Waiwera Flagship Store – Parnell, Auckland City, New Zealand
The owner of a New Zealand water bottling company wanted to create a flagship store in the Auckland suburb of Parnell. The objective was to increase sales, market share and worldwide distribution and to enhance brand awareness.
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In order to build a premium position for the brand and to drive mass markets demands, the marketing concept was to create a series of concept stores to function as a shop as well as a café and gallery, with regular installations and events to showcase exhibitions, fashion, and a variety of social activities.
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With the Auckland shop being the prototype, the plan was to open similar places in the U.S., Japan, Russia and other important hubs of culture.
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The bottling company had a catchment area of one of the Southern Hemispheres’ largest aquifers, estimated to be several kilometers deep and between 7.000 and 15.000 years old, making it one of the oldest known bottled water in the world.
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Hence, the design brief for the concept store was to create a reduced and minimalistic place to promote the philosophy of purity, ambition, simplicity and a sense of nature. As a result, the choice of materials was mainly timber, a material with natural beauty and warmth. All used timber products had to be sourced from sustainable managed forests with a clear chain of custody.
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The interior design had to represent the concept’s philosophy of a timeless, pared-back simplicity and a showcase of essential elements for the development of future international stores. All custom-designed furniture, like room dividers, wall shelving and seating elements had to be flexible, modular and completely moveable to allow to transform the store for installations and artworks.
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A lot of effort has gone into making it look like we have not really gone to too much effort at all. A focus for a design that allows constant change as a way to ensure longevity and rejuvenation.
 Preparing for the inauguration of the Waiwera flagship store. WAI means "water" in local Maori language. WERA means "hot". Put them together and you get WAIWERA, one of the world's first bottled water. |  Assembly of the modular wall-shelving units, while the installation "What Lies Beneath" by Gabby O'Connor is set up in the foreground of the gallery space. |  Functioning as a shop as well as a gallery, planned exhibitions will cycle through the concept space, promoting and defining New Zealand and its inimitable way of life. |
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 According to the brief for the flagship store, the concept spaces had to be flexible, with an ever changing sense of minimalism, enforcing and promoting a philosophy of simplicity and purity. As a result, the prevailing building materials had to be either translucent or solid timber, with its natural beauty and warmth. |  Priority for all custom-built furniture was complete flexibility, to allow to constantly transform or rearrange the appearance of the store. In case of events like the one shown on this picture, a campaign with the motto "Live up to the legend", provided events around NZ Rugby tournaments. The shop had to be stripped off inbuilts and the floor was completely covered with ready-made lawn. |  The purpose of the flagship store was to enhance brand equity and to gain market momentum by reinforcing premium brand characteristics. Interior design had to step back to showcase a place as a land of the cleanest and healthiest products. |
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