The workshopbehind thecatalogue.
White Earth Atelier is the workshop of M. Bahri Tüner, working in Eskişehir — the city the world’s block meerschaum comes from. The carving specialists there shape every piece individually. There is no distributor between you and the bench.
About the atelier
Who carves White Earth Atelier pieces?
Every piece is carved by hand in Eskişehir, Türkiye, at the workshop owned and run by M. Bahri Tüner. Carving specialists there work each piece individually from a single block of genuine meerschaum, following the designs in this catalogue or a client's commission brief. Nothing is moulded, and nothing is outsourced to a factory.
Why does Eskişehir matter?
Eskişehir sits above the seams that produce the world's block meerschaum, worked from pits near villages including Sepetçi, Kemikçi and Margı. The material and the craft grew up together there: carvers have had first access to the best blocks for generations, which is why the deep figural tradition developed in this one region rather than anywhere else.
Meerschaum is also found in Greece, Moravia and a small number of locations in the United States. When collectors say “Turkish meerschaum”, they mean these seams.
What does the atelier guarantee?
That every piece is carved by hand from genuine block meerschaum in Eskişehir, that the photographs on this site are of the actual object and are published unretouched, and that the workshop stands behind its work for normal use. Specific commercial terms — price, deposit, dispatch timing, shipping and returns — are confirmed in writing for each piece before payment.
What the atelier deliberately does not do is publish specifications it has not measured. Length, bowl height, chamber depth and diameter, weight, stem material, filter fitting and case are confirmed piece by piece on enquiry rather than repeated from a template.
