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Feretiko which is known as Trabzon Linen abroad, in Turkey Rize Fabric is a type of handwoven textile out of hemp threads in Eastern Blacksea Region. It's history goes all the way back to Scythians. In 1960s, before the introduction of tea farming to the region, every household would have a Feretiko loom to weave daily needed cloths. These garments made of hemp plant were used to make shirts, towels, underclothes and sheets. They were very popular because of no fuzz and fast drying sweat ability. During Ottoman Empire, not only royal residents in palace but regular people from humid regions also showed interest in them. The word “Feretiko” or “Forotiko” which means “fabric to sew clothing” in Greek of Blacksea dialect, in historic records it is mentioned as the dress of Goddess Attika, “fer-atika” the cloth that keeps her warm. The fabric of feretiko reflects the geographic traces depending upon where the plant is grown. For instance, high level of salt in places close to rivers and water streams plays significant importance in whitening of the fabric. In regions where the waters saturated with less lime defines characteristic feature of it. The climates with less sun and with lots of rain stop the fiber’s stiffening. That’s why the product is used in rope making in Kastamonu and in thread and cloth in Rize. The feretiko production is only limited to a handful of ateliers in Rize due to the hemp plantation ban by government and lack of finding raw materials. Feretiko cloth can be woven only 1 meter long in 3 days. The cloth is just 90 cm wide. These are the main reasons that feretiko production is not suitable for fast and large amount peoduction in textile industry. The final products of Moyy Atölye are made with those cloths in weaving looms to restart the agenda of feretiko’s production process starting from the soil and find its value that it deserves. The main advantages of Feretiko material: Natural and healthy cloth, no chemicals are used in production Absorbs sweat and exhausts Helps the body warm when cold and cool and breezy when hot Stops the unwanted body odor due to sweating Due to its texture, dissolves the accumulated electric of the body It is thinner and 4 times stronger than linen Shines and softens as washed Photography: Yasemin Taşkın

Işık, originally graduated in Environmental Engineering, but instead she chose this entirely different path for her life and has been working full time as a botanical artist for over 15 years. She is very glad that she made this decision, though as the child of a botanist father and growing up surrounded by wild nature made her decision easy. Işık and I know each other since the childhood years we’ve spent in Fırtına Valley. When we were kids, vacations was all about chasing after adventures on the mountains. Even our parents immigrated to the cities and started new lives years ago, they still always kept us connected to our hometown village. As soon as the school was finished we were there for the whole summer vacation. When we have a chat over these years with Işık, we realize that this had always been a dilemma in our lives. Which one was the real world? Was it the life in crowded and loud cities? or just being in the beautiful mountains peacefully. These questions still chasing us. We live in a world which being in a permanent situation is meaningless. But still, we always search for a place for earthing and rooting ourselves. After years, when we started to choose our own paths in life as grown up adults, it was the nature and generally the village life was calling us. We decided to spend most of our times in Fırtına Valley. And years later, our paths crossed again with my childhood friend. I am a big fan of Işık’s works and have been following her for years. Being a botanical artist is not a very common profession in Turkey. Işık is one of the main pioneers in this area and I wanted to be a mediator to introduce her work to more people. She is drawing plants in life size. Here is what Işık tells about the collection that we are happy to sell in Moyy Atölye shop. This gallery only includes some amazing orchids which are threatened due to over collection. All paintings have prepared for a series of exhibition in China, to increase the awareness of protection of these species. All the samples are collected in Xishuangbanna Tropical Botanical Garden in March, 2015 and have been exhibited in six different Botanic Gardens across China. Species are generally from Yunnan Province of China, but there are also some species from other countries of South West Asia. You can read more about Işık Güner on; www.isikguner.com Photography: www.ekinozbicer.com

We had a shooting day for Moyy Atölye products last February. We worked interior space because of the winter weather conditions. The photographer is a very good friend of mine Yasemin Taşkın who is the twin sister of another good friend of mine Elif, owner of zua cafe.We held the shootings at my home and my grandmothers old house where my mom was born. Yasemin has a really good background about the connection between the textures and cultures because of being originally rooted here. so we photographed the products very naturally and as they are without much explanation. Since the collection doesn't target any kind of trends or time zone, the shootings didn't rely on weather conditions.Summer photo shootings will follow in the future with more nature in the back ground. My dearest friends Elif and Işık were helping a lot for the back stage preparations so i owe them huge thanks.Love working collective.

