Özlem-Yalım etc. tasarım danışmanlık tanıtım

Utku Baskir studied Industrial Design at Istanbul Technical University and holds both a Master in Design and a Master of Arts degree from Domus Academy in Milan, graduating with first-class honours. He began his professional career at Audi Group, where he worked on lighting and sonic design.

In 2001, he founded AYDINLATMA MERKEZI® and ARKILIGHT® ITALY, building on his family’s long-standing background in design. Since then, the company has developed an international network of lighting and design professionals, delivering architectural lighting solutions and design services that create distinctive atmospheres, visual effects and spatial experiences through light.

Each project is approached as a multidisciplinary design and engineering practice, combining creative vision with technical precision. With more than 25 years of experience, Utku and his team have delivered projects in over 20 countries, serving global brands and clients such as Fairmont, Ritz-Carlton, Conrad, Holiday Inn, Decathlon and Coca-Cola.

Utku’s work focuses on design-oriented, well-engineered and value-driven lighting solutions. He previously served as Vice President of the Industrial Designers’ Society of Turkey and has received several awards in the field of industrial design. Drawing on his multidisciplinary background, he is passionate about exploring how the subtle “touch of light” shapes both architecture and human experience.

SPEAKER: Utku Başkır
Founder & Managing Director
AYDINLATMA MERKEZI® / ARKILIGHT® ITALY Arkilight Aydınlatma Merkezi Utku Baskir

Emre Çetin is an architectural lighting designer and the founder of Istanbul-based EC Lighting Design Studio. His work spans a wide range of international projects across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, with a particular focus on healthcare environments, hospitality projects, and public spaces.
He approaches lighting not merely as a technical layer, but as a fundamental design tool that shapes perception, movement, and emotional connection within a space. His design philosophy is rooted in creating context-driven, human-centric, and sustainable lighting strategies that enhance architectural identity while maintaining visual clarity and comfort.
His projects have received international awards, and he continues to work in close collaboration with architects and multidisciplinary teams across diverse geographies.

SPEAKER: Emre Çetin
EC Lighting Design Studio Emre Çetin

Niyazi Erdoğan is a senior fashion designer and creative director with over 26 years of experience in premium menswear, structural tailoring and conceptual fashion design. His architectural background shapes a distinctive design language built on form, light, ergonomics and structure.

Since founding his own brand in 2010, he has presented more than 20 solo runway collections on platforms such as Pitti Uomo and Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Istanbul, gaining international visibility.

An early adopter of CLO 3D, Erdoğan integrates digital design with a sustainability-focused approach. He has collaborated with brands including ASICS and INCI, and worked in senior design management for teams producing for Inditex Group, Tommy Hilfiger and Marks & Spencer.

He also consults on brand positioning, sustainable collections and digital design processes, and serves as Vice President and active member of the Turkish Fashion Designers Association.

SPEAKER SPACE Stage

NIYAZI ERDOĞAN
Architect & Fashion Designer
Niyazi Erdoğan

Han Tümertekin studied architecture at Istanbul Technical University. In addition to Istanbul, the center of his practice, he founded Atelier Han Tümertekin in Strasbourg. While his work is mainly based in Turkey, his projects also extend to countries including the Netherlands, Japan, the United Kingdom, France, China, Mongolia and Kenya.

Since 1992, Tümertekin has taught architecture at institutions including Harvard University Graduate School of Design, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne and École Spéciale d’Architecture in Paris. He is also among the founding figures of the graduate architecture program at Istanbul Bilgi University.

His work has been widely featured in international architectural publications, and a monograph on his practice was published by Harvard University Press in 2006.

Tümertekin has received numerous architectural awards. His “B2 House” project won the Aga Khan Award for Architecture in 2004. He served as chair of the Aga Khan Awards jury between 2004 and 2007, and as a member of its steering committee from 2004 to 2016.

In 2021, Han Tümertekin became the first Turkish architect invited to and exhibited in the main exhibition of the Venice Architecture Biennale. In 2024, he was awarded the Mimar Sinan Grand Award.

SPEAKER SPACE Stage
HAN TÜMERTEKİN
Architect

Han Tümertekin

Levent Özçelik is a multidisciplinary visual storyteller with a 30-year practice spanning photography, cinema and narrative. Shaped by his experience as a photographer, director, communicator and journalist, he has developed a distinctive visual language inspired by people, places, cultures and journeys.

For Özçelik, photography is more than a frozen moment; it is a way of connecting people, space, time and culture. Moving between still image, spoken word and moving image, his work creates layered stories that deepen emotion and look beyond the visible.

A key milestone in his creative journey is Yoldan Gönüllü Çıktım, a documentary project centered on discovery, freedom and inner transformation. Filmed in Sweden, Norway and Finland, its first season was broadcast on GAIN.

Özçelik has held more than ten solo exhibitions and presented his work in cities including Berlin, Paris, Dubai and Stockholm. His aesthetic reflects a sense of silent luxury: quiet, refined and deeply felt, where meaning lies in light, stillness and the human journey.

