At Parla, we have always believed that forward thinking and good design can’t come to life without the accumulation of lived experience: from the cities you have moved through, the disciplines you have crossed, and the conversations you’ve had along the way.
Therefore, it is no coincidence that the minds behind Parla’s Marketing & Communications team are as international and cross-disciplinary as the company itself.
Our company mindset has always called for people who think across borders and disciplines, as that is exactly how our most innovative and quality work comes to life.
An international team
Even though our factory and main operations are located in Istanbul, our work has always been shaped by an international perspective. From trade shows to design weeks across the world, our in-house team makes a habit of always being on the move.
Several members of our team have studied or worked abroad, and for some, that continues to be the case.
Most recently, Selin Öztunçman, Marketing and Communications Assistant, returned from Goldsmiths, University of London after completing her bachelor’s degree in Journalism. As well as actively working as a journalist, she is behind a large amount of the written content at Parla.
Jade İlke, Communications Lead, is of English and Turkish heritage and was brought up in the UK. She stands out for her expertise in combining her marketing and communications talents with a background rooted in the interiors sector. Always forward-thinking and focused on meaningful impact, Jade’s colleagues describe her as a “transformational leader with vision, ability and boundless enthusiasm.”
Her experience working with various brands across different branches in the interiors sector gives Parla a clear competitive edge when it comes to communicating its vision and flair.
Designer backgrounds mixed with knowledge in trade
A significant part of what makes Parla’s marketing work so seamless between team members is the design literacy running through the team. When colleagues have spent years learning to think creatively by studying form, material, function and the user’s relationship with an object, their marketing sensibility is directly rooted in understanding the product from the inside out.
Yasemin Derici Çeri, freelance Multidisciplinary Designer for Parla, trained as an industrial designer before delving into graphic design, and today she is behind one of Parla’s beloved designs: Flento. Her fluency across both disciplines is a testament to our commitment to working across boundaries.
Tuğçe Yakup, Industrial Designer, similarly came up through a formation in industrial design and is behind one of Parla’s award-winning products: the Rise Armchair. But her contribution extends further as she brings that same structural thinking to our trade show stand designs, ensuring that when Parla steps onto an international stage, the space we inhabit tells our story just as clearly as the products on display.
Business meets creative instinct
Much like the relationship between product and graphic design, Parla has always understood that building bridges between the creative and commercial sides of the business is equally important.
Nihal Çavuş, Senior Marketing Specialist, began her career in industrial design, but her curiosity quickly pulled her towards understanding how design products find their audiences.
She is currently completing a master’s degree in Marketing at one of Turkey’s most highly regarded institutions: Galatasaray University. Nihal’s story is the embodiment of Parla’s commitment to multi-disciplinary thinking.
When it comes to Tamer Durmuş, Sales and Marketing Director, he brings top-level strategic clarity and competence, with years of experience working alongside international brands such as P&G and Philip Morris. His experience turns Parla’s creative ambition into commercial momentum and will continue to do so.
International expertise built into our work
What connects all of these people is not just talent and experience, but range and the ability to move fluidly across many disciplines.
When we develop a product, we draw on design knowledge rooted in how objects are made and experienced. When we take that product to market, we draw on strategic and commercial experience that understands how value is communicated to very different kinds of buyers in very different parts of the world.
And when we put it all together in a trade show stand, a campaign, a product story, we draw on the kind of integrated thinking that only happens when creative and business minds genuinely work as one.
