Izmir service area
Izmir is a port city, and export sits at the natural centre of the work done here. For brands carrying a line that runs from olive oil to wine, from dried figs to raisins, out into the world, design is tested first not on a page but on the label and catalogue the destination country will scrutinise.
The backbone of Izmir’s economy is its port: the Aegean’s agricultural output is gathered here, packed and shipped out by container. Products such as olive oil, wine, dried figs and raisins are now exported under a brand name rather than in bulk — which places design at the start of the process rather than the end.
In export, a label is not a cosmetic layer but a regulatory one. The destination country’s language, its mandatory content fields, allergen warnings and barcode standards all differ; the box that ships to Germany cannot be identical to the one that ships to the Gulf. Working on this line, our priority is not the visual but making sure the right mandatory field appears, in full, in the right language.
Izmir also has a fair side to it. Organisations such as the Izmir International Fair put a participating brand in front of a once-a-year, face-to-face audience; the stand, the corporate brochure and the promotional material all need to be ready in time for the fair calendar. The seasonal swing brought by coastal tourism is a separate layer that sits on top of that export and fair calendar here.
What we focus on here
The kind of work we produce in this region
Frequently asked
Do you have an office in Izmir, and how does the work get done?
No, we don’t have a physical office in Izmir; the studio is in Nicosia. Design, labelling and catalogue preparation run through video calls and a shared file. Physical printing, and any fair stand production, is planned separately around the quantity involved and the delivery address — we say that plainly from the outset.
We sell into several countries — is one label design enough?
Usually not. Because the information each destination country requires, and the language it requires it in, differs, a single label design rarely covers every market. Keeping the core identity fixed while building the variable field — language, unit, mandatory warning — as a flexible layer per market keeps both print cost and the revision workload down.
How far ahead of a fair should the stand and promotional material be ready?
At least a few weeks before the fair date. Production and delivery times for items like roll-ups, brochures and business cards can stretch during busy fair periods; getting design sign-off early produces a far calmer result than a print job squeezed into the final week.
Can the export catalogue be the same one used domestically?
Usually not. An export catalogue’s units, origin details and language vary by buyer country, while a domestic catalogue carries no such requirement. Trying to produce both from one file either leaves the export side incomplete or makes the domestic reader wade through unnecessary complexity, which is why we build them separately.