Turkish manufacturer exports theater seats to countries all over the world

Ceyhun Kuburlu - ISTANBUL

A theater seat maker based in Istanbul has been exporting its products to a wide range of countries including Vietnam and Indonesia.

“The first seats we produced were admired very much. It was an important job for us. The growth in the cinema industry has brought us to this day. We have built over 200 movie theaters, from the metropolis Istanbul to the eastern province of Erzurum,” said Halil Karaman, the owner of the company “R Design” which ships seats overseas.

Karaman also stressed that the company’s annual turnover is over 24 million Turkish Liras and that they aim to double this figure in 2019.

Before, the Chinese were producing theater seats, but the price advantage disappeared, according to Karaman.

“South Korean movie-makers breaking into the Turkish market has altered all of our production. Today, South Koreans are our major purchasers. We initially exported to their theaters,” he said.

The producer added that the seats were exported to Indonesia as well, and Vietnam and Russia are on the line-up as well.

“We are attending movie fairs thanks to [Vietnam and Russia]. We will manufacture seats for American theaters in the forthcoming period,” he added.

The company has also been building special mini movie theaters for villas since 2018, Karaman said, adding that they have many celebrity customers.

“R Design,” founded by Karaman and his siblings in 1985, has 110 employees in its factory in Istanbul’s Esenyurt district.

The company, originally founded to build furniture for offices, started to manufacture theater seats when a leading Turkish movie company made an offer.

The movie industry in Turkey has been growing at a fast speed throughout the last decade. As the audience expanded grandly, investments concerning the movie theaters rose simultaneously.