I will be traveling during summer. So i decided to open up my small house for accomodation, because of people’s interest. The house is 5 minutes by car from the center of Çamlıhemşin in the village of Vice. Having a home is very nice, but if you can not live in it and it is empty, it is also very nice others to take advantage of it. This house always gives me healing and peace. I am sure that those who go in and spend time will taste these feelings. If you want to have a quiet and peaceful mountain village experience, you can book from the link below. For Reservation There are certain rules to be observed in a house made entirely of wood. You can also read detailed information on airbnb. Enjoy a pleasant summer. Map

Basketry is one of the oldest crafts in Black Sea region. Unfortunately, it is about to end. There are still a few people doing basketry. One of them, our basket master, is Bekir. He makes our baskets by hand and he can only make 3 baskets a day. Bekir is a very special person who has been working for 20 years in the Public Education Center to teach basket making to the new generation. Recently, Public Education Center has put an end to these trainings. Now he is making our baskets diligently at his workshop on the slopes his village. We recently visited him in his studio. It makes us very happy to visit the last masters of regional crafts, to work with them and to witness the calming beauty of basketry.

The hand-knitted products that we have designed for Moyy Atolye are knitted by the women of Hemsin. Hand-knitting is one of the leading crafts in this region. They usually knit socks because the weather in Black Sea Mountains cloudy, rainy and cold most of the time. In the past, socks were very valuable since they had to walk across mountains and hills, even when they were visiting their neighbors. The road is tough, the air is wet and the feet will probably get wet. By tradition, if you were invited to a wedding in another village, a pair of socks would be given to each guest by the bride on the way back. A Hemsin woman, in her lifetime, has been knitting a lot of socks for her family and relatives, apart from her wedding day presents. Therefore, women living in the highlands of Hemşin became the masters of knitting. They have the ability of knitting when they are talking, doing something or even walking.These crafts and traditions were born entirely to meet the requirements of the living conditions. The patterns are more graphical and vividwhich are not seen in any region of Anatolia. Some motifs are inspired by East and Far East influences. In addition to using the traditional patterns in Moyy Atolye, we also produce by re-adapting these motifs. In each piece you can see the cultural reflection, patience and love of centuries.

Woke up to this in the morning! It hasn’t been snowing properly in Çamlıhemşin last couple years, and we definetly know that it threatens the natural cycle of the mother nature. So as we were almost giving up hope, the snow landed on soil yesterday right before the spring. So the road to the center is closed. Nature is telling us to stop and breathe! Where ever we are, we live the life as a race like it will never end! It looks normal to live the life like a fast forward movie and consume everything nonstop. But actually it is not! The story of moyy atölye is about stopping for a moment and breathing! We now see it is possible to produce things without deadlines, timeless but for lifetime, slowly and thoughtfully. We are not panicking because of the heavy snow slowing down our things to do list, instead we're happy that the earth is relieved now with the snow and there will be beautiful flowers blooming in spring! So we are enjoying the last bits of winter.

