University of the Underground

Merve Purde is a moving body and a strategic designer working at the intersection of these two fields. Generally ending up designing a new system in the form of an experience, workshop, brand, product, or a research. She spends her time by deepening in movement and embodiment practices and mainly focuses on body-mind connection. As a practitioner, she is offering body therapy sessions as well as movement-based body awareness workshops. She practices and gets inspired from contemporary improvisation, contact dance, and improvising as a performer in artistic projects time to time. She also explores nature for investigating and producing food products that is becoming the body itself. She has co-founded two food brands named Pina Olive Oil and Kombuçça. She holds degrees on ballet at Istanbul University Conservatory, bachelor’s in economics at Koç University, branding at BEM, and master’s in strategic design at Politecnico di Milano.