Our Story
Ali Guler Furniture is a luxury hand-carved furniture maker founded in 1972 in Ankara, Turkey. Now in its third generation, with the second and third generations actively running the workshop today, we are the only US-based manufacturer of luxury hand-carved Turkish furniture for residential homes. Our work is made in our own Ankara atelier and presented at our Houston showroom, opened in 2024.
Our Heritage -- Since 1972
Our workshop opened in Ankara in 1972, when the Guler family began producing original luxury furniture for Turkish households who valued considered design and lasting craftsmanship. More than fifty years later, the workshop is run by the second and third generations of the family -- masters who trained directly under the founder.
Every piece we sell is made in that same Ankara atelier -- not licensed, not sourced from a third-party factory, not imported through a dealer network. From the framing and joinery to the carving, gilding, and final upholstery, the work happens in one place by people who have been doing it for decades.
What Makes Us Different
The Turkish furniture market in the United States is mostly retail and distribution -- Istanbul-based brands selling through American dealer networks, distributors carrying budget and modern lines, importers reselling third-party factory output. We are something else: a manufacturer-direct workshop, with our Ankara atelier connected to a US showroom we run ourselves.
- The only US-based manufacturer of luxury hand-carved Turkish furniture for residential homes. Direct from our workshop to your home -- no dealer middleman, no licensing, no third-party factory.
- Patented original designs. Our collections -- Karina, Huma, Savoy, Milano, Sirius, Aybars, Defne, and others -- are designed in-house and protected. Not stock pieces from a wholesale catalog.
- Hand-carved, not cast. Real woodwork by master artisans, not polyurethane mold-cast pieces painted to imitate carving.
- Full customization. Fabric, finish, and dimensions are routinely customized; we also accept commissions for entire interiors.
Why Our Pieces Last
Most pieces sold in the US under the label "carved Turkish furniture" are not actually carved. They are polyurethane mold-cast -- molded plastic shapes painted to imitate woodwork. The downstream issues are predictable: lacquer that bubbles or peels within a few years, foam that compresses and deforms, fabric that wears poorly, and no manufacturer-backed warranty or replacement-parts support.
Our pieces are different by construction:
- Frame wood. Kiln-dried solid hornbeam (gurgen) and beechwood (kayin) -- the traditional hardwoods of Turkish luxury furniture. Kiln-drying stabilizes the moisture content of every plank before it touches our workshop floor, eliminating the cracking, warping, and joint movement that plague pieces built from green or air-dried wood. Where engineered panels are needed, we use only premium-grade MDF, never particleboard.
- Finish. Italian lacquer technique applied with AkzoNobel coatings -- the most durable architectural finish on the market. Does not bubble. Does not peel.
- Hardware. Hettich and Blum throughout -- German engineering rated for lifetime cycles. Drawer slides and hinges that work in year one as they did on day one.
- Upholstery fabric. Premium-grade Turkish textiles, selected for long-wear performance under daily use.
- Foam. 35-density high-resilience foam (35 HR) -- engineered to resist compression, sagging, and deformation over the life of the piece.
- Carving. Hand-carved by master artisans in Ankara -- real woodwork in solid hardwood, not polyurethane cast and painted to imitate it.
Because we make the work ourselves, warranty support, replacement parts, repairs, and re-upholstery come directly from our workshop -- for the lifetime of the piece.
Walnut appears throughout our finish vocabulary as a color descriptor -- "walnut-toned," "warm walnut" -- but never as a frame-wood claim. Our frames are hornbeam and beech.
Custom Commission
Beyond freestanding furniture, we accept full home interior commissions -- the kind of work most luxury European furniture brands do not offer:
- Wall paneling and architectural millwork
- Interior doors
- Walk-in closets
- Kitchen cabinetry
- Furniture-grade built-ins
- Custom-dimension pieces designed to fit specific rooms
If you are designing a primary residence, a second home, or a hospitality property and want every visible surface to come from one workshop with one design language, this is what we do.
The Houston Showroom
Ali Guler Furniture -- Houston Showroom3226 Hillcroft St
Houston, TX 77057
United States
Our Houston showroom opened in 2024, bringing our Ankara workshop directly to American homes. The space is open by appointment for serious buyers and design professionals. For families outside Houston, we routinely conduct walk-throughs by FaceTime or video call.
Delivery
We deliver across the United States. Three service tiers are available -- curbside, white-glove standard, and white-glove flex (for multi-stop scheduled installations) -- across six shipping zones. Lead times depend on whether the piece is in stock at our Houston warehouse or being made-to-order in Ankara.
Who We Serve
Our customers are families building heirloom interiors -- homes meant to outlast a single design cycle. We have a strong concentration in Texas, Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina, Georgia, and Florida, with Turkish-American, Persian-American, South Asian-American, African-American, and broader Mediterranean-American households among the families who have made our work theirs.
The Tagline
Your Home, Your Palace.
Handcrafted in Ankara. Since 1972.