Aiming to change the way Australians think about gift giving and bring a little happiness to their lives, Koh Living has once again collaborated with Anna Blatman on its latest collection.
In 2018, Koh Living approached Anna to explore collaborating on its Australiana collection. Moving forward to 2020, the company made a last minute move to pivot its business to create a collection that would bring joy to Australians at a time when it is sorely needed.
“We always had a plan in the back of our minds to do something with the flowers, it just wasn’t originally planned for this year,” say co-owner Tui Cordemans.
“We decided to change the plans we had as we needed to cater to the new environment and the new customer. We understand that there is a lot of fear, uncertainty, depression, anxiety in Australia right now, lots of people have been suffering through this time and we wanted to bring something out that would bring some light back into the lives of the average Australian.”
Blatman’s unique style of painting has made her a favourite artist among Australians. Her joy in living and life is reflected strongly in her style of painting and the bold, bright colours she uses to express her connection to and love of Australia’s native animals.
“Colour has a huge impact on your mood and yellow is the colour of happiness. I personally saw those sunflowers and thought this is exactly what Australians need right now.
“We also wanted to help our retailers bring something really bright to freshen up their stores, something that will sell off their shelves. Anna Blatman is very famous, and she is most famous for her flowers. We already know that her flower paintings are very good sellers, she is one of Australia’s most commercial artist. You will see Temple & Webster sells a ton of her artwork, so we know these designs will sell well for our retail partners,” adds Cordemans.
Indeed, a lot of retailers ordered instantly, one of them even paid upfront just to make sure she got the stock, she says.
“People know Anna Blatman’s flowers, some retailers sell her prints. They are really excited, the feedback has been that the range looks really fresh and bright and they cannot wait to have it in store.”
The last collection Koh Living did with Blatman was focused on animals, which was a new project for Blatman as she had never done Australian animals before and was aimed at tourists more than Australians.
“Thirty per cent of the new collection is made in Australia which is super exciting. Also, we haven’t had any new releases for our top-selling candle holders for years and we managed to make them work for the flowers, our customers have gone mad about these.”
This year certainly has been an interesting one and while Cordemans is excited about the new collection, it was a huge risk given the current situation.
“We really wanted to do something for our retailers to help. We have lots of plans for next year, but one of our values is about excitement and if I told you what our plans were then that would kill all the surprises for 2021. Suffice to say, we have had one range in the planning for a while, which will be released in the second half of next year. However, we will also be releasing a small range in the first half of the year, so watch this space!”
Anna Blatman and Koh Living’s Floral collection will be available from 1 October 2020.
