Reflections of Joy: The Story of Mürror

MÜRROR is a smile-activated interactive mirror created by designer and artist Berk Ilhan. It remains hidden until it recognizes a smile, then reveals your reflection—turning an ordinary encounter with a mirror into a playful moment of surprise, connection, and joy.

The idea began with a simple question:

Can I create an object that invites people to offer themselves the smile they truly deserve?

My background in industrial design and acting shaped the way I approached that question. Both disciplines taught me to think not only about objects, but about behavior, emotion, presence, and human experience.

I have always believed in the power of playfulness. Rather than creating another passive object, I wanted to design an interaction—something that gently asks for participation and gives something unexpected in return.

MÜRROR does not simply show you who you are. It asks you to smile first.

That small act changes the encounter.

Sometimes the first smile is deliberate, exaggerated, or simply part of trying to make the mirror work. But the interaction often becomes a game. People smile bigger, laugh when the reflection suddenly appears, and invite someone nearby to try it too.

A smile may begin without a reason. The interaction can become the reason joy starts to spread.

MÜRROR = Smile + Mirror

The name MÜRROR brings together two ideas at the heart of the project: a smile and a mirror.

The “ü” visually resembles a smiling face, while also reflecting my Turkish heritage. The name captures the central idea of the work—a mirror that responds not simply to your presence, but to your smile.

MÜRROR was designed in New York and is made in Türkiye, bringing together two places that have deeply shaped my creative life.

From Idea to Interactive Object

Bringing MÜRROR to life required years of experimentation and collaboration with programmers, engineers, and hardware manufacturers.

The result brings together art, industrial design, electronics, and smile-detection technology in a simple interaction:

You smile. The mirror appears.

MÜRROR works completely offline and does not require Wi-Fi, an app, or an account. The technology stays in the background so that the experience can remain immediate, intuitive, and human.

More Than a Mirror

For me, mirrors show us who we are; smiles remind us of what we can create in a moment.

MÜRROR sits somewhere between artwork, design object, and functional product. It explores joy, self-perception, play, and human connection through a familiar object that suddenly behaves in an unfamiliar way.

It can live in a home as a daily ritual, in a clinic or waiting space as an unexpected interaction, in a hotel or public environment as a shared moment, or in an exhibition as an experiential artwork.

Wherever it appears, the intention remains the same: to transform a familiar object into an invitation to play, connect, and smile.

A Story That Keeps Traveling

Since its creation, MÜRROR has been presented in exhibitions, design events, cultural spaces, and public environments internationally.

Selected exhibitions and recognitions include:

  • Super Happiness Challenge Award, San Francisco (2017)
  • Dubai Design Week — People’s Choice Award (2017)
  • Raw Pop-Up, Art Basel Week, Miami (2018)
  • Showfields, New York (2019)
  • ArtAnkara Contemporary Art Fair, Ankara (2019)
  • Mirror | Mirror Exhibition, Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort (2021)
  • Contemporary Istanbul (2021)
  • ArtContact Istanbul Contemporary Art Fair (2022)
  • Soho House Istanbul (2023)
  • Showfields Williamsburg, Brooklyn (2024)
  • ICFF WantedDesign, New York (2024)

Each installation has given MÜRROR a new context and a new audience, but the most rewarding part remains watching the moment when someone realizes that their own smile is what makes the mirror appear.

My dream for MÜRROR is simple: to bring smiles to as many faces as possible and to create small, unexpected moments of joy that people want to share with others.

Thanks for visiting,
Berk