When we look carefully, there are millions of products in the world that are produced for the various needs of people. The main topics of these are food, clothing and shelter. Apart from that, there are also productions for people's personal interests, hobbies and jobs. Everything is thought, thousands of alternatives are produced or will be produced. There is an endless production and a wild consuming network has been created. This situation is in such crazy quantity. There is no more space left for the waste of the products produced in the world. We only buy, sell, the rest does not concern anyone. We don't know what is going on in the background of this cycle and what are being sacrificed. On the other hand, complaining about the negativities in our world is almost a common fashion. But we do not question our own actions and realize how we have contributed to this vicious circle, and what are the right things to do necessary for change. Of course, we have needs and we cannot deny the existence of the phenomenon of shopping for centuries. But it is not sustainable to try to do this in such a brutal way. It is our natural right to question the way of production of the products we buy. Where was it done, how it was done, what happened while producing. Now we have to go back and look at these. We have the right to question everything but everything in clothing, food, life tools. I If we wonder… Why there is global warming, climatic disasters, why the lake is dry, the water of that stream doesn't flow like it used to be, why the fruit is not in that taste, even why our relationships are not the same. We have to take responsibility if we're worried about a lot of vital issues. Even if we are not on the streets and we are not environmental activists, we must believe that we can create change with our own actions. It is not easy for people to abandon their habits and to adopt new habits, especially if people are at a certain age. But it's not impossible. If enough effort is shown, a step-by-step change may occur. Even though we cannot change things all of a sudden, the effect of the different, small choices we make is enormous. The second most polluting sector in the world is the fashion and textile sector. Yes, there were times when each one of us behaved in a thoughtless way But till when? While we witness such negative effects in every aspect of our lives, it is not wise to continue to live with the same thoughtless habits, not sustainable at all. At some point, if we want it or not, the world will force people to change. This change can be with great devastations and losses.Or we can start being mindfull and start the change our selves. HOW? You do not have to buy any product that harms you and your loved ones, the water you drink, the air you breathe. Nobody can make you buy anything you don't want. This product is not produced unless you request and consume it, it's that simple. In the past there was not much choice, there were certain products in the market . But now, we must leave the lie 'I am the slave of the system'. There are also people who make fair and clean production, other than those who produce just to make money and power by disregarding the resources of the world. We can investigate and make our preferences in this direction. We're one of the fair producers. Our principles are, to give value to the people who we work with, use the right material, not to harm any part of living beings or nature. We want to make money from this product, yes, but what else do we want to earn other than money? Love, sharing, humanitarian values, women's solidarity, good memories, learning new things, blessings, unity, peace, fun, future, trust in the future. Does it make sense without these values? This turning wheel is very boring and does not seem to too bright at the end. We must review our connection between the meterial and our souls. We should dare to look at the source of things we don't like. In recent years, natural, fair, organic, etc. production has been started to be so popular. We see them around us, many big brands leaving heavy waste into our world, now started to make ‘green’ production moves for reputation. Some, unfortunately, very very few, are sincere and genuine. For example; we very often see things such; x brand made a recycled meterial t-shirt, let's take it, z brand made collobration with african women and produced accecories, hurraa run. It sounds good, but alongside it, millions of plastic and textile wastes are embedded in India's River X or the oceans meet the chemicals directly by producing thousands of polyester based products. We shouldn’t get into these traps. Yes,it feels so difficult like there is no escape. There's dirt all over evertything. But no matter what, our consciousness is in place and we should question as much as we can question, and go as far as we can go. As for us, can we get out of this wheel fully in our own production process? We can't say yes if we're going to be honest. Our raw materials are natural yes, our way of production is fair and it aims to support the local economy. But for example, we are selling online and we have to use some packaging materials to send a product from one place to another. Or the product that you need to reach a car and the plane to reach you. We are considering about these issues constantly, how to create a more innocent shipment form? By selling only in a shop? Or by putting it on the train and the shipthat doesn’t exist in our country? Recycled packaging material? We're looking for a lot of solutions, while we're trying to make some profit, and we never stop thinking. How do we manage to bring together more beautiful products and people with less damage? This must be the manufacturer's subject. And the consumers' problems; where does this product come from, and how ? Anything damaged during production. We can start the change by starting to ask these questions too much and continue to support each other. If we want change, it is in our hands .We just accelerate our end by just complaining and hold on to our habits that are no longer good. Sad, but true!