About
We listen to the space first, then we draw.
TEF İç Mimarlık is an interior architecture practice that designs and builds office, healthcare, retail and residential projects. We want every line we draw to have a counterpart on site, so we start not at the drawing board but inside the space, with a measured survey.
- 2016
- Founded
- 48
- Projects delivered
- 11.400 m²
- Built area
- 4
- Sectors
Design and construction at the same table
How a space will be used matters as much as how it looks. The position of a meeting room in an office, the light in a clinic's waiting area, where the till sits in a shop: each shapes the day of the people who work there and the people who visit. We begin a design by asking these questions.
The team that draws the design also follows its construction. From material choices to bespoke joinery, from lighting details to handover day, decisions travel from drawing to site without getting lost. The plan we show you is the plan of the space we hand over.
We are a small team, and we keep it that way on purpose. On every project the same people come to the survey, draw, walk the site and hand over the keys. Your point of contact never changes, and every decision is remembered together with the person who made it.
How we work
- 01
We start from the measure
Every project starts with the space itself and a measured survey. We draw from real dimensions, not assumptions.
- 02
We ask who uses the space
We don't draw a plan before discussing who will use the space, when and how.
- 03
Design and build in one hand
We follow what we draw on site; decisions travel from drawing to site intact.
- 04
No promises before the facts
We discuss timeline and scope once the survey and design are clear, and we deliver what we promise.
Founder
The secret of a good interior is not a striking material but a door in exactly the right place. We keep drawing until we find where that door goes.
Elif Kara
Founder, interior architect
After training in interior architecture, she spent more than ten years in design and site management for office and healthcare buildings. In 2016 she founded TEF İç Mimarlık as a small practice where the people who draw and the people who build sit at the same table. She still attends the survey of every project herself.
Where we work
Every sector comes with its own users and its own needs.
How a project moves
See our services- 01
Survey
We measure on site and listen to the brief.
- 02
Concept
Layout, material and lighting decisions.
- 03
Design development
Construction drawings and bill of quantities.
- 04
Construction
Site, joinery and installation follow-up.
- 05
Handover
Final check and turnkey handover.
Let's talk about your project.
Tell us about the space, the need and the timeline in a few sentences; we'll get back to you to arrange a site visit.