Rootura

Location: Saudi Arabia
Scope: Brand, Interior, Draw, Procure, Build

The brief

The client came to us with an idea, and significant experience in the market through their existing retail business, Saco. They wanted to open an organic food concept in KSA in partnership with La Vie Claire (a leading French chain of speciality food retail), and they wanted our help.

The offering would consist of a produce market alongside a café, bakery and stations for fresh juice and ice cream, making it an irresistible destination for healthy food lovers. And with that brief, we were tasked with creating the brand and store concept from scratch.

Our approach

The job kicked off in the middle of the global pandemic, making our process
a unique one. The interactions were all remote, and we never physically met
the client or visited the site. Even selection and approval of the samples
and finishes had to happen online.

It wasn’t our usual method by any means, but with the world as it was
we needed to take a pragmatic approach to meet the situational challenges
and project deadlines.

The name we came up with for the brand was Rootura, a combination
of “root” and “natural”. This became the departure point for our design
too. The entire space was designed around a preserved tree and the
approach to textures presents a considered, earth-inspired palette.