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Turkey has a long and complicated past of its toys and toy design. First instances of systematic production of toys can be dated back to as early as eighteenth century. In Istanbul, in the district of Eyüp, handmade toys were produced from waste and excess materials and sold in small shops. Also related to the imperial importance of the district, Eyüp became an important gathering and socialization place. Toys produced here were also bought and sold by street vendors at other regions, thus diffusing to a wider geography during the Ottoman empire.
Today, Tahtakale district in Eminönü possesses a similar function with being not the only but one unique center for display and marketing of various kinds of toys. Different from big toy companies in Turkey, toys here are designed by non-designers by giving more importance to recent trends of popular culture rather than psychological or pedagogical concerns, while being produced in cheap labour overseas countries like China or Hong Kong, displayed on and sold in streets of Tahtakale. This paper looks at different type of toys which are sold in Tahtakale in means of carriers of cultural meanings and examples of product differentiation. A contextual mapping of the area regarding a new categorization of toys is structured for a better understanding of the toy network here and its design, manufacturing, marketing and consumption characteristics.