website

BİRCE AKALAY

Birce Akalay was born in Istanbul in 1984. She embarked on her artistic journey at a young age when discovering her fondness for arts, her parents directed her into ballet training. While she was thinking her one and only love would be ballet during the 13 years of ballet training, the disability she had whispered a little too soon into her ear that “Dreaming may sometimes lead to disappointment in life”. Despite it all, she did not want to sever her ties with the stages and had a high school and university education in Fine Arts, Theatre. Birce started her almost 15 year-old acting career in 2006 on the TV screen while also being involved in successful theatre and cinema.

The search to find the same Virgin Mary necklace gifted by her mother that she lost when she was 14, triggered her passion for jewelry without knowing. She started to collect Virgin Mary medallions at antique shops and bazaars in every city she visited from Aleppo to Istanbul, from Mardin to Paris and in this adventure that spread over the years, she grew her small collection. Integrating her respect for life and for experiences with the objects she uses or the jewelry she wears, Birce believes that every piece that comes from the past and joins her continues to live and gain meaning with her to write another story.

Birce integrates crafts hidden at magical streets of the Golden Horn in Istanbul with arts and stories. She wants the jewelry she designs and chooses to accompany her thoughts and emotions would take a unique and eternal journey in other lives just like other beauties she collected for herself in the times that past.