Singapore Indesign Intimate is an annual industry event featuring innovative and unique showcases created by designers for manufacturers. For its 2015 edition, we were asked to design an installation for Malaysian aluminum kitchen brand, Alustil, who was entering the Singapore market for the first time. They wanted a more conversational approach to convince visitors on the benefits of aluminum kitchen cabinets over its wooden counterparts.

Understanding the visitor’s demographic to be younger designers and aspiring designers, we borrowed the familiar, strong and permeating scent of coffee as the driver of our concept. By using a series of coffee drip apparatus dripping coffee directly on selected materials, we created a comparison that showed the stain and liquid resistant properties of Alustil’s material against its alternative.

Stains from the coffee drip apparatus marks both the wooden surface and an alustil material surface. Overtime, the wood became stained and warped while the aluminum could be easily picked up and wiped, communicating the positive properties of Alustil kitchen cabinets.