(December 2008) Turkish designer Mehmet Isıklı enjoys playing the natural stone diabase though his creations may appear to be a mixture of various materials at first sight. For his creation which he named aRTDiabase he uses stone not only in the original green tone. The stone takes on a different colour when burnt in the kiln. Sometimes he gives the stone different types of porcelain-glaze coating.
Mehmet Isıklı’s motifs are in part representational and in part abstract. Some of his creations are so strikingly prominent that they clearly can serve as stand-alone decorational elements. Others can be combined in blocks or in horizontal sequences as decorative edging. Tiles can be used for walls or flooring, whereby the glazed variety is more suitable for wall covering.
Marketing for aRTDiabase is done by Isıklı’s daughter Canay (Mail). aRTDiabase is in partnership with the Turkish company Demirtas Mining, which quarries the stone in its own pit. Diabase is a characteristically hard stone (7 on the Mohs hardness scale of 1 to 10).
Examples of the designer’s works at Demirtas Mining
Designer’s Homepage (Turkish)
Photos: Demirtas Mining, Mehmed Isıklı