MEHMET AKSEL
I had a beloved friend (Those who know me well know that it takes quite a lot of effort for me to call someone ‘beloved’).
Actually this person was a friend of my wife and our relationship that started when I met my wife evolved into a very pleasant friendship, at least for me.
Anyway, what was I saying… There was a person whom I loved very much. (If only he wasn’t cross with me, I’d get permission and proudly use his name here). His input was especially important for me during the foundation of MSA. His never-ending support and continued “You can do it again” encouragements, especially for me as someone who had just been through bankruptcy, deserve its own very article.
Unfortunately, he is cross with me for a reason that could only be considered a fault in Turkey or countries with similar cultures.
Of course, we rarely and coincidentally run into each other, and we go through the motions of necessary chitchat but we haven’t really talked—at least in a manner I consider talking—for the past 10 years. It is a truly sad loss for me.
During the time we were in touch (which I think corresponds to 7-8 years) he was working on his new book, which was to consist of nine volumes, a work that even I, as a pedantic person cannot comprehend. Today, that encyclopedic work is unique in the world.
This old friend of mine, who is a researcher, writer, and the owner of many other well-deserved titles, works and skills, is also a good collector.
This has been quite a long introduction to the article, but I think he deserves even more.
One day, he gave me an envelope, and said, “Collecting is great, and you know how much I enjoy collecting, I recommend it to you too; let this be my gift of commencement for you”.
I opened the envelope and an Ottoman menu, which must have been 100 years old, emerged.
As someone who loves old things and often reminisces about the past, I had no idea that that day would be a momentous day in my life.
The way I gazed at that menu, the things that went through my mind, and the dreams I had on that day would surely make another article. Well, you have my word.
That day, the MSA Museum was already established in my mind.
I thought, “This must be such a museum and library that both the students in the school, their families and our extended MSA family should be able to see and access the roots of this cuisine, and how it has evolved over centuries on this land”.
It is easy to imagine, but there was no money. This was when MSA was first established.
That was when I began going to auctions. I would have wanted to say, “I was participating in the auctions”, but I didn’t have the money to actually raise my hand.
The amounts I’m referring to were actually quite small, but when you gather a few objects and a few documents together, and add the buyer’s commission on top, the tally comes up to an astronomical amount.
It was also when I started going to flea markets and secondhand booksellers, and you know they are amazing.
So, back then, my go-to fun and educational weekend activity was to visit these places together with my wife or my friends or my daughters (even though they were quite young back then).
Acquiring, caring if necessary, collecting, protecting, preserving, exhibiting, sharing and even talking about each piece with people for hours became a hobby for me. It still is.
Then months chased months, and years chased years. Over time, all those people at the auction houses, all those booksellers and my contacts became my peers, and my voluntary researchers as well as suppliers.
Now, if a new object is coming up for auction in this category, more often than not, it first comes to me, and goes to other sales channels only if I don’t think it would be interesting for our museum.
To briefly explain what I am/we are collecting:
I can say that it is a collection that begins from the mid to late periods of the Ottoman Empire (there are earlier pieces, exceptions don’t break the rule) and extends to the 1980s and 1990s.
Products, bottles, boxes, cans, sacks, packaging, advertisements, posters, flyers and ephemera from almost all of our brands that have existed and/or are still existing in these lands within the specified time period. And a wide range of utensils for food and beverage preparation, cooking and storage in addition to these.
There are nearly 500 rare and/or unique works, including books and manuscripts (the oldest is from 1454; 858 according to the hegira calendar), as well as around 10,000 contemporary academic works and periodicals in the library. These are predominantly made up of food, beverage, production, aquaculture books and notebooks.
An important reminder: All of these objects (in the world of collectors, ‘pieces‘ are generally referred to as “objects”) have been used in the region that we can describe as within the borders of the ‘Ottoman lands.’ There aren’t any objects that have not been part of our culture. Of course there are some objects that come from different countries, but they also carry Ottoman labels or stamps. In short, they are all part of our history of food and beverage.
The labels I am referring to are all in 4 languages (before the 1920s). Ottoman, French, Greek and Armenian.
In the following years, another approach that really intrigued me was to focus on the tactical changes in posters, banners, labels or advertisements of the same brand across different historical periods. This is a whole essay topic in itself.
To summarize, in the early days, brands sought to convey that their brands and products were good through promises such as ‘reliable brand’, ‘good biscuits’, and in more recent decades, brands begun focusing on the health and happiness of their customers rather than the taste of their products: “Healthy soups, happy tables”.
Now, this collection has evolved into the two great values of MSA: the MSA Museum and the MSA Library and Documentation Center.
Although at first the team thought of this as “Mr. Mehmet’s pastime or his amusement”, and kept on wondering why is “Mr. Mehmet spending money on all these tattered books and broken bottles”, the spirit has long evolved into a discourse of “Our museum”, Oour library”. Now, it is a source of pride for everyone.
The unavoidable grins on our faces when we find an object, whose existence we had not been aware of, the indescribable joy we get when we land an object we are very keen on at an auction, the elegance of a restored object that had once been worn-up, and the excitement we get when new objects are cataloged and put up on display; these are the things that give us joy.
Today, we have accumulated an incredible collection with more than 2,500 objects, more than 1,000 menus and nearly 10,000 books at MSA.
Of course, as the scope of the collection expanded, the range of visitors also diversified and grew over time. We sometimes see unfamiliar faces/students in the school, they (are wel)come to conduct their own research and make use of the collection, and sometimes we see school tours, very young students from all over the city who come for a tour of the museum.
Now it’s time to present this treasure to the world, because the aim is to share it with the world, not just Istanbul.
I’m not sure if you are familiar with it but there is a platform called Google Arts & Culture.
It is an application and platform developed by Google in cooperation with many leading museums in the world. Currently, more than 2000 museums are featured on this platform with over 100,000 works.
They reached out to us through the introduction of dear Âsude Akaylı, and naturally, a wonderful collaboration emerged.
I am proud to say that we are opening our museum to Google Arts & Culture very soon.
We are not displaying all the objects in the collection, but only a meticulously curated selection for the world to observe.
It is a great pleasure to be able to present the MSA museum to the world, among outstanding museums of the world such as The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), Uffizi Gallery, Rijksmuseum, The Victoria and Albert Museum as well as the Sakıp Sabancı Museum, Pera Museum, Sadberk Hanım Museum and Istanbul Museum of Modern Art from Turkey.
In the future, we would also like to promote Turkish Cuisine and Turkish coffee from this platform and not just objects and books. We cannot imagine a better platform to promote our own taste and values.
We are very excited.
Look where the gift of an old menu has taken me.
This is from Âsude…
“A word can change your choice, an emotion can change your life and a person can change you”, said Confucius.
And this is from me…
Always surround yourself with people who say smart things and make you feel good.
But don’t be selfish; reciprocate it, too.