas and traditional practices exist side-by-side with, Erdem?s design philosphy is based on tension between all opposites: such as fabricated vs. hand-made; natural vs. artificial and new vs old, but especially between eastern culture and western culture. For him design suppose to balance or amplify this tension.