Our Story
Where Clay Becomes
Heritage
The story of Dizayn74 Pottery, Kyrenia, North Cyprus
The Beginning
A Friendship, a Kiln, and a City
More than fifty years ago, two young men met at the Applied Fine Arts Academy in Istanbul, studying in the Department of Pottery. Hasan Eminağa and Tomrul Tomgűsehan came from different parts of Cyprus, but they shared the same passion for clay and craft. When their studies were complete, they returned to the island and decided to build something together.
On 13 October 1974, they opened Dizayn74 Pottery in Kyrenia. It was the beginning of what would become the only traditional pottery studio in North Cyprus, and one of the most beloved artisan destinations on the island.
They were not just business partners. They were craftsmen who believed that pottery was not decoration. It was culture, memory and daily life shaped in clay.
The Studio
A Place Where Nothing is Hidden
From the very first day, Dizayn74 has been a fully open studio. Visitors do not just browse a shop. They walk through a working atelier where every stage of the process is visible: the wheel, the painting table, the glazes, the kiln.
Hasan and Tomrul developed their own colours and glazes over the years, mixing and refining until they found the palette that felt truly theirs. The motifs they paint reflect the natural world around them: turtles, donkeys, birds, wild flowers, olives and sunflowers. Designs rooted in the landscape and everyday life of Cyprus.
At its peak, the studio employed around twenty people working across throwing, turning, decorating and glazing. Today the team is smaller, but the commitment to doing everything by hand on the premises has never changed. Every single piece in the showroom was made in this building.
The original showroom, Karaoğlanoğlu
Glazing day in the workshop
The Craft
Fifty Years of the Same Process
Making a piece at Dizayn74 takes two to three weeks from start to finish.
It begins at the wheel. Clay is centred, shaped and formed by hand. Once dry, it moves to the painting table where each motif is applied freehand with a brush. No stencils, no transfers, no shortcuts. Then glazing, and finally firing in the kiln on site.
The result is never perfectly uniform. The brush strokes vary slightly. The glaze settles differently each time. These are not flaws. They are the evidence that a human being made this object, and that is precisely what gives each piece its value.
We have always believed that the most important thing a potter can do is make something that lasts. Not just in material, but in meaning. Something worth keeping, worth passing on.
The People
The Hands Behind the Work
Hasan Eminağa was born and raised in Kyrenia and has never left. He has spent more than fifty years at the wheel in the same studio, on the same road. His three daughters, Seda, Eda and Verda, grew up surrounded by clay and craft. All three went on to distinguished careers of their own, each shaped in some way by a childhood spent watching their father work with patience and precision.
Tomrul Tomgűsehan came from Lefke and built his life in Kyrenia alongside Hasan. His daughter Ayşem has always been close to the studio, and his son Hüseyin runs his own business right next door, keeping the family rooted to the same stretch of Karaoğlanoğlu road where everything began.
Together, Hasan and Tomrul have spent more than half a century doing what they were trained to do. That kind of dedication is rare anywhere in the world. In North Cyprus, it is unique.
The Dizayn74 family in Kyrenia, in the early years
The Studio Today
Come and See for Yourself
The showroom holds more than 350 different handmade designs. Plates, bowls, mugs, vases, water jugs, cooking pots, planters, incense burners and more. Some pieces are purely decorative. Others are made to be used every day at the table.
Custom orders are always welcome. If you have something specific in mind, whether a gift, a commission or a personalised piece, speak to us directly.
Visitors are warmly welcome to come and watch the work in progress. There is no performance here, no rehearsed demonstration. Just the studio, the wheel, and the same process that has been running for more than 50 years.
Address
Karaoğlanoğlu Caddesi No.36
Kyrenia, North Cyprus
- Handmade
- Authentic
- Traditional
- Slow Living
- Natural
- Timeless
“Every handmade piece carries fingerprints, patience and tradition.”