OVERVIEW
Kaoba was a small independent business built around a strong idea: take second-hand furniture and transform it into premium, desirable design pieces.
The founder wanted to restore and reinvent old furniture, but not position it as a cheaper or purely eco-conscious option. The ambition was to create a brand people would buy from because the pieces felt beautiful, crafted and valuable.
When the project began, there was no name, no identity, no website and no defined positioning. My role was to build the brand from scratch, shaping every layer of how the business would present itself to the market.
The opportunity was to make sustainability feel like luxury before that idea had become widely adopted in premium retail.
CHALLENGE
At the time, most upcycled and second-hand furniture brands shared the same visual language: chalkboard textures, recycled paper, handmade cues and direct sustainability messaging.
That approach made sense for an eco-focused audience, but it also created a problem. It reinforced the idea that second-hand furniture was a compromise - something you bought because it was responsible, not because it was desirable.
Kaoba needed to shift that perception.
The brand had to make restored furniture feel first-rate. Sustainability would still be part of the story, but it could not be the main reason to buy. The main reason had to be quality, character and design.
APPROACH
The name came first.
Kaoba is the Spanish word for mahogany. It felt warm, crafted and premium, while also connecting naturally to the founder's background and the material world of furniture.
From there, I created the full identity system: logo, color palette, typography, stationery, printed materials, product photography direction and a responsive e-commerce website.
The visual language avoided the usual codes of sustainable retail. Instead, it borrowed from premium interiors, editorial design and boutique product brands. The palette used bone, cream, oatmeal, copper and deep mahogany tones, creating a quiet sense of value and craft.
I also developed a storytelling device for the product range. Each piece was named after a woman who had inspired the founder throughout her life. This gave the objects personality and helped reinforce the idea that restored furniture carries history, memory and emotional value.
Every decision was designed to make second-hand furniture feel considered, desirable and worth investing in.
IMPACT
Kaoba launched and traded for two years, selling individual pieces and commissioned work, including furniture for a Sydney restaurant.
Although the founder later closed the business for reasons unrelated to the brand, the positioning proved strong. Customers responded to the pieces as premium design objects first, with sustainability becoming an added layer of value rather than the headline.
Looking back, the project was early to a direction now common across premium lifestyle brands: sustainability communicated through quality, restraint and timelessness rather than overt environmental claims.
For me, Kaoba remains a reminder that small projects can hold large strategic lessons. When you build a business from the ground up, every decision matters - and design can shape not only how a brand looks, but how its value is perceived.
