ABOUT ME

I am Defne Celet, an artist from Istanbul. My work asks who holds power, who decides what is normal, and why I should go along with it.

I paint and collage on whatever holds a mark: paper, plexiglass mirrors, an old skateboard deck, a metal stop sign, cut up canvases. I mix acrylic markers, graphite, watercolour and spray paint with digital studies I build in Procreate. When a piece needs to be worn, I sew it, cast it in brass or build it from soda tabs and old jeans.

Most of my projects start with a power balance that feels wrong. Pigeons feeding people. A stop sign refusing its job. The version of me that behaves in public against the one that stays home. I document graffiti around Istanbul and London and bring that layered, chaotic energy into my compositions. It even gave me my own tag.

Craft runs in my family. I grew up inside Desa, my family's leather company, and interned in its production and design offices. I illustrated my grandparents for the book that tells the company's fifty year story, and I assisted backstage at its show during Milan Fashion Week. Workshop discipline on one side, street instinct on the other: my work needs both.

I am finishing high school in Istanbul and preparing for a fine art degree in London. I took the Fashion Sketchbook short course at Central Saint Martins in 2025 and train year round in portfolio studios in Istanbul and London. Between projects I play violin, scuba dive, and look after two huskies who occasionally donate hair to my jewellery.