Mosaic Lamp Workshop in a 400-Year-Old Ottoman Inn

A 400-year-old Ottoman inn in the old town

The workshop is held inside a han, one of the Ottoman merchants' inns that were built around courtyards in the commercial heart of the old city from the sixteenth century onwards, where caravans unloaded, traders slept upstairs and goods were stored and sold on the ground floor. This one stands in the busy streets between Sirkeci and the Spice Bazaar, a few minutes on foot from the Sirkeci and Gülhane stops of the T1 tram, and its stone arches, worn staircase and gallery of small rooms are still used by artisans and small traders as they were four centuries ago.

Finding it is part of the charm: you enter a narrow side street beside a coffee house, climb the old stairs and walk to the end of the corridor to Room 109, where the lamps hang glowing from the ceiling. We send the exact pin on WhatsApp so you do not get lost in the lanes.

The craft of the Turkish mosaic lamp

Turkish mosaic lamps are made by gluing small pieces of coloured glass and glass beads onto a plain glass globe or shade, then filling the gaps with white grout so the pattern stands out when the lamp is lit; the technique is descended from the stained glass and tile work of the Ottoman mosques and palaces, and the lamps you see in every bazaar in Istanbul are still mostly made by hand in small workshops like this one. The instructor explains the geometric patterns, the symbolism of colours and the difference between hand-cut and machine-cut glass before you begin.

You then choose your shape, usually a round or teardrop shade for a table lamp, and your colour scheme from trays of red, blue, green, amber and white glass. The presentation and the choice take about twenty minutes, so you sit down to work with a real understanding of what you are making.

Making your lamp step by step

At the work table you place a geometric stencil on the glass and fill each section with glass pieces, pressing them into the adhesive one by one, then set beads along the borders; the instructor circulates to correct spacing and suggest patterns, and complete beginners finish a lamp that genuinely looks like the ones in the shops. This stage takes about an hour, with tea and water on the table and plenty of talk among the participants, who come from all over the world.

When the design is laid, the grout is applied and the lamp needs time to dry, which is the tea break and the moment for photos among the hanging lamps. Finally you assemble the metal fittings, test the bulb, and wrap the lamp in protective packaging with its carry bag and a US plug adapter, ready for your suitcase. The whole session lasts about two hours and you leave with a working lamp.

Sirkeci, the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar around the inn

The inn sits in the old trading quarter of Eminönü and Sirkeci, so a session here fits naturally into a morning or afternoon in the bazaars. The Spice Bazaar with its sacks of saffron, Turkish delight and dried fruit is a few minutes' walk downhill, Sirkeci railway station and the Eminönü ferry piers are close by, and the Grand Bazaar, where many of the finished lamps you have just learned about are sold, is ten minutes uphill along the covered street of lamp and ceramics shops; remember that the Grand Bazaar is closed on Sundays.

Between classes you are surrounded by the halal lokantas, simit sellers and tea houses of the trading district; our Istanbul team's suggestion is a morning session followed by lunch near the Spice Bazaar and a ferry across the Golden Horn from Eminönü in the afternoon.