Autoban, established in 2003, operates from an office in Galata, Istanbul’s historic quarter. From the tall guillotine windows of their office, the team has panoramic views of the beautiful Bosphorus and the historic Galata Tower. Autoban designs and develops interior environments for commercial and residential purposes. In fact, they designed most of the trendy cafes and casual-chic clothing stores in Istanbul. Autoban considers each interior project as ‘a story to be told’. Their unique style and approach is born from a joy for mixing the traditional with the contemporary. In addition to creating spaces, Autoban also designs products. They approach product design as ‘an exploration of natural and raw materials in new contexts’. Their first furniture prototypes were made from plywood, which provided the freedom for experimentation due to its low cost and the way it “formed in the mould like magic”. Every Autoban product has a unique character, reflecting both designers’ playful approach to “almost cliché” items. The designers cite the material and its capabilities as the inspiration for each design, but as the product names imply, Autoban’s designs are also highly influenced by nature and the rituals of daily life. Autoban products are best summarised as emotionally expressive, visually inspiring objects with a timeless, pleasure-to-live-with quality. Over the past few years, Autoban has received a number of international design awards including being named “Best Young Designers” by Wallpaper magazine. The team is proud of their awards, as well as their widespread coverage in numerous design periodicals from around the world, now piling under the office desk! For that, Autoban says, “A massive thank you to everyone for their great support!” At the end of 2006, Autoban opened their gallery simply named the "Autoban Gallery", which showcases the best of their continually developing designs, that is, items in limited edition. With the new brand called "Autoban and De La Espada", entered the retail sector in 2007, aiming to reach every Autoban lovers on the world.