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‘The beautiful El Flutter butterfly nightlights creates warm atmosphere with its glow. Soner Ozenc and John Wischhusen design the glowing lights that create an interactive touch to your living space. It is made from electroluminescent fabric that lets the wings of the butterfly glow. The soft light is pretty safe and energy efficient to be used in any part of your house.’ HOMEQN

EL Sajjadah has been invited to be exhibited in the International Invention Fair, Kuwait. The invitation directly came from the Kuwait Science Club under the patronage of His Highness the Emir of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah.

This unique convention in the Middle East was received with great importance locally, regionally, and internationally. It highlighted the inventions, innovations and creativity of youths. The convention also promoted Kuwait’s modernity and its role in encouraging and supporting the inventors and participants in this public service.

‘Sajjadah 1426 prayer mat by Soner Ozenc

Selected by Rory Dodd, founder of Designersblock

“This electro-luminescent prayer mat contains a compass so its design glows more brightly as it points towards Mecca,” says Dodd. “Simultaneously modern and deeply historical, it mixes technology and tradition to enhance everyday usefulness.” Turkish-born, British-based designer Ozenc, 27, creates products that combine tradition with contemporary materials and technology. Though not a Muslim, he became interested in rugs and prayer mats while studying at Central St Martins. (“Sajjadah” is a Persian-Turkish word meaning prayer rug; 1426 stands for 2005 in the Islamic calendar.)’ Independent

Here is the online link for the same article.

‘Illuminated furniture is quite a rage these days so, why not get yourself a lighted prayer rug. Britain-based Turkish designer Soner Özenç has created a lighted sajjadah or prayer rug. Hmmm…Technology intervened in the world of the spiritual too! Built on intricate technology, the Sajjadah 1426 (signifying 2005, which is 1426 according to the Islamic calendar), combines the best of Muslim culture, ingenuous art and electroluminescent phosphor printing technology. If you think all that the wonderful piece of art does is glow, think again. It not only creates a divine aura while a devotee is deep into his namaz, it actually guides him to determine the right direction towards the sacred Mecca. And how does it achieve this end? The lighted motifs of the rug turn brighter the closer the rug is turned toward the direction of Mecca! Though we might be tempted to believe so, this is not due to any divine intervention. The embedded compass module works surreptitiously behind this phenomenon. I would say it’s a beautiful idea. It looks pretty stunning in the dark.’ Bornrich.org

The Workington Winter Lightworks Festival returned for a second year at the beginning of 2007 to showcase a diverse range of work by thirteen of the hottest and most innovative young designers and artists from near and far. There were participating artists from Sweden, Iran, Turkey, Korea and Taiwan as well as Penrith, Brampton and Cleator Moor. The festival commissions new light-based artworks, and borrows existing artworks, for display in shop windows in Workington town centre. The aim is to brighten up the town during the dark winter months.

The festival trail was open to the public every day until the end of March 2007. Each artwork was accompanied by a text panel with more details about the artist and artwork.

Artist: Soner Ozenc & John Wischhusen
Artwork: Glowings
Location: Barclays Bank, Finkle Street
Up and coming London-based Turkish designer Soner Ozenc’s blue Glowings are luminescent butterfly lights that give off a soft diffused glow from their wings. They were made as part of a joint project with product and lighting designer John Wischhusen, whose work explores the process of mechanical movement.

‘Ever wished you could  pass through time? Well now you can, thanks to conceptual artist Soner Ozenc’s digital Time Curtain, which cleverly incorporates and LED-style clock.

The curtains are an electroluminescent step forward for Ozenc, a 26-year-old, Turkish-born designer who came to our attention last year with his lit-up Sajjadah 1426 prayer mat (which glows more intensely when it faces Mecca). Also look out for butterfly-shaped nightlights and personalized laptops. The future’s bright, so they say.’ Eliisa Makin @ Independent

‘Soner Ozenc, the design guru who brought us the Sajjadah 1426 Prayer Rug about this time last year, has wowed onlookers at the London Design Festival yet again with his electroluminescent style. Apparently Ozenc has been passing the time (ahem) by crafting a svelte room partitioner (or snazzy wall adornment, if you’d prefer) that helps keep your life on schedule. The Time Curtain utilizes a “transparent piece of hanging fabric that displays the current time in electroluminescent LED-style numbers” — perfect for an overdramatic countdown to certain special days of the year. While details concerning future availability (and alarm functionality) haven’t been made public just yet, this timekeeper is sure to get its 15 minutes of fame while on display, and would probably look mighty sweet down the hall from your Digital Stag, yeah?’ Engadget

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‘ There’s been so much amazing stuff on display at the London Design Festival we’ve had a hard time covering all of it. One real stand-out of design innovation is Soner Ozenc’s electroluminescent fabric gadgetry, spotted at this year’s Designersblock by the Core77 crew. Ozenc’s Time Curtain is a transparent piece of hanging fabric that displays the time in elecroluminescent LED-style numbers…’ Inhabitat

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‘In the spirit of Ramadan, which begins this week, we bring you the Sajjadah 1426 Prayer Rug. Designed by Soner Ozenc, the Sajjadah 1426 (2005 in the Islamic calendar) is made using Electro Luminescent Phosphore Printing technology, which allows it to display various graphics and patterns directly on the surface. An embedded compass instructs the rug to glow more brightly as it is turned towards Mecca, allowing users to easily determine when they are facing exactly the right direction. So convergence triumphs once again, though now you have two Mecca-detecting devices to charge…’ Engagdet

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‘A prayer rug is a small and portable carpet that Muslims put on the floor when they perform their prayers. Its main function is to provide a clean and isolated platform for the prayer. With the specific patterns on its surface, it also aims to bring the atmosphere of a mosque to wherever they take it.

Muslims pray five times a day. The only product they need to perform their prayers is a prayer rug. And there is one thing they need to be careful about: the holy city of Mecca a” the direction towards which they should perform their prayers…’ Yanko Design

Continue to read here.