Karen and Yusuf inside Silver Harmoni
Silver Harmoni is one of the many shops along Ibrahim Serin Caddesi, one of the shopping areas which starts off from the town centre. Yusuf Gökben and Karen Henry run Silver Harmoni which has an extensive collection of jewellery. There are thousands of pieces to suit all tastes and budgets.
The jewellery is sourced from a variety of places. Some pieces are made in store, others are made by artisans in small workshops around Turkey. There are also pieces from all around the world that have been purchased during their travels. The number and quality of the unusual pieces is something that the customers often comment on.
See some more shop photos on our Picasa Web Album.
Yusuf Gökbenwas born and raised in Istanbul. During high school he trained at a metal work industrial college. However he soon realised that this was not the career for him. He was more of a people person and enjoyed spending time conversing and helping people. When it came time to make his university preferences, he ignored all the advice from his teachers telling him to use his metal working training for an assured place and he selected tourism and hospitality instead. He was offered a place in Samsun 19 Mayis University in Amasya to study tourism and hospitality.
As part of the course, each year the students were required to go to various hotels in Turkey for work experience and training. The first year he went to Izmir Cesme Altin Yunus Holiday Village. In the second year one of his friends suggested he go to Kaş to Hotel Club Phellos. His friend had trained there the previous year and had really liked Kaş, Yusuf then decided to follow his suggestion and went to train at Hotel Club Phellos. After Yusuf arrived in Kaş he really liked it and thought to himself, this is the place he wished to live for the rest of his life.
He returned again to Kaş the following year for his university training and made many friends. He decided after his university finished that he would remain in Kaş. The following year he received an offer to work as a sales assistant in a leather store and decided to take that. He enjoyed meeting different people from around the world and began learning different languages. Yusuf spent a number of years working in a variety of stores selling items such as leather, souvenirs, carpets and jewellery. During this time he also undertook a second university degree in economics.
Karen and Yusuf outside Silver Harmoni
Karen Henrywas born in Sydney, Australia and grew up in a nearby town called Bathurst. Karen first started studying psychology at university before deciding to major in accounting. She worked as an auditor, auditing a diverse range of organisations from small non profit charities to banks, hospitals, universities, local governments and electricity companies. She had always had a passion for travel and a desire to find out about other cultural beliefs and traditions which led her to travel to different countries around the world. Karen also had a keen interest in stones and crystals and had been collecting and learning about them since she was a teenager.
She first travelled to Turkey in September 2000. She was constantly greeted and welcomed with kindness by the Turkish local people. She soon got used to having her cheeks pinched, food shared and strangers offering her assistance. It was during this trip that she first met Yusuf, by the tomb at the top of Uzun Carsi.
For the following two years Karen travelled back and forth to Turkey to visit Yusuf while continuing to work in London, Canada and Australia. Despite being continents apart they still managed to talk everyday via instant messenger.
Inside Silver Harmoni Kaş, Turkey
Finally the time came in 2002 when they decided they couldn’t be apart any longer and wished to spend every day together. As they both loved Kaş, it was an easy choice to decide to live there. Yusuf was working in a silver jewellery store at the time. His cousin in Istanbul, who owned a silver jewellery store and was a jewellery wholesaler, had been advising him to open a silver jewellery store for many years. Before this time, Yusuf hadn’t wanted to open a store before he finished his military service. With his military recently completed, and after many years of working for other stores, he decided it was an ideal time to finally open his own store. In April 2003 Silver Harmoni opened. It was a lot of hard work and it had some steep learning curves, but was something they both enjoyed.
The nature of the tourist season in Kaş means that most people work long hours seven days a week for seven months and then have a five month break. During the five month off-season, Karen and Yusuf travel to Australia to visit family and friends. Their friends in Australia were always asking them to bring jewellery with them when they came to visit. Soon stores were asking about their jewellery and they started to wholesale jewellery in Australia. After the tourist season finishes in Kaş they travel to Australia and do a 5000 km road trip to visit stores and wholesale their jewellery. The trip gives them a chance to visit various friends and family along the way.
Each year after their Australia trip Yusuf and Karen like to travel to different parts of the world sightseeing. They like to spend time in each country to get a feel for the country, the people and its history. For this reason they travel independently instead of with organised tours. Their travels have included countries in Africa, Asia, Europe and Central America. They often find hospitable Turks living in many of the countries they visit, usually running a döner kebab store. From small villages in Belize to bigger cities like Rome, they discovered Turks everywhere!
Crystals and stones from their collection
Each year during their travels they keep an eye out for unusual or interesting jewellery designs. They have travelled to the main silver jewellery producing countries such as Mexico, Thailand, Italy, India and Bali. Often they gain inspiration from their travels for their own designs. They have also prospected for gemstones and have gained an appreciation for the work involved in finding and cutting gemstones.
Karen and Yusuf say that “Kaş is a really beautiful place to live. It is filled with interesting and talented people and attracts a wide diversity of tourists. We enjoy meeting people from all around the world in our store and love when we can know more about their culture and where they come from due to the experience of travelling in their country.”
Come to Kaş and visit Karen and Yusuf at Silver Harmoni, you are sure to be pleased you did.
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