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DN ECONOMIC R EVIEW / Sectors*
Monday
AGRIBUSINESS
Tuesday
ENERGY DEVELOPMENT
FRIDAY, MARCH 20, 2009
Wednesday
Thursday
TRAVEL, TOURISM & AVIATION INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES
Turkish designer Ertürk now
a top name in New York City
NIKI GAMM
ISTANBUL - Hürriyet Daily News
Emre Ertürk has become one of the
top names among designers in New
York. He started out as an artist,
moved to New York and became a
successful entrepreneur in the process. His individual designs as Emreny – Emre New York – targeted a
jaded, wealthy clientele and made
him a hit with some of the leading
celebrities in the United States.
Ertürk told the Hürriyet Daily
News & Economic Review that he
had already succeeded in Turkey
with his work that included the mass
production of his paintings for a famous fashion house and his designs
for handbags and belts with his favorite symbol, the horseshoe.
“So all this was already in action
before I moved to New York,” he
said. “It was my faith in myself to
be in New York like every successful artist. There is a magnet in this
city that attracts good artists. The
fashion label I created is called
Emre New York, so now I truly belong to this city. People here understand me very well.”
The creative process
Try to pry any secrets out of
Ertürk, and you’re out of luck. He’s
definitely against it because it would
unravel his secrets. His most recent
success has been as the creator of
luxury leather travel pet handbags.
“I design pet carriers for the comfort of pets and their owners with a
chic touch. I don’t copy other brands
and convert their handbags into pet
carriers. I get inspired and try to design a pet carrier specifically for pets
but has the look of a handbag.
With his Emreny brand, designer Emre Ertürk has become a hit in New York City.
‘When there is a recession people tend to buy more luxury products. People are still
shopping but there is a fear in the industry,’ says Emre Ertürk, a well-known Turkish designer in New York. ‘Money comes and goes, and it is in our hands to keep it’
had a significant impact on his business. “When there is a recession
people tend to buy more luxury
products. People are still shopping
but there is a fear in the industry.
Money comes and goes, and it is in
our hands to keep it. I believe that
we will see a balance soon.”
Ertürk has decided to be in only
the creative area of Emre New
York, and he would like to sell the
brand to another brand that can
manage the label, its sales, marketing and other operations, so he can
create and design and be there only
when they need him.
Focus on creation
WITH A GIANT:
Emre Ertürk (C) with Ahmet Ertegün, the late co-founder and executive of Atlantic Records, and
his wife, Mica, in this file photo. Ertürk has become a successful entrepreneur in New York with his creative designs.
“Emreny pet carriers are also
good for travel. I put enough details,
mesh ventilation and proper construction in each design so that they
fit FAA guidelines for carry-on travel.
When I started this back in 2000,
there were some other companies
already trying to make a bag for a
pet; however, they were not luxury
and they looked like a kennel. When
I launched Emreny pet carriers, I had
20 different styles in the collection
and none looked like each other.”
Today he is hobnobbing with
some of the most famous names in
showbiz and has twice been invited
to show his wares at the “Oscar
House,” where those attending the
Oscars can see the best in clothing,
jewelry and other accessories such
as handbags and pet carriers.
Asked what he liked best about
his work, Ertürk stressed creativity.
“What I like the best about my work
is the part that you can get very creative all the way and create something from scratch. The least I like
are the deadlines because I rely on
production, and I have to be patient
until the artisans finish the orders.”
Ertürk has opened a factory in
Istanbul to make luxury leather
goods. He said Turks are specialized in each of their trades and
have a lifetime of experience working with every kind of leather. The
10-year-old assistant becomes the
patternmaker when he grows up.
China losing its prowess
“I tried to manufacture in the
U.S., too, but there were no artisans there for luxury leather goods
manufacturing. And China was
losing its power. I know this for
sure since I receive many calls and
e-mails from China’s factories begging us to lend them our production. Stores here in NY don’t want
‘Made in China.’ Italy was too expensive for the quality, so I decided
to open the factory in Istanbul.”
“I offer custom bags in my own
factory for private clients and I also
design and manufacture private labels for several other U.S. brands.
They trust the name because it is a
New York brand, and they want me
to produce bags and leather goods.
“Opening my own factory lets
me get creative in the field. I can design and manufacture everything
from bags to belts, from bracelets to
placemats for tabletops. Working
with any contractor factory is difficult. They don’t understand your
needs. The Emre New York factory
is an educated, prestigious factory,
and we make better products for our
own collections and for other brands
under any price point.”
According to Ertürk, the current
global economic recession has not
“Managing the business takes
away from my creating, so I would
like to dedicate myself 100 percent
to creating so the brand can become
huge where it is supposed to be,” he
said. “I believe I can find the right
person to help me grow in the industry. I am competitive and a huge
believer. My prices are still affordable for the top quality I offer, and I
give personal service to clients by
letting them order the styles with
their preferred colors. Even if that
color is not part of the season, we go
and source that color because the
customer wants to create their
dream bag, so we work on it.
“I have so many clients but they
could double in six months if I
would be in the creative department only, and I would have a
powerful team handling management. How can I think, create and
design and manage at the same
time? Creating a brand is the hardest part and I did that. Emre New
York is here and alive and has been
active and also been the official
handbag brand for the Oscars
twice. So it is time to take it to the
next step. Emre New York will be
the next most loved brand in the
whole world. I know this. I just
need management help from another established brand.
