Writing on the wall… with Katerina @Kamenitza
We continue with our favorite series ‘Writing on the wall…’, where we talk about the Escreo walls or rather about the people next to them. With this material, we aim to introduce to you our clients’ and partners’ activities and ambitions, as well as to show you various and specific applications of Escreo in an office environment. Today we’re interviewing Katerina Shopova – HR Director of Kamenitza.
The first thing we notice, stepping into the office of Kamenitza, are the various motivational thoughts on the walls. Tell us more about the concept behind your office design. Did you work with a specific studio? What were the main directions you chose to follow?
Since we’re working in a constantly dynamic environment, we have to work in a creative casual space in order for our employees to feel motivated and inspired. That’s what we aimed for when designing and branding our office. Our brands play a key role in the developed concept for the office. We have a rich portfolio, combining 3 world famous brewery traditions – Belgian, German and Czech. We strive to constantly charm our consumers and clients with local brands – Kamenitza, Astika and Burgasko. To them we add leading international brands like Staropramen, Stella Artois and Beck’s, which we produce with a license. A priceless place in our portfolio is saved by our import brands – the Belgian Leffe Blonde, Leffe Brune and Hoegaarden.
And as far as the thoughts on the walls, they are chosen for a reason. The messages were specifically developed for every room and are linked with a particular slogan of the brand and the topic of the ‘meeting’. In other words – they are part of the identity of the brands and thus are so distinctive for them.
Every single conference room is unique and represents different products from the company’s portfolio. It seems as though we’re transferred to another place, outside the office and long for a cold beverage. How did you choose the products you want to show and why did you create the specific designs in the conference rooms?
Yes, the office rooms are dedicated to our brands. We believe this is the right way to endorse the brand’s atmosphere and their specific values. The 360 degrees concept complements the so wanted feeling of teleporting to another world. And we think we managed to achieve it. Now, when sitting in a meeting in the Staropramen room, you immediately find yourself in Golden Prague’s old city’s plaza.
If you enter the Kamenitza room you’ll dive straight into 135 years of history of the brand. The Stella Artois room introduces a ritual of 9 steps, showing you how the Belgians properly pour and serve their pearl. The Burgasko room is carrying a summer feeling sought strongly during the hot months.
How do you use the writing space in these rooms? Why did you choose Escreo? What’s the most common thing you write down on the Escreo surfaces?
We chose Escreo because it fits our concept perfectly. We needed a creative solution for space to write on in our rooms, which will not interfere with our concept’s idea. And this is exactly what Escreo offered us, even more so – with the help of Escreo we managed to preserve and upgrade the atmosphere in the rooms. The magic paint does not invade the whole meaning of the branding and gives you a practical solution, which replaces the whiteboards altogether.
How do the employees feel about the office design?
We are all very happy and think that the rooms contribute to the creativity of the team and to the creative process when developing our brand’s campaigns. Our employees can choose one of the 9 rooms with 9 different brands, carrying their distinctive messages and emotions. Meanwhile, our relax zone offers a tour around the company’s culture and values, thus creating a whole integrated concept, inviting you to conduct both serious and informal meetings.
Every innovation starts most of all thanks to creative thinking. How does Kamenitza achieve that?
As we like to say – we have a great reason to come to work every day and it is called beer. Our job is our passion as well. There isn’t a person in the company who is not inspired by what he does. We work in an open space and that contributes to the open sharing of ideas, to the team spirit and to the creative approach in different situations. The informal environment, the open communication between the Leaders team and all employees and the developing of our talents – these are the pillars favoring the creative thinking.
