Kookai
Melbourne, Australia
More and more customers do their shopping at home, using computers or iPads. In order to lure them back to bricks and mortar shops, retailers need to offer them a unique shopping experience. For the Kookai flagship store in South Yarra, Hecker Guthrie responded to the home shopping trend in a savvy way: They re-created an intimate apartment interior, including different ‘rooms’ and lounge areas.
The considered detailing to all aspects of joinery and fittings gives the store the softness and femininity that reflects the Kookai brand.
Light and feminine
The approach is typical for the firm, say Hecker Guthrie: “When setting out to design a space, we don’t ask what the client wants it to look like, but how they want it to make them feel.” In this case Kookai wanted their target audience of modern women to feel at home, so the designer chose a light and feminine palette. Lounge spaces and different zones offer a very personal experience; plinths growing out of the stone floor provide a touch of drama.
Pared back look
Hecker Guthrie: “We began our material selection with the stone for the central sales table. To provide some warmth against the stone and the surrounding surfaces, we selected the Hakwood timber which completes the pared back look of the interior.”
The sense of being an apartment with its rooms and intimate spaces was the key idea to the initial design.
Redefining the retail experience
One thing the online shopping experience can’t offer is texture. Hecker Guthrie cleverly utilized that fact in their choice of materials: textured paint finishes, brushed brass and timber grain feature prominently in the Kookai store. “This way, the shopping experience has been transformed into a personalised and inviting encounter.”
| Products used | |
|---|---|
| Flooring | Noble, Authentic Collection |
| Grades | Natural |
| Finish | Oil |
| Thickness | 20 mm (3/4") |
| Plank widths | 240 mm (9 1/2") |