SPEAKER: Levent Ozçelik
Visual Storyteller – Director – Photographer – Traveller
levent ozcelik

Korhan Sisman is the founder of Planlux, an independent architectural lighting design studio established in Istanbul in 2009. Educated in Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at Bilkent University, he has built over 20 years of expertise in architectural lighting design, developing innovative and sustainable concepts across a wide spectrum of projects. A Professional Member of the IALD, a member of the IES, and a Certified Lighting Designer (CLD), he was named among Lighting Magazine’s 40 Under 40 Lighting Designers in 2017. He believes that light is one of the essential elements of architectural experience, shaping the way people perceive and relate to the built environment. With a responsible and sustainable approach, he uses light as a powerful design tool to support communication and well-being, and to create a meaningful sense of place. In his work, he values technical expertise, design sensitivity, and a holistic approach to architectural experience and project management.

SPEAKER: Korhan Şişman
Planlux Korhan Şişman

Özlem Yalım ( ODTÜ BSc’95) is a renowned industrial designer with an experience of 30 years in the field.
After running her own design company between 1995-2001, she started to work at management positions in corporate life. She constantly introduced entrepreneurial projects beside her corporate roles in different industries including furniture, household objects, fairs & exhibitions.
She was mentioned within the “Most Creative People of Turkey” by TurkishTime, both in 2010 and 2011.
Yalım is well known by introducing and directing the first İstanbul Design Biennale between 2010-2014. She worked as the Head of Brand Strategy at the leading distributor company in Turkey between 2015-2025 dealing with leading brands as iGuzzini, Simes, Linealight, Lasvit, Aqua Creations, Louis Poulsen, Ingo Maurer, Terzani, Lodes, Cattelani & Smith, Brand van Egmond, Bover, Contardi and 30 more.
She worked at lighting advisor mainly for art & private projects including İstanbul Biennale exhibitions, Contemporary Istanbul and many others.
She organized Day Light Night exhibition at Istanbul Modern, curated by Ulrike Brandi and edited the same titled book.
She established VANGUARDIS Strategy & Design in 2025.
V / LIGHT is a venture of VANGUARDIS www.vlight.network

ORGANIZER: Özlem Yalım
vanguardis_official ozlem yalim etc. design özlem yalım 🧿

Mustafa Akkaya is the founder of LINE Lighting Design. He completed his undergraduate studies in the Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design at Bilkent University and received his master’s degree in Architectural Lighting Design from Wismar University.
Akkaya began his lighting design career in Germany and has since transferred his internationally acquired knowledge and experience to prestigious projects both in Turkey and abroad. He has delivered numerous award-winning projects across various scales and typologies and has served as a lead designer on international projects. In addition to his professional practice, he delivers lectures and seminars at universities. In 2019, he was selected as one of the “40 Under 40 Lighting Designers.” Mustafa Akkaya is a professional member of the International Association of Lighting Designers (IALD) and holds the Certified Lighting Designer (CLD) credential

SPEAKER: Mustafa Akkaya
LINE LIGHTING DESIGN Mustafa Akkaya

Deniz Aslan graduated from the Architecture Department of Istanbul Technical University in 1986, went
on to complete his master’s degree in landscape planning at Yıldız Technical University in 1989, and
earned his PhD in Architectural Design from Istanbul Technical University in 2000.
Between 1989 and 2017, he served as a faculty member in the Architecture Department of the Faculty
of Architecture at Istanbul Technical University. In 2018, Aslan was awarded the title of Associate
Professor.
From 2000 to 2007, he played a significant role in the establishment and development of the
Department of Landscape Architecture at the Faculty of Architecture, Istanbul Technical University.
During this period, he produced essays and publications on “Contemporary Landscape Architecture
Education” and participated as a speaker in numerous conferences.
Deniz Aslan has received awards in competitions and has contributed to national and international
publications, projects, exhibitions, workshops as a coordinator, and competition jury memberships.
As the design partner of DS Architecture, Deniz Aslan pursues both theoretical and practical work at
the intersection of architecture and landscape architectur

SPEAKER: DENİZ ASLAN
Assoc.Prof.Dr.Architect
DS Design Partner

Deniz Aslan

Ali Berkman’s relationship with light began in his father’s luminaire workshop, surrounded by prototypes, cables, glasses, metal etc.. , and lamps being tested repeatedly.. What first appeared as disorder gradually became a fascination with how light could shape emotion, perception, and atmosphere.

After graduating from the Electrical & Electronics Engineering, he spent several years working in independent lighting design before founding ONOFF Lighting Design Consultants in 2014.

Since then, Ali and the ONOFF team have designed lighting for more than 200 projects across hospitality, retail, cultural, and mixed-use environments in different parts of the world. His approach focuses on the emotional and sensory qualities of light, treating darkness not as the absence of light, but as an essential part of spatial experience.

In 2017, he was selected for the Lighting Design Awards 40under40 in London. Two years later, in his TEDx talk “The Bright Side of Darkness,” he explored the relationship between light, shadow, and human perception.

Driven by an ongoing interest in materiality and atmosphere, Ali later expanded his practice into product and luminaire design through Studio DIM – dark is more, an experimental platform exploring the intersection of architectural lighting, objects, and shadow.

Alongside his studio practice, he continues to lecture at universities and industry events, sharing his thoughts on light, darkness, perception, and the emotional dimension of space

SPEAKER : Ali Berkman
ON|OFF LIGHTING DESIGN CONSULTANTS Ali Berkman