Masterclass
İznik Tiles
with Mümine Ateş
Two and a half hours at a master's bench in Istanbul — paint your own İznik tile, line by line, and take it home.
One to six guests · Her own atelier · from €69 per guest + 20% VAT
The experience
The tiles you photographed inside the mosques, painted by your own hand.
İznik tiles are the blue, red and turquoise ceramics that line the walls of Istanbul's great mosques and palaces. They were made in the town of İznik for the Ottoman court from the fifteenth century, and they are still painted the same way: a pattern drawn onto the raw tile, then colour laid inside the lines with a brush thinner than a pencil.
Mümine Ateş is a master of the craft whose work has hung in the Museum of Turkish and Islamic Arts. This is not a demonstration you watch. It is two and a half hours at her bench, in her own atelier, with the brush in your hand. She shows you the pattern, the pigments and the stroke, and then you paint a tile of your own.
You join her regular session, so there are never more than six people at the bench. Tiles, paints and brushes are hers; tea and coffee are on the table. Bring nothing. The tile you paint goes home with you.
Included
- Two and a half hours at Mümine Ateş's bench, in her own atelier
- The tile, the paints and the brushes — nothing to bring
- Tea and coffee on the table
- A DAS host with you the whole way, in English
- One to six guests per booking; never more than six at the bench
Good to know