Our Story
Heartwarming Family Story...
Behind the Amazon Wooden brand, there's actually a heartfelt family story. It was the year 2000, and we had a store called Amazon Furniture. It was a small place, tucked away on a side street. There, we displayed solid wood cabinets and accessory furniture that my father produced with a master woodworker. All the products were handmade and featured modern lines. After a while, customers who wanted to pass through our street started to come. They would come to ask, "What's new?" It was a genuine curiosity, like a visit. My brother and I were in middle school back then. Sometimes, after school, we would go to the store and help my father with small tasks. Looking back now, my brother and I truly grew up in the business. Of course, at that age, we didn't know we were choosing our profession. I just remember that we enjoyed being there.
Our First Treehouse
In 2004, the "Treehouse" we designed for Boğaziçi University's Hisar Campus was one of our first significant projects. The wooden construction system was not well-known in our country, making it a difficult choice to prefer. I cannot say that these systems are very common today either. We noticed this unfamiliarity and wanted to take a bold step. With my father's knowledge as a Wood Industry Engineer, we figured out the mechanics of these structures. The Treehouse became one of the warmest structures on campus.
Amazon Molded Plywood
While I was studying forest engineering and my brother civil engineering, my father had shifted the course of business towards molded wood production. This actually signaled the end of Amazon Furniture. In 2006, our name became Amazon Molded Plywood. We had started supplying molded wood products in series to major brands.
The Entry of Design into Our Lives
We were in a serious struggle, working day and night. On the other hand, various leftover pieces naturally came from the molded products. One day, my father put those pieces together and designed a relaxation chair for himself! This is how design started to enter the business.
We had graduated from universities...
and we wanted to join my father's team. As Amazon Formed Plywood, we could add aesthetics to formed wood products in the desired measure and proportion with our designs.
Inspired by Our Customers
At that time, our company attracted people's attention only with the products displayed in front of its workshop. We had a unique perspective on durable and healthy products. After a while, we started to form friendships with people who came to examine our products. We started to hear phrases that nourished us from the people we chatted with, such as "We even enjoy visiting here." "You do such wonderful work." "Can I come and volunteer on weekends? I love wood."
Our workshops were never solely profit-oriented. Our effort from the beginning was to add value to the lives of those who bought our products. Instead of corporate phrases like customer satisfaction, we adopted the principle of connecting with people. These comments from our visitors showed us that we were on the right track. As interest in our products increased, we embraced our work with more enthusiasm. We started designing various chairs. We produced and made bulk sales of raw materials.
We wanted to transform wood, the only sustainable production material, into forms that could be lived in. For this reason, we started producing formed laminated beams. First, we built winter gardens from laminated wood in our garden, and then in large housing estates.
Amazon Wooden Enters Our Lives
As time went on, things grew. It was time to move production entirely to our own building. My father's thesis was on wood factories, and my brother's was on the static calculations of wooden structures. We brought knowledge and experience together. Thus, we built Amazon Wooden, Turkey's only wooden factory, in 2016. This was the realization of a dream. We were very happy. In this building, world-famous ancient designs came to life, and there was also room for bold works. While giving form to wood, we often did what couldn't be done, which is why our customers called us the "last wood benders."
Our Wooden Building...
after we implemented them, we wanted to improve the shipping of our products. This was because the number of people we sent products to and the distance our products traveled were increasing. Nobody had expertise in this part of the job. Shipping processes, potential problems, unforeseen accidents during shipment... I often asked myself, "How will we manage all of this?"
But our customers' understanding, and the authenticity of the trust we built with them, quickly calmed my anxieties. I put fear and worry aside and started researching for the best service. Now we can send products all over Turkey. Our exports abroad have begun. We, in our humble state, couldn't have even imagined all this while working in our small workshop. It's obvious that my father was farsighted.
I am Deniz Tınazcı, a Forest Engineer. My elder brother, Yusuf Tınazcı, is a Civil Engineer. My father is a Wood Products Industry Engineer. The Amazon Wooden Design Stories were born from such a collaboration. Our design stories always evolved within the natural flow of life. Sometimes a piece caught our eye, sometimes the question "how would it be?", sometimes a request. For example, one of our most popular models, Salsa, originated when I asked my father, "Dad, could you design a light yet comfortable reading chair for me?"
Daisy was shaped by inspiration from the lines of Abdülcanbaz's characters named Ramon & Ramona.
Roza emerged from the shape wood dust took when accumulated on a molded piece and blown by the wind.
To be able to see, to imagine, to concentrate on a chair's prototype before falling asleep at night, to sketch it repeatedly upon waking, to feel it, to touch it before production, to try countless times until the best version of the product is found, to always keep production open to improvement, to achieve an environmentally friendly and sustainable result... The pleasure we derive from all of this is invaluable.
Imagine that the wooden products in your home continue to work to erase your carbon footprint. I want to reiterate, wood is the only sustainable building material. Because it is the only building material with carbon sequestration properties. Although not common in our country, America, Europe, and Japan have now started building skyscrapers from wood.
As Amazon Wooden, we work diligently to ensure the value of the material of the future is recognized. We grow our trees from seedlings into forests. We strive to make our products with them.
Additionally, I would like to say that Amazon Wooden supports a sustainable life not only through its work. We value all living beings on the planet. There are ten, perhaps more, stray dogs in front of our door. We try to take care of all of them. We want a good life for all living beings.
Deniz Tınazcı