The giant metropolis of Istanbul, with around 16 million inhabitants, has never stopped reinventing itself—whilst keeping one eye firmly on its historic roots. Just a few years ago, the Galataport project opened up three-quarters of a mile of coastline in harborside Karaköy to the public via a boardwalk lined with modern cafes, shops, restaurants, and museums. Most notably, there’s the famed architect Renzo Piano-designed Istanbul Modern and the new, ultra-luxurious Peninsula Istanbul made up of several 19th-century buildings on the Golden Horn waterway’s European side.
The city has also created the İBB Miras project that recently renovated around 22 historic buildings and monuments into modern spaces of art and culture that are free to the public. Zeyrek Çinili Hamam, a 500-year-old bath house, just underwent a 13-year restoration project, and along the Golden Horn waterway the new Tersane project will birth new hotels, restaurants, and the new Sadberk Hanım Museum’s private collection. On the food scene, contemporary Turkish dining and viticulture has taken off, with seven Michelin-starred restaurants and many more in the Gault&Millau guide.
The city’s seemingly indefatigable energy has become a source of hope and motivation for young creatives who have established their own brands here despite challenging economic and political circumstances. Nackiyé, a womenswear brand founded by sisters Başak and Defne Kocabıyıkoğlu, is among these success stories, informed deeply by the past, the city’s future-forward growth, and the exuberant history of the women in their family.
The brand is named after their great-grandmother Nackiyé, whose family belonged to a 14th-century dervish lodge of Sufism—a spiritual approach to Islam. Nackiyé’s own grandmother, named Seyyare, is said to have been the first young girl to dance the mystic whirling dervish ritual during the Ottoman Empire.“The Sufi philosophy is deep and beautiful, and so is the whirling tradition which is its manifestation,” say Başak and Defne.
As descendants of the first women whirling dervishes, they have pointed cultural and design recommendations for Istanbul’s visitors, ranging from the The Galata Mevlevi House Museum for a traditional dervish ceremony, to the best hammams, tea houses, and antique shopping in the city. Here’s how to shop and sightsee in Istanbul, according to Nackiyé‘s founders, the Kocabıyıkoğlu sisters.
Go antique hunting in Çukurcuma
With its descending cobblestoned streets, historic apartments, and the famously nostalgic Museum of Innocence it’s no wonder that the Çukurcuma neighborhood is one of the city’s main areas for serious antique-hunting.