Boutique stationery and fashion retailer kikki.K is in a transition phase under creative director Lisa Gorman (pictured).

 

The Australian stationery brand was acquired by Brandbank Group in 2021, after being placed in voluntary administration twice. 

 

In its heyday, kikki.K – founded by Kristina Karlssen in 2000 – had more than 110 stores Australia wide.

 

That had been reduced to 18 when Gorman took over, but now the approach is to expand its retail footprint with airport hubs and more high street stores.

 

Under Gorman’s guidance kikki. K is now more than stationery,  journals and diaries – with product development including lifestyle items such as travel bags and suitcases.

 

“kikki. K was an Aussie icon, but part of the problem was the digital age arrived and a lot of people starting converting to phones for dairies and journaling; and it was a time when paper products needed to be reset,” Gorman said in an online post.

 

“A business the size of kikki. K couldn’t survive on paper alone, it wasn’t necessarily the right approach,” she said.

 

“Stationery is where the brand came from. We’re certainly not leaving that heritage behind and are in fact completely overhauling the stationery offering with consideration to what paper means to people in today’s world,” she added.