Yaka STUDIO

Nilufer was born in Istanbul to a Turkish father and a German mother, and spent her summers in Berlin with her sister. They were lucky to be raised in such a colorful and multi-cultural environment. This environment helped them to have unique tastes in life. When they were little, with their mom, they could spend hours in flea markets and vintage stores and find hidden treasures from the past. They have always had an interest in carefully-thought and masterfully-crafted, one of a kind pieces, and this set the foundation of Yaka Studio.

After completing her undergrad degree in Economics, Nilufer went to Florence to improve her Italian and learn more about the art and culture. The city certainly helped her gain a huge interest in antiques and jewelry making. After Florence, she went to London to do her masters in strategy at London School of Economics. She has worked in various fields including the fashion industry. In the meantime, she started to design and make jewelry pieces with a goldsmith at Grand Bazaar in the historical part of Istanbul and also to collect antique jewelry pieces from various countries.

Nilgun studied politics as undergrad degree and then European studies at King’s College London as masters. She worked in the global advertising agencies in Istanbul as a Strategist, which helped her improve her skills in branding and communication. Since the age of 18, when she got her first camera, she have had a strong interest in analogue photography. In 2019, she moved to Berlin. They always had ideas creating a world of their own with the interests they built in time, the start-up world in Berlin triggered them to do so.

Yaka Studio is a pattern-based brand. In the essence of Yaka, there is love for bold, confidence-boosting patterns and expression in colors. With Yaka, they aim to empower individuals to encourage artistic creation and self-expression. That's why, they partner with talented artists around the globe and create Unique Wearable Art Pieces. Created from scratch, all designs begin by exploring a theme. Stories are built around the theme and those stories turn into the sketches of our collaborators which take us to the imaginative worlds.