Project Overview

Since Swedish-born Kristina Karlsson started the premium stationery brand in 2001, kikki.K has gathered a huge social media following and has a store presence in Australia, New Zealand, Singapore and Hong Kong. The next step was to continue on its path to global expansion with fresh, exciting store environments that reflect the aspirational lifestyle brand as it is today. First up: the launch of the new global concept with a flagship in Chadstone, Melbourne. We created the ‘kikki.K Studio’ – an engaging space for making, teaching and meeting in the city, where Swedish style meets a laid-back Melbourne attitude.

Organisation

kikki.K

Team

The entire kikki.K head office and retail staff in collaboration with London based design agency Dalzeil and Pow

Project Brief

After 15 years of store design developed internally, kikki.K hired Dalziel & Pow to initiate the next chapter of their global expansion. With an outstanding range of stationery products coupled with a huge social media following, the brief was clear; build a store that reflects the aspirational lifestyle brand kikki.K has become, with an exciting and identifiable Scandinavian approach.

. Our primary ambition was to ensure our design took kikki.K’s customers on an inspiring journey of discovery through their product collections – ‘storytelling through stationery’. We envisaged a space that would combine bright light interiors of tone-on-tone white with the vivid beauty of the Swedish outdoors. White-washed timbers provided the perfect backdrop to kikki.K’s spectrum of products and the organic shape of real silver birch trees soften the linear form of the furniture.

To help provide more flexibility in how products could be displayed and stories communicated, we devised a system that gave kikki.K’s VM team complete creative freedom. Formed from 4 types of modular wooden blocks, dynamic display ‘landscapes’ could now be easily assembled and continually updated with ease.

Project Innovation/Need

Participation and immersion are engrained in the identities of Generation Y and Z, the challenge for retailers today is not only to sell products but also to become spaces for learning, inspiration and socialising.So we created the ‘kikki.K Studio’–an engaging hub for making, teaching and meeting in the city-stationery lovers can come and explore their creativity in a space where kikki.K’s brand values, ‘Dream. Do. Enjoy. Share.’ really come to life.
kikki.K customers fall in love with complete collections,so inspiration was key. We created ‘desk sets’ recreating Kristina’s own workspace, helping customers shop the range and visualise the products in their own homes or studios. We added movement using hidden mini-projectors to project charming illustrations to catch customer’s attention as they approach.
Mood-boards are used throughout the store as a backdrop for the collections. Layered inspirations – sketches, photos, fabric swatches –are clipped to hanging mesh displays which detail the designers’creative process.And As if stepping into a working creative studio, a huge, central workshop table hosts a whole range of events that reflect the brand’s philosophy,from product demos to Happiness, Goals, Mindfulness, Habits, DIY and Organisation Workshops encouraging customer participation &discovery in an informal, inclusive setting.

Design Challenge

With nearly 17,000 KM and 9 hours time difference between our Dalziel & Pow’s London Studio and the kikki.K team in Melbourne we had to work much harder than usual to maintain good project communication and keep the build on schedule. At the start of the project we had perhaps 20 stakeholders in the design process, as we progressed though it became clear that we would have to streamline operations or face delays. We slimmed down to 5 key decision makers across both D&P and kikki.K, this allowed us to agree important decisions almost instantaneously.

Materials on the other side of the world are not necessarily available and even when they are, they can have a different name! Douglas Fir = Oregon for example. Besides the naming complications, timing was an issue that prevented us from approving physical samples. The total project was completed in 5 months with a detailed design phase only taking 4 weeks. So instead we relied on images sent via email and a daily phone conversation to discuss them with kikki.K’s main contractor.

In the end though all these little issues were easily remedied thanks to a really positive relationship between ourselves and kikki.K.

Sustainability

With a strong Swedish heritage, kikki.K has clear goals on reducing their impact on the environment and improving their sustainability. The store is the customer facing part of the brand and therefore the ideal space in which kikki.K can quietly communicate their Swedish heritage and ethos.
Our approach to sustainability can be separated into two main objectives: To use responsibly sourced materials and design a shop fit-out that will improve with wear instead of requiring replacement. The key materials used throughout the store are locally grown solid yellow pine and pine-based plywood with a water-based white finish. The furniture and surfaces created from them will stand the rigours of retail and when they eventually look a little tired it will be easy to either refinish or repair. White is obviously a tone that shows up marking easily, so on potential high traffic contact areas we utilised a ‘solid-surface’ material instead of a lacquered paint finish. Although the initial cost is higher, the longevity of the material and the ability to recycle at the end of its life made it a worthwhile investment.Another sustainable feature to note is the almost exclusive use of LED lighting to illuminate the store.