A hipster-aesthetic Singapore-born company, Naiise will soon open its virtual doors on the 1st of June to our side of the Causeway with 300 brands, 150 of them from local artists.
They first set up shop in 2013, currently operate 6 retail stores all over Singapore and have been involved in more than just e-commerce, which is part of their secret to success. The team is also known for their pop-up stores and a series of viral marketing tactics that have kept them in the social media-consciousness.
One of such moves have been a vending machine filled with designs from Singaporean locals, and themed pop-up stores. In fact, Naiise was appointed by Singapore to run a retail showcase in the world-famous Orchard Road, projected to run for 10 years.
These tactics have allowed the company to transition from online to offline on Singapore, and they’re now looking to start out online here in Malaysia.
Dennis Tay, founder of Naiise decided to build the platform as a way to make design and art more accessible to the common Singaporean. He wanted to make “art” relatable, to bring value and impact to even the common folk and this is what he sought to teach with their online platform.
For the Malaysian chapter, Vulcan Post reached out to Managing Director Wen Dee and she shared with us some insights of what we can expect from the dot MY side of Naiise.
“We will be bringing similar cool stuff into Malaysia, workshops, souvenirs, food, home, fashion and many more,” she said, speaking of the diversity of the Singaporean offerings and how they will translate here.
“From our data, Malaysia is one of the top 5 countries buying from Naiise Singapore website,” said Wen Dee. “There’s a growing market for creative craft and well-designed products. If you are a fan of design items, you’d have noticed there are many design and homemaker markets happening in the heart of Kuala Lumpur every month.”
Working with its partners, curators and customers, the team wants to cultivate a Malaysian community of people who “love and appreciate good design”. And to make an impact, Naiise Malaysia will offer selected designs from all over the globe, like Korea, Germany, and even the United States on top of our local artists.
Some Featured Faces
The team will be stocking more than 50 brands from different designers on their site and at least thirty percent of that will be the handiwork of our own local designers. They hope to grow this number to 300 brands by end of 2017, with at least half of these being local brands.
Editor’s Update: We’ve received the updated numbers of designers from Naiise and have amended the paragraph above to reflect that.
The full list will be available to view on their site when it launches, and we asked for a sneak preview of who to expect there.
“Some of our designers in Malaysia design items that symbolise local culture which stand out among the international design items. Malaysians will feel that they can relate to these designs, something that reminds them of home wherever they go and make them feel proud to be Malaysian,” said Wen Dee.
Local brands to look out for include Mad3 Studio, The Great Indoors and Repleat.
To get things started here, the Naiise team are giving away a 3 day and 2 night stay at Stripes Kuala Lumpur to one winner who signs up on their website (ending on the 11th of June 2017). The team is also offering users a 10% discount off their first purchase once they officially launch.