“I also paint every night after
work for my new upcoming painting show. This will be the first
show since 2004. I believe that now
that the brand Emre New York has
a respected name, I can continue to
paint in my spare time. Painting
makes me happy and also helps me
design better products. My knowledge of colors helps me choose the
best two-tone handbags, which are
mostly copied next season by other
brands. I am planning to exhibit
the new oil and acrylic paintings
with my fall ’09 handbags, shoes
and accessories at the Time Warner
Building gallery.”
Chamber chief lashes
out at local recovery
ISTANBUL
Hürriyet Daily News
National economic recovery plans
are strong on short-term action but
do little to support the European
Union’s long-term crisis exit strategy,
according to the European Association of Chambers of Commerce and
Industry, or EUROCHAMBRES.
EUROCHAMBRES asked its
member chambers of commerce to
evaluate their recovery, before EU
heads of state and governments
gathered at the Spring European
Council in Brussels yesterday.
“Most member states have undertaken actions in the fields of employment and access to credit.
Similar actions have also been taken
in most member states with regard
to investments in infrastructure,”
LEADER: Arnaldo Abruzzini, the secretary general of EUROCHAMBRES.
said the association Wednesday.
“We think that more has to be
done to produce tangible effects for
businesses, which still face difficulties in accessing credit. An EU Guarantee Fund for small and medium
size enterprises, or SMEs, should be
set up,” said Arnaldo Abruzzini, secretary general of EUROCHAMBRES.
18
Friday
ENTREPRENEURSHIP
FATMANUR
ERDO⁄AN
[email protected]
Perception, reality
of leadership
Istanbul is a city filled with diversity and color.
Last weekend, it rocked with the sounds of Bollywood at an event organized by an Indian
friend of mine named Raja. He hosted a large
group for a great night of food, dancing, and
music at the Dubb Indian Restaurant in Sultanahmet.
Raja’s professional background is in engineering, and he manages quality control for one
of the biggest construction projects in town. But
Saturday night, we saw a different side of him.
Raja dressed formally, and he greeted each
guest at the door, one by one. He made every
person in the room feel special, talking individually to everyone, including the restaurant staff
and the musicians and dancers. He was completely in control of the entire event, and all eyes
were on him.
Throughout the entire evening, Raja didn’t sit
even once. He was working hard to ensure the
event ran smoothly and his guests enjoyed
themselves. He was busy connecting with people, and connecting them to each other. He escorted people around the room, his arms around
their shoulders, introducing them to the other
guests. He was bringing together diverse groups
of people and helping them become one larger
group.
People saw a side of Raja they had never seen
before. They were impressed by his energy and
enthusiasm, and his natural competence in managing such a large event. They eagerly asked him
to organize more events like this one. They didn’t see Raja as an engineer, they saw him as a
masterful organizer of cultural events. That
night, they made him their leader.
Watching my friend, and how the group responded to him, reminded me of some research
conducted by Cameron Anderson and Gavin J.
Kilduff of the University of California at Berkeley. Their research shows dominant personalities are usually highly influential leaders in a
group. The reason is, groups tend to equate
dominance with competence. The more a person displays his dominance, the more the
group’s perception of his competence grows,
and the more they listen to him.
What that meant for Raja Saturday was that in
order to lead such a big group, yes, he needed to
show a basic level of dominance. But then, once
the group saw that he had that – in this case, the
ability to manage the group – and was exerting it
regularly, a sort of feedback loop formed. Raja
displayed his dominance, the group saw his competence, they granted him more space to display
his dominance, Raja filled that space, the group
saw it as even greater levels of competence, and
the cycle continued, such that pretty soon, the
group’s perception of him had grown and they
collectively made him their leader.
Raja was perceived as competent, and in his
case, the perception was in line with reality.
However, studies show that sometimes, people
who are perceived as competent are not necessarily so. Reality does not always match perception. How do we know when the two are out of
sync? First, look for breaches in the competence
you believe is there.
For example, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip
Erdo¤an is perceived as a competent leader. His
dominant tone of voice and his strong manner
raise our perception of him. But what happened
in Davos recently was not a sign of the competence we expect from a prime minister. Leaders
need to keep their calm, wit and humor, even
under the most difficult circumstances. Prime
Minister Erdo¤an lost his temper and spoke angrily. If we saw the same behavior in another nation’s leader, we would think it unbecoming of a
true leader. However, in this case, our emotional
perception blinded us to a hard reality.
After you’ve looked for and questioned
breaches like this, you might decide they are excusable. You might consider them mere cosmetic
blemishes on an otherwise solid record, not
symptoms of a deeper problem. However, you
can’t know they are simply cosmetic blemishes
until you have subjected them to questioning.
We need perceptions to survive in life. However, perception is a skill and it needs to be
trained. Relying on untrained perception simply
because it is convenient does not help us grow.
Learn to trust your perception, but remember
that it is not always in sync with reality. Subject
it to rigorous questioning, and your trust in it
will grow.
* The ‘sectors’ page of HürriyetDN is the venue of our weekly exploration of the deeper dynamics in Turkey’s economy