Turgut Tuna

Turgut Tuna was born in Bursa in 1945. He graduated from State Applied Arts School Ceramic Department in 1970, and gained his master’s degree at the Ceramic Department in the Faculty of Fine Arts, Marmara University. In 1970, just after his graduation, he established “R&D of Çini (Turkish Ceramic Art) Production” at Özçini Factory in Kütahya. Later, he worked as a researcher, designer, planner and a manager in Istanbul Porcelain Factory. He worked at different posts such as board member in Yıldız Porcelain Factory. Between 1976 and 1994, he manufactured his art works including form and pattern design, glaze and paint in his first atelier- Tuna Ceramic Atelier in Yeniceabat, Bursa. He joined several joint exhibitions held in Turkey (Istanbul, Ankara, Bursa) and abroad (The Emerson Museum of Art in New York, Damascus, Aleppo, Amman, Copenhagen, Prague, Krakow, Budapest), all organized for the honor of 60th anniversary of Republic of Turkey. He has lectured on basic design, ceramic tile technology, ceramic tile laboratories, project management, enterprise management and applied ceramics at the State Applied Fine Arts School, Anadolu University (the Ceramic Department), Uludağ University (Department of Faculty of Letters), and the Iznik vocational school. He founded a new workshop and started working together with his wife, Şebnem Tuna. He is firing modern Iznik ceramic tiles in the workshop furnace using paste, form decoration and glaze of his own invention, and turning them into "traditional and novel works of art". He also works on commission to make products with special forms and patterns.