Meet the lovely @Cancanancavidan
This week we had the chance to meet the lovely Duygu, the mummy behind the famous instagram account @cancanancavidan! Originally from Turkey she is now living in London with her family ! She started her Instagram account when her little one, Elis, was still a newborn and now each photo that she is posting, of Elis or from her daily London adventures, is getting hundreds of likes!
She just launched her new brand: KOKORI who promises to be a big
success!
A fresh contemporary, minimal girls-wear brand established in London, for 2 to 12 years old girls. Her ethos is to produce a joyful simplicity of the highest quality in a sustainable manner, timeless garments with sophisticated little creative details. However you'll have to wait until next spring before having the chance to buy this amazing collection! Until then...
Let's meet this incredible mummy!
‐What inspired you to start your Instagram account?
Being a young family and away from home is always difficult and to certain degree missing the closest to you. Therefore, one of the main reasons was to share our precious moment with Ellie’s grandparents in a daily basis. Also building a visual diary for Ellie to refer back to her childhood. Even if you have millions of pictures in your phone or digital storage you don’t often refer to them. However, with Instagram is always easy to just flip through these lovely moments.
As the days passed it become more than just a diary, we started to engage with more mums and friends. So within a short time our connection grew and this social media friendship started to turn into real life friendship. So far this little app has intruded well into our daily life with friendship and inspirations. No day passes by without checking the feeds:)
‐We follow your daily adventure through your stunning photos, what’s your secret to engage with your followers?
Keep them happy with inspirational feeds I guess . Perhaps, it maybe be our daily feed, that people just wander what we are up too. I also believe people who follow us share similar taste and therefore they wonder what’s next. Hmmm. This sounds more like what we do in daily basis:). The key to all. I do personally love discovering places, restaurants, streets, architecture, galleries. I love to share these beautiful things and inform our followers, not teaching them, but simple inform them of these places we visit, cafes we may come across, galleries, paintings, we may see and so on. I am not sure if many followers notice them but these and many more are present in our feeds.
‐Your Instagram account is very successful; do you have any tips for other insta‐mummies?
My main aim is to always retain the feeds in a positive, lovely, lively manner and above all as simple as possible photos of the highest possible quality. I would definitely recommend to check few photographer’s web sites, blogs, Instagram etc. also there are many good apps to edit the photos and maintain uniform atmosphere in the feeds. Which for me is the key to a successful photo. Definitely avoid repeats. Concept is a must.
‐Who are your favourite Instagrammers?
Ooof there are too many. Instead of mentioning them individually, I would like to categorise them. There is a group of northern European and Japanese Mummies who I do admire their, minimalist, tranquil living philosophy with their families and professional lives. Must follow for me. Very inspirational photographers. Who truly know how to tell a story through a photo. I can spend hours staring at their galleries. Another group is the one that feeds my travelling daemons. These are galleries where I constantly discover truly inspirational places that endeavour to visit. When I am to travel. I nowadays insta search them instead of googling . Well, let’s not forget the part that’s tight to my profession, Kids fashion. This is where I spent really long time searching and discovering new trends.
‐Your favourite spot in London you like to go with your little one?
Ha Ha. I think we should first mention the must visit as dictated by Elis. Parks, City farms these are our favourite. The local shop for harribos:). The local vegie market for cucumbers. Ooohh, we can’t forget Brixton village where her friend ginger cat lives. Perhaps you are familiar by him, as he features constantly in our feeds:).
Apart from that, as mention earlier. Galleries the Tate Modern is a lovely place and loves it as there is plenty of place for her to run and lye on the ground and play with her colours. Cafes located in small and cosy streets where you can feel the essence of living in London. Like St Luke Mews in Noting Hill. Also a recent favourite Exmouth Market near Farringdon.
‐If you had to dress up Elis, which Fancy Kids outfit would you choose?
Of Course our new Brand KOKORI Kids:). Milk and Biscuits’ Cobalt Blue Coat. Eshvi’s pale pink hat. Paade’s Kaleidoscope dress.
‐What’s next for @cancanancavidan? Any new project in preparation?
After an enormous time of research and many months of hard work. I have finally manged to launch the debut SS17 collection for KOKORI Kids. This is a very exciting project for me and one I aspire to to work very hard for.
‐Could I have your best recipe?
Nowadays our favourite in our kitchen is:
Broccoli with yogurt: Plain and simple. Ooh don’t forget to steam it or just boil it (the broccoli) for couple of minutes no more, then just add the yogurt and pinch of salt.
Avocado cocktail salad: steamed asparagus and green beans, with avocado and lime juice with some olive oil. Finally top it up with grained almonds and hazel nuts.
THANK YOU DUYGU!