Our history
When we were challenged to create a blog associated with our brand that addressed valuable topics, we were immediately excited. It will be a “space” where we will be able to tell our story, our journey, our approach to decorating children's rooms, the design of the first designs, the choice and combination of colors, among many other things. But let's start at the beginning. We are 2 friends who, after the pandemic, felt the need to radically change our jobs. We left architecture and communication behind to embark on creating a brand from scratch. During the first brainstorming meetings we thought about a thousand different things. In many conversations, the idea of decorating children's rooms with something that wasn't very definitive and that we could change whenever we wanted came up. It is at this point that we thought of stickers with a unique design and the ability to be replaced without damaging the walls. We are from the time when we stuck stickers on walls and after removing them they ripped off the paint....and it really upset parents! So, we had to find a sticker that fulfilled this premise. After a lot of research we found the right supplier to start our adventure. We had the complete package: designs that we loved on a reusable sticker, without damaging the walls and, all of this, made in Portugal.
But a question arose: what is the right name for this business? After going around with several names that combined our characteristic of being both left-handed (coincidence!), we wanted a name that covered all types of designs and not just stickers. Finally we found it: Croki designs. Croki comes from croquis which means a first sketch that is part of the entire drawing process. In our brand, the first sketch is what leads us to the final design of our sticker.
The phase of designing the logo followed and between trying to find fonts and choosing colors we quickly came up with something that we liked and fulfilled our mood for this brand.
At the same time, we studied the best way to market them and we both agreed that IG and a website were essential. Having completed the design phase of the first collection, we moved on to the fundamental phase, that is, production and testing in our homes. It was essential to check whether we were able to deliver what we promised. And with the first tests we were super satisfied with the printing result because it met all the requirements we defined and because we could stick and peel it off without damaging the painting or the wall. The enthusiasm was growing! We have moved on to the price definition phase. Many calculations were made but we reached a good conclusion.
Once we already had designs and a logo, we began building an Instagram account, defining the logic of posts that made sense for us to post, in order to have a harmonious and coherent feed. The website was being built in parallel with a careful layout and definition!
And, after a few months, Croki designs goes live on November 17, 2022! We went to lunch to celebrate! And the first orders started to appear and we were both going to put them in the mail!
Later we entered the phase of participating in markets and started at Stylista , in Estoril. Our expectation was huge to know how the public would react to our product. We created structures to simulate walls and stuck the stickers in the way that seemed best to us. And the reaction couldn't have been better. In addition to making the brand known, we sold a lot and in the following markets we had the pleasant surprise of customers who had already purchased, came back to buy more and see what's new. The latter is a theme that is always present in our work, that is, the creative process is constant so that we can have new products throughout the year. Another market that we did for the first time and that surprised us with its adherence, was Cidade do Zero organized by the duo Catarina and João Barreiros. A different market, with many workshops and gatherings but also with brands selling and, of course, us making people known and explaining our brand! It was also a success and gave us even more confidence that we were on the right path!
In parallel to the various markets in which we participated, we collaborated with the Casa Aberta decoration project, organized by Santo Infante for two years. The motto of the project is to prove that it is possible to decorate a home only with Portuguese brands. In the first year we decorated one of the walls of a children's room where we produced a 1m giraffe along with smaller ones and elephants, decorative stickers present in our animal collection. Finally, we also had a part of the wall with our letters and our "stick and peel" challenge so people could check that when they peel off they don't tear off the paint and stick them back on. It was a debut for us and a great success that allowed us articles in several press titles such as Time Out, Visão among others. In the second year of the Casa Aberta project, we made some decorative stickers especially for a closet wall. This one had old tiles covering the lower part of the wall and we had to find a design that harmonized with the colors of the tiles. Once again, it was a very successful project, much photographed both in the press and by brands in the decoration sector. And, for us, it was important to show that we make tailormade decorative stickers. Stay tuned for new designs and follow us on social media, website and blog! See you soon!