Studio — Qaynaq

Qaynaq is a project I started solo. My name is Elvin Şərifov. I'm based in Baku. Fourteen years of design and engineering work — startups, agencies, and now this studio.

Why this studio exists

Working in the Azerbaijani market for years, one thing became hard to ignore: partners can't verify the quality of the work they're buying, can't check whether the price is reasonable, and end up depending on a vendor's good faith to know whether they were taken or not. That's a structural gap.

At the same time, most local studios are settled into the "good enough" curve. No Awwwards, no FWA — because the market doesn't ask for it. But the fact that local buyers don't see an alternative doesn't mean an alternative shouldn't exist.

Qaynaq sits across both gaps: opinionated work on one side, and oversight on the buyer's side of the table on the other. The two roles don't conflict, because we keep them cleanly separate.

How I work

I make the strategic and creative calls myself. When execution needs another pair of hands, I bring in a contractor — design, illustration, backend. AI tooling (Claude, Cursor, local models) is part of how I work. I don't sell that as marketing, and I don't hide it. The split — who decides, who executes — is written down on the approach page.

What I take on

A short list of filters:

The partner has a defined problem and is ready to make decisions.
Project length sits between four and sixteen weeks.
The budget supports real work. Below that, I help with audit and advisory rather than full execution.
The partnership is real — not "we know how we want it, just build it."

What I don't take on

WordPress builds or template adaptation.
Full autopilot work — "you decide everything." Decisions need to be shared.
Marketing projects that exist to sell AI as a miracle.
Mixing the vendor and reviewer roles on the same engagement.

Contact

Direct email — salam@qaynaq.com. No form. Reply within 24 hours, written by me.