Redesigning Hereke Carpets: A Modernization Path Through Patterns and Compositions at Sümerbank in 1960s Turkiye

Abstract

This study examines the mythologization of Anatolian handicrafts created by a group of artists at Sümerbank, a Turkish state enterprise, in the 1960s, which aimed to foster a sense of patriotism (vatan). These designs, emerging with the onset of Turkiye’s multi-party period and the postcolonial context worldwide, provide a framework for exploring local modernism in Turkiye. This study explores how the 1960s were shaped by the prevailing ideology of the time and involved efforts to adopt Western modernist aesthetics, principles of abstraction, and the Bauhaus approach to art and design, in the case of Sümerbank Hereke carpets. © 2025 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.