Kokaistudios designed the two thematic Etc Wine Shops, a new brand created by high end wine distributor Altaya in Hong Kong, China. The intent of the brand is to create an innovative way to support wine culture in Asia where the fast rising interest in wine has led to a proliferation of wine retailers characterized by very traditional cliché designs.
Etc retail shops are organized as dedicated outlets that focus each on one family of wines only (Reds/Champagnes) so as to be able to reach a deeper cultural understanding for each wine variety. Kokaistudios started by analyzing the range of retail options for wine products from a local market up to worldwide base in order to provide design solutions that match the strong commercial and at the same time chic background of Hong Kong.
Inspired by the three key element of wine appreciation; endear, tease and cultivate, where the ETC name comes from, both shops feature a warm environment that welcomes novice wine drinkers and connoisseurs alike, coupled with a unique and personalized retail experience that takes the customer from browsing, tasting and purchasing.
The boutiques design is conceived in defining a contemporary and timeless style that avoids any traditional and romantic approach to this specific retail theme, offering instead an elegant combination of sustainable and handcrafted materials used with an extreme modern interpretation.
The challenging in the design comes from the innovative retail strategy in which each retail location is offering one wine type only, requiring the designers to customize each time merchandizing and display system but maintaining at the same time a strong brand identity by using same architectural and main material composition.
Particular attention have been given to sustainable lighting system based entirely on LED and to customization of innovative solutions of interaction between customers and cultural instruments, using touch screens multimedia instruments and contemporary reinterpretation of traditional wine tasting stations.
Etc brand received immediately very positive feedback from the sophisticated clientele in Hong Kong by delivering a completely different message from the other existing products on the market and creating an original identity.
Interior: Filippo Gabbiani, Zoe Lee, Mark Shen, David Liu Client: Altaya Wines Limited Location: Hong Kong, China Area: 240 sqm Completion: May, 2012
