About
Sumeyye Akdere 
studio@sakdere.com
Instagram

Sumeyye Akdere is a London/Istanbul-based multidisciplinary designer whose work bridges traditional craftsmanship and contemporary design. Drawing inspiration from Turkish cultural heritage, she explores how traditional making techniques can evolve through material experimentation, creating new dialogues between craft and contemporary design. Her practice is rooted in material experimentation, storytelling and research through making, creating objects that celebrate craftsmanship while fostering emotional connections between people, materials and cultural memory.

With a background in Industrial Design, she has developed an interdisciplinary practice through close engagement with craftspeople. Time spent working alongside artisans in Istanbul’s Grand Bazaar broadened her understanding of traditional making techniques and continues to inform her approach to material experimentation and contemporary design.











Education
Royal College of Art
MA Design Products
2025-26, London
Supported by Logitech Diversty Scholarship in Art and Design

Metropolia University of Applied Science 
Product Design, Erasmus Exchange
2022, Helsinki

Kadir Has University 
BA, Industrial Design
2019-2024, Istanbul




Employment Form&Seek Creative Studio
Junior Product Designer
2024

Gorbon Ceramics
Product Design Intern
2023

The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye
Research Assistant
STAR Scholarship Helder
2023

Yakamoz Glass 
Product Design Intern
Pharetra Massa
2023

TasarımÜssü
Industrial Design Intern 
2022

Fakir Hausgerate
Industrial Design Intern 
2021





Skills
3D CAD Visualisation
Design Through Making
Resarch Through Design
Wood Working
Glass Blowing - Beginner
Leather Work 
Branding
Visual Communication




Exhibitions
London Design Festival
Brompton Design District
Perfectly Imperfect
September 2026

London Design Festival
Brompton Design District
One Tool One Stool
2026

RCA, Design Products 
Degree Show
London
2026

The Glass Furnace Turkey
Glass Blowing Fundamentals Exhibiton
July 2023

Habitare Fair
Lightining Design 
Helsiki,
2023

Demo
Metropolia Ammattikorkeakoulu
’Designing a Wooden storing unit’
Helsinki
2022




AwardsLogitech Diversty Award in Art and Design 2025


Scholarship Award from Glass Furnace Turkey
Glass Blowing Fundamentals
2023




















Product Design

Water flows, Finds Its Own Way
Free Standing Cabinet

2026
Vegetable Tanned Leather - Ash - Metal Embroidery

Positioned at the intersection of craftsmanship, material exploration and cultural memory, this cabinet reimagines Anatolian handcraft through a new material language.

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5/3
Stool
2025
Vegetable Tanned Leather - Leather Laces


Developed in response to the One Tool One Stool brief, this project investigates the leather string as an unconventional means of material manipulation.


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Drop
Wooden Storage Box
Finnish Birch

Inspired by the everyday habit of placing small objects onto nearby surfaces, this piece translates an instinctive gesture into form. A carved recess in the lid provides a subtle resting place for these objects, giving purpose to an otherwise habitual action.







Sade
Lightining
3D  Printed PLA

Sade is a multi-layered lighting object that brings together Finnish cultural values, nature, and the present moment through minimal form. Inspired by the calmness of Finnish life and the gentle rhythm of water, it invites the user to pause and reflect on the quiet beauty of everyday moments









Extend 
Chair 
2026
Ash













Menderes
Cabinet
2026
Plywood, Vegetable Tanned Leather


















Visual Communication

Bir Nev’i Branding
2024
Jewlery Brand, Brand Identity Design Service








Exhibition Branding 
Risograph Print
Sumeyye Akdere Design






















© Sumeyye Akdere Design 2026