The Fukuoka Method refers to a natural farming practice, which advocates a do-nothing approach that requires a lot of work free of machines, fertilizers, and pesticides, resulting in simply beautiful gardens that shine in all their chaotic order.

Sofa Art & Antiques is much like a Fukuoka garden: natural, free of disturbances, constantly growing and changing. With a delightful and enchanting owner like Dilek Hanım, it's no wonder that Sofa Art & Antiques in Galata is exciting, inviting, and full of surprises.

An antique hunter, art lover, overbearing mother, and painter, Dilek Hanım has worked her magic in this gem of a store: the interior of this tiny space (which literally cannot take more than five people at one time) resembles a mythical treasure box, each corner bursting with an unexpected find, giving the customers (who feel more like guests) the youthful exuberance of a real-life treasure hunt.

This relatively new store may not be as prolific as other antique stores (like its parent store in Nuruosmaniye) but the wedding of the old and the new, brought together by a passion for aesthetic, color, and beauty makes Sofa in Galata one of the most charming stores that you can walk in in Istanbul.  

The store has quite a pedigree: owned by Dilek Hanım’s husband Kaşif Bey, Sofa Art & Antiques first opened in Nuruosmaniye in 1976, and it has been bringing a remarkable array of objects (including prints, ceramics, rugs, silver, maps) of varying age and genesis to antique lovers in Istanbul. In July 2011, Dilek Hanım has turned a tiny space in Galata, conveniently located just a few steps from her home, into a charming stop, selling a wide variety of old, new, and simply remarkable pieces. 100-year-old, hand-made school bags? Check. Bronze carousel horse from France? Check. Stuffed turkey from the United States? Check.

It was a natural step for Dilek Hanım to open Sofa: her husband has been in the antique business – or the antique way of life - for 37 years and she entered this mystic world 15 years ago, with her everlasting awareness of form, texture, proportion, color, smells, words, and spaces. She was bound to open up her own space. An antiques extraordinaire as well as a decoration consultant, half hedonist half bohemian, a writer as well as a painter, Dilek Hanım is either on the maxi or the mini, but never in the gray area of mediocrity or ordinariness. She is the kind of woman who sees, feels, experiences, shares. Much like poetry in motion.

And Sofa is a reflection of its owner. When we visited Sofa last week, the store wowed us with its cozy feel and eccentric objects, all of which will make you go back to get a dose of art, life, and light.

The inventory of the store emphasizes beauty, nostalgia, and aesthetics: sculptures of faceless women, sculpture of a naked woman, grand mirror from France, a small but very Middle Eastern mirror from Morocco, soaps from Spain and Syria, large copper jugs that are 100-150 years old. And how does Dilek Hanım choose and find the objects in her store? Well, she buys what she likes in the most unlikely places. The repertoire features objects from her own collection, from Istanbul and from around Turkey, from Egypt, Morocco, Syria, Spain.

The stock is ever changing – mostly because the objects are being sold and partly because Dilek Hanım puts some away when she gets bored. What you’ll always find in store are Dilek Hanım’s own creations: beautiful, kaftan-like jackets; tasseled necklaces; and colorful and minimalist paintings. One of the highlights of the permanent collection is the pomegranate-shaped decorative objects, with ruby stones jutting out, specially made for Sofa. There is a wide range of jewelry coming from the parent store in Nuruosmaniye – they are placed in trays and bowls, and require some meddling, but you’ll find incredible designs.

The old and the new are presented side by side in complete harmony in this tiny little store. All you need to do is search, with jazz or classical music in the background, but you’ll find something astonishing in every corner. Don’t be scared. Just step in to the world of Dilek Hanım and explore.

Sofa Art & Antiques; Serdar-ı Ekrem Sokak No. 47, Galata; P: (0212) 292 39 77