TURQUALITY® in Istanbul: Design Week Turkey from 16 to 18 November

Quality plays a crucial aspect in Turkish design. The Ministry of Commerce of Turkey, Turkish Exporters’ Assembly and Industrial Design Professional Organization even coined the term TURQUALITY®. Under this program, they organize awards, panels and fairs all around Turkish industrial design and its standards of quality. What this is all about can best be seen at the Design Week Turkey, from 16 to 18 November in Istanbul (by the way: Istanbul was added to the Unesco Creative Cities Network with the title of ‘Design City’).

The fair showcases many Turkish designers, among them Dilara Findikoglu or Beyza Yilmaz and is stuffed with interesting keynotes and Panels throughout the three days. Designers, manufacturers, journalists and members of organizations talk about their visions of Turkish design. iF CEO Ralph Wiegmann will hit the stage on 17 November at 13:30 pm and, among other topics, talk about the strongest design industries in Turkey. Find the program here.

Three Questions to... Sertac Ersayin

But what is so special about the Turkish design industry? How come, so many new young talents and companies are emerging? We asked Turkish design leader and iF award juror Sertac Ersayin three questions about his interpretation of design in Turkey:

iF: Mr. Ersayin, What role does design play for Turkish consumers?

Sertac Ersayin: It is very important for Turkish consumers. Especially furniture, lighting, white goods and electronic and small household products and packaging are the leading classifications. They love to talk cars, apps, PC technologies, latest versions of smart phones, and also fashion products.

iF: How did Turkish design develop over the past years?

Sertac Ersayin: Development of Turkish Design is quite impressive, especially in the last 15 years. But I need to say that investments for design education in the late 70s and 80s have brought new design professionals, academics to business areas and design societies. This has helped industries and designers to cooperate together. The value coming from the export was to sell more competitive, well designed, unique products so export driven design became one of  the inititatiors for the development. Artisans and hand made manufacturing is so strong in the country and in Istanbul, the historical peninsula. The transaction period from handmade to mass production was also a valuable asset to progress in the design field in Turkey.

iF: What are upcoming design trends in turkey that you are looking forward to?

Sertac Ersayin: Especially positioning of Istanbul in near countries – the direct connections from more than 250 destinations,  will make Istanbul to one of the global hubs. It is sure that with new cultural typography, Istanbul is about to be become one of the global influencers on local textile, furniture, handmade, fashion and art products.

Kitchen strongest Design Industry in Turkey

Turkish design is on the rise - not just since yesterday! We examined the turkish industries based on our iF WORLD DESIGN INDEX (WDI) - a benchmarking and evaluation system, divided into categories such as industries, as well as by country or continent. The index is compiled from iF award winners of the past five years and represents the world's most successful in-house design teams, the most reputed design studios and the top design-driven companies.

Accordingly, the strongest design industry in Turkey is kitchen, with the most awarded designs, right before Walls and Floor and Office (see the graphics above). No wonder, the strongest company and inhouse design team according to the WDI happens to be Arcelik A.S. Industrial Design Team which specialized in kitchen designs and has won 23 iF awards for their products. Accordingly, they rank among the Top 10 of winners in this category in Europe from 2014 to 2018.