TURKISH DELIGHT

It’s been one helluva week that saw me jetting from London to New York to Istanbul (Not Constantinople) and back to London again. I spent 48 hours in my beloved NY with ICS shooting some videos for a very exciting new project TBA very soon. It was my first time shooting against a green screen and I must say, it was very strange and exciting indeed.

The man that everyone wants to be when they grow up, Jay Zimmerman, was there moonlighting as a drinks stylist just before the opening of his new bar Ba’sik in Williamburg, as was model Emily Wilson, who is coincidentally an old classmate of mine from middle school! Small world. Special thanks to the amazing team of stylists, hair and makeup for their incredible and transformative work, as well as director Roberto Serrini for all of his…well…direction!

And while it was hard to leave New York after spending such a short amount of time there, I was more than excited to be going to Istanbul (Not Constantinople) for the very first time. The weather was incredible, sunny and crisp and perfect for the entire duration of my stay at a beautiful hotel right on the Bosphorus. The local team including Selin and Gökhan were more than hospitable and arranged an action packed visit that included a training with over 80 Turkish bartenders. We ate at some amazing restaurants including Ulus 29, which sits high atop one of the 7 hills overlooking the city and even toured the Grand Bazaar + The Spice Market. A huge indebted thank you to Oguen Saka for organizing this and many other amazing visits and for being an incredible tour guide. Teşekkürler!

So why did Constantinople get the works? That’s nobody’s business but the Turks!