İhap Hulusi Görey is the founder of Turkish graphic design and was one of the prominent names in advertising. İhap Hulusi Görey’s best-known works are made for Turkish brands. He also designed the corporate identity of many Turkish government institutions, and by doing so he contributed to the visual identity of the newly-formed Republic of Turkey. hap Hulusi, who was the son of famous architect Ahmet Hulusi, was born in Egypt in 1898. İhap Hulusi’s grandfather was a soldier, who was hired by the Khedive of Egypt. That’s why the family came to Egypt, but they returned to İstanbul shortly after the British occupation.İhap Hulusi studied first and middle school in Cairo. These were British schools. In 1917, he took lessons from a German painter by mail from Germany. In 1920, İhap Hulusi went to Germany and studied painting from 1920 to 1925, specializing in the field of illustration. He attended an exhibition in Galatasaray Collage exhibition hall, with the works he made in Germany. 

His father pressed him to work in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs because of his language skills. He was fluent in Arabic, German, English, and French. He couldn’t resist his father and worked in the Ministry for a while. Eventually though, he refused a white-collar life and decided to earn his life through painting. He worked as a caricaturist with Münif Fehim and Ramiz Gökçe at a magazine named Akbaba.

After some time, he focused on poster design. He received his first order for an advertising poster in 1927 from İnci Diş Macunları (İnci Toothpastes). In 1929, he set up his first studio because he was receiving many orders from different brands. In his studio, which was a first in Turkey and which İhap Hulusi Görey used until his death in 1986, he designed the famous bottle label for the Raki brand “Kulüp Rakısı”. And in 1932, he designed the cover of ALFABE, which was taught in primary schools for years, on the order of Mustafa Kemal Atatürk himself.

In 1935, İhap Hulusi opened his first private exhibition in Beyoğlu.

He started to be known as the first graphic designer of Turkey. Atatürk gave him a watch to honor his services at the 10th Anniversary of Republic. In 1948, İhap Hulusi was awarded at the International Poster Exhibition in Vienna for his poster titled “Bursa and İzmir”. This award was the first poster prize a Turkish designer had received abroad.

İhap Hulusi died at the age of 88 in his apartment in Şişli. His works are still an important milestone and an inspiration for Turkey’s modern graphic design.