ISSUE 17: Oya Tekbulut Has Good Taste
Oya’s designs for her brand By Way Of don’t whisper, but they don’t shout either. They hum. Softly irregular, polished but never prissy, her jewelry and objects feel like they belong to some other timeline—ancient, extraterrestrial, or both.
There’s a refusal of symmetry here, but also a deep sense of order. A kind of design telepathy. Each curve and crater feels intentional, even when the forms verge on collapse. You get the sense that she’s not imposing shape onto material, but listening for the shape it wants to be.
Her work exists somewhere between sculpture and adornment—decorative in theory, but loaded with weight and quiet gravity. It’s the kind of object you find yourself returning to in your mind hours after you’ve seen it. Jewelry that feels like relics; vessels that look unearthed. Brutalist but organic. Personal but mysterious.
And somehow, it still feels fresh. With so much design today flattened by trend cycles and glossy sameness, Oya’s pieces feel defiantly alive. They don’t behave. They carry texture, history, and contradiction in equal measure.
I wouldn’t quite call her work “statement jewelry”…but it’s not minimalist either. It’s something slower, stranger, and better.
GTW: What does good taste mean to you?
OT: I believe authenticity is very important. Yes, there are trends and zeitgeist, but people have started to look a little too similar for my liking. I also think a sense of effortlessness and ease is very tasteful.
GTW: Who in your life do you think has the best taste?
OT: Like half the universe, Zoë Kravitz is my ultimate taste crush. I know I’m repeating myself, but she makes everything look effortlessly cool and somehow makes effort look cool too. I also find that many of my customers, some of whom have since become friends, have amazing taste. I silently pull so many references from them during the Pop Ups.
GTW: Is there a specific object in your home or studio that brings you daily joy?
OT: I can’t really narrow down to one object, but I have a cabinet of curiosities. I collect objects that I find interesting all the time, some antiques, some contemporary pieces. To name a few: I have a pewter flask from the Uk, Castiglioni Alessi Sleek Jar spoon, Takenobu Igarashi cutlery set, Antique Lighter case that I bought from Grand bazaar in Istanbul, a Tin Shadow box (Nicho) from Mexico. Rodney Kinsman Chrome Tractor stool.
The Sleek Spoon was one of those objects that made me fall in love with design, showing me how design can both solve a problem and elevate something as everyday and mundane as spooning jam from a jar into an enchanting experience.
GTW: What’s the last thing you truly fell in love with—an artwork, an outfit, a space, a moment, a person?
OT: Not the very last, but I often think about Adrian Piper’s ongoing work What Will Become of Me. It consists of jars filled with her hair strands and nail clippings collected over the years, with a final jar to one day hold her cremated remains therefore “completing” the work. Encountering it was a very eye opening moment for me, showing how art and creativity is a way of life, deeply embedded in one’s existence.
Hard switch, but I’m also obsessed with the new JW Anderson Loafer Bag. So sleek, witty, and irresistibly charming, it hits all my weak spots at once.
GTW: What’s one piece of advice you’d give to someone developing their own taste or creative identity?
OT: It’s okay to figure out your identity as you go. I believe in making sense by way of doing: taking a step back and identifying patterns. Once you have a body of work or a set of reference points, it becomes easier to see what you’ve been gravitating toward, because it starts to feel obvious. So I would say: start exploring, try things, then analyze. Those recurring themes become your tools to claim as your creative identity.
GTW: What’s a reference point you always return to—an image, a place, a material, a song?
OT: I return to a feeling, if I’m stuck. I go back to a feeling of playfulness and lightheartedness.
GTW: Has your idea of beauty or style changed over time?
OT: I think it’s an ever changing dialogue. The best part of beauty and style is that our perception of them doesn’t develop in a vacuum. They shape and shift through friction with the outside world. For me, beauty is a constant negotiation and discovery with others. So yes, it has changed, and it will continue to change. But I think I've always been inherently drawn to beauty, but my education at Pratt taught me to be more conscious and to question the stylistic decisions I make.
GTW: What’s something that shouldn’t work but you love anyway?
OT: I find so much pleasure in objects often dubbed “kitsch.” There’s a sense of authenticity and courage that’s unparalleled.
GTW: Anything exciting coming up you'd like to share or promote?
OT: We’re working on a new drop celebrating all things hoops: not just as a jewelry piece, but also as a geometric form: all things circular. Every piece in the collection is hoop shaped.
GTW: What's your ideal day off look like?
OT: Probably playing tourist in the city: going to a museum, meeting a friend, stopping for a bottle of wine and some nibbles. Just wandering and wondering freely :)
This week’s goodies: Molten metals, wearable relics, and future heirlooms from By Way Of—objects that feel like they were pulled from deep time, then polished for your daily life.
Happy shopping! Use code goodtaste for 15% off everything (hurry; valid for a week starting today!)
Next week: We visit the world of Suz Berlin, where color, humor, and surreal form come together like a dream you can wear.
