“The winners of the carpet design contest are awarded by ITKIB. The opening speech was held on February 13, 2008 at the  Mimar Sinan University Tophane-i Amire. Seher Süleymanoğlu, Başak Özdemir and Serkan Çağlar were awarded with the first thre prizes.”

ITKIB organized this Carpet Design Competition and added it to its many traditional competitions which it has been organizing since 1992. ITKIB’s main purpose was to support and give an opportunity to young talented people in the  fashion and textile industry to create international success for our country. With great experience from the past and with the promise of new activity to the sector, ITKIB is planning on organizing this competition every year and is hoping that it will gain traditional identity.  Thanks to ITKIBs Carpet Design Competition, young talented people are not only being discovered in an artistic way but at the same time, their designs are fulfilling the needs of the sector. The other benefit of the competition is to the carpet industry which has very ancient roots in Turkey. To help the industry in becoming more modern and by using this ancient heritage to regain the market share Turkey once had in the international market.

The president of ITKIB İbrahim Ylmaz was the host of the award night where the vice president Uğur Uysal declared that this was the first design competition for the Turkish carpet sector. The idea had come to them in 2005 and they began to work on this project in 2007.

İbrahim Ylmaz stated that in the very early steps of the project, they interviewed many university professors from the carpet and textiles departments.  U€ur Uysal later on explained his thoughts: “We visited several universities in different cities. The lecturers were surprised because it was the first time representatives from the sector were visiting them, and listening to their problems and giving them details about the carpet design competition. The lecturers were convinced when they recognized our effort and goodwill, they did not withold their support and help during the process. The 10 finalists chosen from the 85 applications, were evaluated by the jury which consisted of academicians and representatives of the carpet sector, who were then taken to Domotex Floor Covering Fair in Germany.

All expenses were payed by ITKIB.  The shows in Germany were held in the cities of Frankfurt between 9-12 January 2008 and Hannover between 12-15 January 2008. The participants received their prizes from Kürflad Tüzmen, the Minister of State, they also won 13,000YTL in cash prizes.”