Editor’s Note
**Editor’s Note:** In this interview, jewelry designer Begüm Kiroglu opens up about the challenges of running a small, hands-on business in Istanbul. With 20 employees and a fully local, handmade production process, she shares the realities of managing every aspect of the brand—from design to finance.
How many employees do you have? What is the most difficult part of managing a company?
I have 20 employees. The most difficult part is that my company is small, I have no partners, and my work is 360 degrees. I am involved in everything: design, finance… Even the brand image. So many things at once is sometimes hard to manage. We produce everything in Istanbul, where the entire team is and the process is handmade.
Forbes Women
by
Teresa Hernández
28 November 2023
4 December 2023
Reading time 6 minutes
Although her usual residence is in Istanbul, the city where she was born, lives, and has her family, Begüm Kiroglu, 36, spends her life traveling. “Next week I will visit Singapore, Hong Kong, Shanghai. Last week I was in Paris. Today, in Madrid… I actually live between Istanbul and Paris, two beautiful cities. I am very lucky.”
Luck has always played an important role in the life of this young jewelry designer who launched her brand Begüm Khan ten years ago and started in this profession almost by chance. Her designs include scarabs and evil eyes, both with interesting esoteric symbolism, as well as all kinds of animals: turtles, bees, flares, elephants, or tigers. An imaginary that she has captured in her collaboration with Guerlain to celebrate the 170th anniversary of its iconic Bee Bottle, created in 1853 as a wedding gift for Empress Eugenia de Montijo for her marriage to Napoleon III. Today, sitting in the hall of the Four Seasons hotel, Kiroglu recalls her story while warming up with a steaming tea.
How did your collaboration with Guerlain start?
The creative director of Heritage Art and Culture saw my work in a showroom in Paris. It was 2018 and our first collaboration came in 2020. This is our second collaboration. Guerlain has always worked with animals, flowers, and oriental designs, and when they saw my work they thought it was perfect for them. Guerlain is a 200-year-old company born in Paris, and I am a company from Istanbul that just turned 10. We are so different and so alike! We are the bridge between East and West, and together we have created a new universe.
No one in your family is in this business. How did you start designing jewelry?
By chance. My brother was getting married, and in Turkish culture, giving jewelry is a tradition. Especially for the bride. But I wanted to give my brother cufflinks and couldn’t find anything I liked. I wanted something contemporary – he was a young 30-year-old guy and I wanted him to wear them – but at the same time something eternal and timeless that he could use in 30 or 40 years. I had a budget of a thousand euros, and everything I found was either plastic cufflinks for 300 euros or high jewelry for 5,000 euros. Nothing interesting within my budget, which in my opinion was quite good. So I decided to make them.
How did you make them?
I come from a family of artists. My uncle [Serdar Gülgün], with whom I have a very close relationship, is a collector and expert in Ottoman art. At that time, he was preparing a book, ‘The Grand Bazaar Istanbul’, for the Assouline publishing house, and I accompanied him many times through the Grand Bazaar of my city, browsing through the different stalls. I met many artisans and thought: ‘I have an idea and I know the people who can make it.’ It wasn’t that difficult. I just wanted a pair of cufflinks!
Her uncle, Serdar Gülgün, has exerted a powerful influence on his niece. Known for his passion for Turkish history, this interior designer, historian, author, and collector of Ottoman art could well be a Renaissance man. He resides in a 19th-century mansion on the Bosphorus where he often receives all kinds of celebrities and where his niece also lives. This exotic mansion was originally a hunting lodge built for a Hungarian millionaire exiled in the 1850s and was carefully restored by Gülgün. The video of Begüm’s collaboration with Guerlain was filmed here.
Your creations have a lot of oriental inspiration. What do you attribute this to?
I always liked Oriental and Asian culture. I was a very curious child and loved discovering different things. Asian art has always seemed precious and mystical to me, and its culture very deep… The more I discovered, the more I liked it. So I decided to go to China to study a master’s degree. I graduated in Chinese culture and speak Mandarin.
You lived in Shanghai for six years. How did you get there and how did it influence your project?
I moved there when I was 22, and it was a magical time. I moved with a huge group of expats; China was constantly changing, and at that time a lot of Western stores and brands settled in the city. There was a very strong entrepreneurial drive, everyone was starting something! In that environment, it was easier for me to take the plunge. If I had been in a more ‘classic’ city, I would never have dared.
No one in your family is in fashion.
No. My parents are retired. My father worked in the industry business, and my mother was an expert bridge player. She wears my jewelry and gives me her opinion when I ask for advice. Not much more.
What inspires you for your collections?
If you are open, everything can inspire you. Some flowers, a conversation, a walk through Madrid… Although of course, I am very inspired by Chinese culture, its porcelain with animals, and the culture in which I grew up and learned.
How would you describe your jewelry to someone who doesn’t know it?
