Born in 1964, Defne Koz is arguably Turkey’s best-known designer. Having studied Italian at Ankara University, she completed a Master’s degree in Industrial Design at Domus Academy in Milan. From 1990 to 1992, she worked for the great Italian architect, Ettore Sottsass.
Defne established her design studio in Milan, and has since opened studios in Chicago and Ankara. She has designed products for Alessi, Fontana Arte, Foscarini, and Leucos, and she pioneered design in Turkey working for VitrA, Alparda, Megaron, and Gaia&Gino.
More recently, she co-founded Koz Susani Design in Chicago with her partner, the Italian designer Marco Susani. Koz Susani Design is a small studio that works across a span of disciplines, from product design to interiors to interaction design, from craft to hi-tech gadgets.
“We integrate design aspects apparently in contrast: we harmonize crafts and hi-tech, digital and physical experiences, global aesthetics with local cultural signatures, the individual character of a product with a coordinated branding language, ” states the studio’s website.
Rooted in Italian and design culture, the studio’s international portfolio includes clients such as Alessi, Apple, 3M, Casio, Fontana Arte, Foscarini, Gaia&Gino, Leucos, Mitsubishi, Motorola, Nestle’, Nissan, Nurus, Panasonic, Philips, Pirelli, Seiko, Unilever, VitrA, and 888.
“We’re constantly in search of ‘calm beauty, ’” explain Defne and Marco. “We like the term beauty because we don’t think it’s at all reductive: with beauty, or, better, with high aesthetic quality, you can influence quality of life, not only the visual landscape. ”