What makes you smile? Something witty, something pretty, something clever, something nostalgic? What if there was a place that brought all of these together in beautifully-designed items?

Kağıthane (House of Paper) is a small design shop in Karaköy, located in the Fransız İş Geçidi. An innovative mix of items makes up the inventory, from notebooks and postcards to folding fans and bags—all with a humorous edge. Kağıthane is owned by Emine Tusavul, who is a lecturer at Işık University’s Fine Arts department and the founding partner of an advertising agency. The majority of the pieces at Kağıthane are designed by Tusavul herself but you’ll also find some items created by her students.  

Most of the items are made of paper, while some are made of porcelain and ceramic. The unique designs are inspired by Istanbul and Turkish culture—from the Galata Tower and the Bosphorus to the traditional tea cups and old Turkish films.

This small shop, which is joined with Tusavul’s sister's coffee shop Bej Kahve, is fun and colorful. And when I say fun, I mean it in the most straightforward way possible—I’ve seen shoppers laugh out loud while browsing through the items.

Everything in the store is designed to fire your imagination, and it was quite difficult to pick a favorite but I’ve managed to create a shortlist. One is a postcard created by one of Tusavul’s students. The postcard, referred to as the People from Istanbul, takes a creative look at the cosmopolitan city of Istanbul, showing the wide range of different personalities inhabiting the city next to one another: the punk kid; the businessman; a fully-veiled, observant Muslim woman; the intellectual; the Louis Vuitton lady; the kabadayı (Turkish tough guy)… You can also get the People from Istanbul design as a bookmark or a gift wrap.

The range of coasters are laugh-out-loud funny: they are made to look like simit (Turkish-style bagel), lahmacun (Turkish-style pizza), kağıt helva (Turkish-style, round wafers—but with a bite off), and lace mantle (just like the ones Turkish grandmothers put over TVs and coffee tables). Nostalgic games of the pre-internet generation also come alive in Kağıthane’s designs like İsim-Şehir and Adam Asmaca (hang-man). Interesting street names and traditional tea-glass designs are materialized in place mats. One of the cutest objects is the fan that is made to look like cotton candy.

It’s quite rare to find Turkish design objects in Istanbul, except for a few places like the IKSV Design Shop, and Tusavul certainly played her part in closing a much needed gap.

To see a full list of their uber-humorous inventory where the modern meets the classic, check out their website. The website greets you with a quotation that says, “you don’t need any of this, but when you see them you’ll want to buy them all.” So head to Kağıthane, have a few laughs, and get yourself (or your loved ones) something to smile about.