Salt Research
Sadık Karamustafa Archive
Sadık Karamustafa (right) and Yurdaer Altıntaş at the Brno International Graphic Design Biennial, July 4, 1990
Salt Research, Sadık Karamustafa Archive
Salt Research, Sadık Karamustafa Archive
Sadık Karamustafa’s archive has been added to Salt Research Graphic Design Archive and is now accessible online at archives.saltresearch.org.
The archive offers a multifaceted portrait of Karamustafa as a designer, educator, researcher, and civil society activist. It encompasses his work from the 1960s to the present, including poster, book, cover, periodical, institutional identity, and exhibition designs, as well as related drafts and prepress materials. The collection also includes correspondence that sheds light on the cultural environment of the period, along with his caricatures, sketchbooks, writings, ephemera, photographs, press articles, reviews, interviews, and personal documents.
A selection of images from the archive is also featured in the e-publication Yolculuklar, Ayinler ve Bir Arşiv: Sadık Karamustafa Yazıları (1986-2019) [Journeys, Rituals, and an Archive: Texts of Sadık Karamustafa (1986-2019)], available in Turkish.
About Sadık Karamustafa
Born in 1946 in Yalıköy, Fatsa, Sadık Karamustafa studied graphic design at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul (today Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University). He completed his master’s and doctorate studies at the same university and worked for publishing houses, advertising agencies, and theaters until establishing his studio in 1979. In 2001, he founded Karamustafa Tasarım with Ayşe Karamustafa. From 1989 to 2013, he was a faculty member at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. He has realized several projects on exhibition, publication, and institutional identity design across various fields, ranging from archaeology and art to architecture and literature. He has participated in exhibitions in Turkey and abroad and served as a jury member in local and international design competitions. Since 1995, he has been the design consultant for Tüyap Book and Art Fairs. He was the chief curator of the Frankfurt Book Fair Guest of Honour Turkey project in 2008 and a founding member of the Museum of the Princes’ Islands in 2010. He worked in various roles at the Association of Graphic Designers in Turkey (GMK) from 1982 and served as the vice president of the International Council of Design (ICoD) for two terms between 1995-1999. In 1997, Karamustafa became the first graphic designer from Turkey to be elected as a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. The same year, he launched “Grafist: Istanbul Graphic Design Days,” the first international event on design education in Istanbul. He continues his work in Istanbul, Ayvalık, and Berlin.
Salt Research Graphic Design Archive
Since its foundation, Salt has explored connections and intersections across disciplines, focusing on resources related to art, architecture, design, city, society, and economy. The archives built over the years laid the groundwork for a collection on graphic design at Salt Research. Initiated in 2023, the Graphic Design Archive brings together materials from the professional and personal archives of practitioners who have contributed to the development of graphic design in Turkey since the 20th century.
Salt Research Graphic Design Archive is supported by Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi.
The archive offers a multifaceted portrait of Karamustafa as a designer, educator, researcher, and civil society activist. It encompasses his work from the 1960s to the present, including poster, book, cover, periodical, institutional identity, and exhibition designs, as well as related drafts and prepress materials. The collection also includes correspondence that sheds light on the cultural environment of the period, along with his caricatures, sketchbooks, writings, ephemera, photographs, press articles, reviews, interviews, and personal documents.
A selection of images from the archive is also featured in the e-publication Yolculuklar, Ayinler ve Bir Arşiv: Sadık Karamustafa Yazıları (1986-2019) [Journeys, Rituals, and an Archive: Texts of Sadık Karamustafa (1986-2019)], available in Turkish.
About Sadık Karamustafa
Born in 1946 in Yalıköy, Fatsa, Sadık Karamustafa studied graphic design at the State Academy of Fine Arts in Istanbul (today Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University). He completed his master’s and doctorate studies at the same university and worked for publishing houses, advertising agencies, and theaters until establishing his studio in 1979. In 2001, he founded Karamustafa Tasarım with Ayşe Karamustafa. From 1989 to 2013, he was a faculty member at Mimar Sinan Fine Arts University. He has realized several projects on exhibition, publication, and institutional identity design across various fields, ranging from archaeology and art to architecture and literature. He has participated in exhibitions in Turkey and abroad and served as a jury member in local and international design competitions. Since 1995, he has been the design consultant for Tüyap Book and Art Fairs. He was the chief curator of the Frankfurt Book Fair Guest of Honour Turkey project in 2008 and a founding member of the Museum of the Princes’ Islands in 2010. He worked in various roles at the Association of Graphic Designers in Turkey (GMK) from 1982 and served as the vice president of the International Council of Design (ICoD) for two terms between 1995-1999. In 1997, Karamustafa became the first graphic designer from Turkey to be elected as a member of the Alliance Graphique Internationale. The same year, he launched “Grafist: Istanbul Graphic Design Days,” the first international event on design education in Istanbul. He continues his work in Istanbul, Ayvalık, and Berlin.
Salt Research Graphic Design Archive
Since its foundation, Salt has explored connections and intersections across disciplines, focusing on resources related to art, architecture, design, city, society, and economy. The archives built over the years laid the groundwork for a collection on graphic design at Salt Research. Initiated in 2023, the Graphic Design Archive brings together materials from the professional and personal archives of practitioners who have contributed to the development of graphic design in Turkey since the 20th century.
Salt Research Graphic Design Archive is supported by Kurukahveci Mehmet Efendi.
