Making our own mosaic lamps in Istanbul - but, is a workshop worth It?
- Martin
- 14 hours ago
- 2 min read
The colorful, traditional Turkish mosaic lamp is world-famous for its eye-catching patterns and warm glow - and these lamps carry a fascinating history dating back hundreds of years.
Quick note: We paid for our own workshop at Istanbul Workshops, and this post is not sponsored. If you choose to book through one of the links on this page, mitistanbul.dk receives a small commission - at no extra cost to you.
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I won't dive too deep into the history here. Instead, I want to share an experience my partner and I had on a Saturday afternoon in October.
For months, we had been hunting for a couple of lamps for our home. But, honestly - the ones we found in the shops were either a bit... anonymous (like they were trying to hide in a corner), or the color combinations were so far from our taste they gave us the chills.
So, what do you do when you’re both picky and adventurous? You take matters into your own hands. To learn more about these beauties - and to play "mosaic masters" ourselves - we booked a workshop with English-speaking instructors.
On a Saturday afternoon in October, we found ourselves in Üsküdar on the Asian side of Istanbul - ready to dive into the world of glass shards. Along with an international group of participants, we were given a warm welcome. The course started with a brief introduction, which we washed down with plenty of tea and Turkish coffee. We were ready!
We got a quick lesson in how the different glass pieces change appearance depending on the direction of the light - and how to build patterns so they actually stay on the lamp. Luckily, we didn’t have to cut the glass ourselves, but we had to choose between thousands of tiny pieces, shapes, and colors.
There were templates to guide us, thankfully. But even with those, it was a test of both creativity and patience. We broke a bit of a sweat, but it was great to see our own patterns take shape as the lamps slowly came together.
The place was buzzing with life and several workshops running at once - a chaotic but charming mess, to put it mildly. And yeah, not all the instructors were equally gifted in the art of teaching, but hey - you can’t have it all!
Nonetheless, we had a fantastic afternoon. We got exactly what we came for: a peek into the secrets of the mosaic lamp and, most importantly, the chance to create our own unique lamps. They now have places of honor in our home here in Istanbul. They light up the room - and they’re ours.
I would definitely recommend a workshop like this, whether it’s raining, snowing, a heatwave, or just a regular grey day. It’s fun, it’s a personal souvenir from Istanbul, and it’s just a really cozy way to spend a few hours.
