Home is Where The Art Is: Inside Esin Güral Argat’s Art-Filled Abode

With stunning views of İstanbul’s Bosporus strait, the JOALI founder’s home is infused with wellness, one-of-a kind contemporary art pieces, and — most of all — spirit

On the Asian side of İstanbul, on the banks of the Bosporus strait, sits the ancient district of Üsküdar. It’s one of Türkiye’s most historically rich regions, with iconic landmarks dating back to the Byzantine and Ottoman Empires, yet it is also buzzing with new life: restaurants, shops and lively neighbourhoods. This fusion of history and contemporary culture is precisely what drew Esin Güral Argat, one of the country’s leading businesswomen and a passionate art enthusiast, to its neighbourhood of Kandilli. “Living here feels like witnessing the past, present and future of İstanbul,” she says. “It’s been home to many civilisations … it represents an old Istanbul district, with its traditional buildings and preservation of history in its quiet streets and small neighbourhoods.”

To visit Üsküdar is to travel back in time. Throughout the city, there are remnants primarily from the Ottoman Empire, with mosques, palaces and the 12th-century Kız Kulesi, or Maiden’s Tower, still standing today. The city dates back even further, though, to as early as the 7th century BCE, when the area was a busy commercial hub known as Chrysopolis. In the 4th century BCE, during the Byzantine era, it became an important religious centre, and during the Ottoman Empire, Üsküdar became a crucial point for trade and commerce. In the 20th century, it was modernised but retained the essence of its bygone eras

As the founder of the JOALI luxury holiday brand, Esin has travelled the world many times over, yet, she says, there is no place like home. “The place that best describes me is Istanbul. Even if I had been born and raised in another country, I would still fall in love with this [place],” she muses. “It’s a living city with streets that do not only belong to you, but have housed thousands of stories for thousands of years. Places have memories. The moment I first saw and visited my house, I fell in love with these feelings.”

“Even if I had been born and raised in another country, I would still fall in love with this place”

When Esin first laid eyes on her home in Kandilli, it was the location more so than the impressive architecture she was drawn to. The expansive balcony offers a stunning view across the Bosporus to the European side of Istanbul. “The view and the sea air made me very excited,” she says of the home she now shares with her husband, son, daughter-in-law and dog, along with an arresting contemporary art collection that is large both in terms of how many pieces are placed around the house and the size of the artworks themselves. “I am not a collector, but I can say that art is a passion for me,” Esin says. “I’m interested in sculpture and paintings, and [like] to own works that impress and attract me, and to live in the atmosphere they create in my home.”

As far as sculptures go, Esin’s acquisitions are remarkably life-like. Under a marble-clad stairway and near a glittering chandelier sits the Belgian artist Hans Op de Beeck’s Dancer sculpture. Life-size and greyscale, the Brazilian dancer sits somewhat inelegantly on an old Chesterfield chair. She’s in her costume — headdress, bedazzled costume and heels — but her slight slump, downward gaze and lit cigarette suggest she knows no-one is watching her while she takes a brief moment for herself. On a plinth by a pillar in the living room, with the sparkling blue Bosporus as its backdrop, is the Austrian sculptor Mario Dilitz’s 182, an almost metre-tall walnut sculpture of a young boy wearing a slouch beanie and long baggy shorts.

In the foyer, on a dark wall above a shallow set of stairs, hangs a large artwork from Turkish artist Murat Pulat’s series Broadcast Testing, in which he has given film stills an oil-paint effect in a study of mass entertainment and pop culture, not unlike those of his predecessors Andy Warhol and Chuck Close. On another dark wall beneath gallery-standard down-lights are two giclée prints from the surrealist fine art photographer Flóra Borsi’s Velavé series. Each depicts a black-and-white photograph overlaid with brush strokes that evoke the artist’s hand. In a wood-panelled hallway next to an exaggeratedly tall armchair (an artwork in itself) is a painting by the Turkish artist Nuri Iyem, one of the leading names of the social-realist art movement known for his “shy, beautiful, melancholic sad face” portraits of Anatolian women. Brightening things up in another hallway, is one of New York artist Peter Halley’s geometric Day-Glo paintings. (Other works by Halley live in collections at New York’s Museum of Modern Art, the Tate London, and Paris’ Centre Pompidou.)

This home is more than its contents. Esin infuses every element of her life — both home and business — with wellness and sustainability. In 2008, the sharp-minded businesswoman expanded her family’s company, the Gürok group (for which she is the vice chairperson), into luxury travel. Founded in 1948, the company began with investments in roof tile and glass production until 2008, when Esin diversified into tourism ventures. She started with Ali Bey Hotels & Resorts in Sorgun and Manavgat and, in 2016, introduced the luxury hotel brand, JOALI, to the Maldives. “It’s a uniquely artistic island focused on sustainable luxury,” she explains. In 2021, she opened a second hotel in the archipelago, JOALI BEING. “It’s the first wellbeing island of its kind in the Maldives,” she says. “It’s a truly transformative destination that aims to give and revitalise.

“The JOALI brand is a mechanism that brings art, wellbeing, nature and people together”

“I’ve travelled all over the world to understand [luxury hotel] guest experiences, and my impression was that [while] there is great food and great service in the industry, there is something missing: spirit,” she adds of JOALI’s inception. “The most important difference is the spirit that surrounds you the moment you walk into JOALI’s world.” To create that spirit, Esin personally infused every corner of the hotels with wellness, sustainability and contemporary design front of mind. “The JOALI brand is a mechanism that brings art, wellbeing, nature and people together. The design is inspired by a commitment to sustainability. … JOALI’s design is very personal to me. I took care of every aspect from its landscape to its interior decoration, its architecture to its immersive art concept, which includes unique artworks being positioned throughout the island.” Esin tapped the multidisciplinary design studio Autoban to work with her on executing her vision for JOALI and worked with them again on her personal sanctuary. “We [were able to] experience the comfort of knowing and understanding each other well in the decoration and design of the house,” she says. “They knew my desire to include contemporary works of art in my home, [and considered] my personal interest in meditation and wellness.”

Esin says they “took care to use colours that were peaceful and not tiring” to ensure wellbeing is just aa prominent a feature of her home as her art collection. “I believe in the impact of wellbeing on human life and the soul,” she says. “I wake up very early in the morning and start the day listening to the sounds of nature and drinking my coffee. I also like to purify my soul by doing meditation. I believe that wellbeing will be completed with the harmony of mind and body.