Building a Creative Hub for a Digital Product Studio: Week 1

Welcome to the first week of our journey: Building a Creative Hub for a Digital Product Studio! I am Eda, one of the founders of Tio, a digital product studio based in Istanbul. 👋🏼

Tio was officially founded about five years ago. Since then, we had our own offices (several places), tried working fully remote (we were remote before it was cool 😎) and in co-working spaces. We learned a lot from all. After trying many ways of working in years, we eventually decided on having an office with a remote option. This hybrid model suits our team’s needs the best. Our current office is a regular flat on a busy area in Kadıköy, Istanbul. Due to growing needs of our company we decided to move into a new space. This journey is a part of our current expansion. 🐙

Since we decided to move, we were in search of a new space. Sahibinden (which is a flat/office sharing platform) links were sent, many many discussions about how we want our new space to be are made. Then, one of the links got our attention. And then our hearts as well. :D

We were excited to see this -formerly woodshop- place in Yeldeğirmeni because it was the first option that made us dream. 💭

Why do we need a space when the world is going remote?

First things first. We don’t only want an office but a creative space for all of our needs such as content creation, making/building physical products and even meetups. As much as we like working remotely, being in the same room has its own undeniable advantages. Even if we mostly cannot be in the office at the same time, we will have a space if we need to. So, we wanted a mothership. (aka headquarters but with a sauce of space travel. 😶)

Why not a corporate office space?

Corporate office buildings have their own perks but lack creative vibes imho. Being surrounded by creative people is necessary to be inspired and inspiration is a driving force for Tio. Besides, we liked the idea of designing the experience of our new office from the get go.

Why Yeldeğirmeni?

Yeldeğirmeni is a cool place to be around, full of old beautiful buildings. There are lots of workshops of artists and craftsmen. Also, there are many cafes so it is a nest for remote workers too. We always feel attached to the artisan feeling and see our own work as artisan as well. It seems like we’ll be the first digital studio in the area. Yay!👩🏻‍💻

Source: https://www.bizevdeyokuz.com/yeldegirmeni-kadikoy/

Well, it is official! ✍🏻

Last week, we signed the contract and officially have a new space. We got the keys and already started planning. Excited to share the transformation of a woodshop into a creative hub and our expansion journey with you here. Stay tuned! 🐙

Of course, our next action was to create a Pinterest board.

We’ll try to be consistent and keep you posted here, Twitter and Instagram. Clap to motivate and support us!👏🏼

Here is “before”

tio is a digital product studio based in Istanbul. We create beautiful digital products, human-centric digital experiences. Do you think we can work together? Contact us!

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