Introducing
KIPO - MEDITERRANEAN RESTAURANT
Beautiful nested within FIRA Beach Club
Project
Restaurant branding
Location
Phuket, Thailand
A Study in Maximalist Restraint (If That’s a Thing)
Designing for Kipo was less about restraint and more about knowing when to stop—just before the whole thing collapsed under its own extravagance. The brief? A maximalist fusion of Greek grandeur and… well, something else. Undefined, instinctive, layered. The result? A space where carved wood meets terracotta, where columns and garden beds conspire to blur the line between classical and overgrown.
Strategy & Direction
Name & Brand Definition
Interior, Furniture & Lighting Design
Menu Design
Uniforms & Styling
Coming up with a name
The name ‘Kipo’ comes from the Greek ‘kipos,’ meaning garden. But this isn’t just a garden—it’s a living mythology. Not strictly Greek, but a tapestry of ancient European folklore woven into the experience. Hence a misspelling fitting the brief
Filling the interior
Mystical harpies watch from the corners, half-hidden in carved wood. The garden holds more than plants—there are unearthed board games waiting to be played, relics of forgotten stories, and spaces that feel like they’ve existed for centuries. It’s a place where history, myth, and design blur into something immersive, something just a little otherworldly.
Defining the details
The interior continues what the garden starts—layered, textured, and built to last. We worked with artisans from Bali to create intricate wood carvings, adding depth without excess. Materials were chosen for character: aged stone, hand-shaped terracotta, and solid wood that wears in, not out. Lighting was kept atmospheric, designed to shift with the space. The result is bold but balanced, detailed without feeling cluttered. If you're looking to create something with the same level of craftsmanship and intent, let’s talk
Developing the space to tell the Brand Story
From concepts mood boards...
...to 3D renders...
Furniture design & decorative production and sourcing
Finding the right materials and artisans meant going straight to the source. We traveled across Bali, Lombok, and Java, tracking down suppliers who could deliver the level of craftsmanship Kipo needed. From hand-carved wood panels to 250 aged terracotta pots, every piece was chosen with intent.
Then came the big moment—overseeing the arrival of everything in Thailand. Like Christmas morning, if Christmas involved temperatures that made you question your life choices. But seeing it all come together on-site made the journey worth it.
Kipo isn’t just a space—it comes with its own history.
We built a made-up Greek-style past, complete with ancient-looking illustrations, aged murals, and a mythology that never existed (but probably should have). Every detail was designed to feel like part of a lost world, rediscovered.
At the heart of it all is our own take on a Harpy—not the usual terrifying kind, but a symbol of food, music, and indulgence. She appears across the space, woven into artwork and design, a nod to the idea that a great meal and great music should always go together.
High End Food & Beverage branded applications
At this standard of hospitality, nothing is left unthought of, from custom embroidery to choice for fabric for the table napkins to menus that a easy to navigate and invite to trying more all the way to plate ware direction and even bill holders.
Here also, everything needs to be considered with the upmost care, from design the concepts all the way to QC-ing the production.
Custom Metal board
To finish with a soft touch is always appreciated. We made sure to take care of the design and sourcing of most pieces too. Produced in high quantity, they come cheaper than you’d think.
Costom wooden plates
Besides assisting the team with marketing collaterals, our role also includes the styling and presentation of products served to guests, then all wrapped up in brand training and photography guides.
Uniform design
A team that looks good in what they wear feel confident in their service and show your standing. From materials to colors and hierarchy to operational constraints, there is quite a lot to consider when deciding on the team’s every day wear.
Lastly, brand guidelines and guardianship
No one-fit all SOPs here, only pure, highly drinkable, brand juices.
Brand guidelines convey a variety of information and tips about your brand, useful both internally to your company or organization and externally to your affiliates, partners, and customers. Although there is no industry-wide standard for what constitutes a brand standards document, the most notable organizations use brand guidelines as a tool to help everyone understand how to represent their brand.
Good guidelines connect different aspects of your brand, such as your logo, colors, and typography, to form a cohesive identity.
Great guidelines are highly useable, both to for you to check that anything you do is on brand but also, to create anything new in the future that you didn’t know yet you needed when they were written!
And when it was all done, it was time to celebrate!
Feeling festive & wondering what’s on at FIRA yourself? Have a look here. Oh and yes, we did the website too! 😉
