"I love design - and the stories that go with it," Ina Oakley wrote to us, introducing us to the Klaas wine store, which she opened together with her husband. The result is not only a fantastic story, but also a design that recently won the German Design Award.
Of course it doesn't work like that!
After working in various large German cities, graduate designer Ina Oakley moved to beautiful Münsterland in North Rhine-Westphalia and quickly realized that something was missing: "We lived above a wine store in Munich and right next to it in Berlin. And now we were supposed to drink wine from Rewe in Warendorf? No, that really wasn't possible," she smiles, "and so we simply opened our own wine store."
She developed the corporate design for the store herself - her specialty as a designer anyway. And even though she enjoys working for her customers, her own wine store gives her the greatest pleasure: "For me, it's my most beautiful project because it means so much to us: the connection between old and new. Letting something old blossom anew." This means that the venerable house dates back to 1541 and, according to her website, even resembles a "remarkable, strange but worthy fairytale house", fittingly located in Warendorf's Königstraße.
Through rose-colored glasses
The main colors of the corporate design quickly became clear: "The colors red and pink were simply there, because the house is pink on the outside and the window frames were already painted red on the inside. The inside and outside were thus connected." Ina and Matthew Oakley want to connect their customers and visitors in exactly the same way: "We invite them to feel at home with us. It's wonderful to look at. We love the stories that are brought into the store." What could be more fitting here than a historic building in which many generations have lived and left their stories behind.
For real connoisseurs
The graduate designer is delighted that Oakleys received a German Design Award for her love of design and stories from Warendorf. For her, it's a project that only gets going when the normal week ends: Friday afternoons and Saturdays. "Because we enjoy it, because we are connoisseurs. Because we love wine. And because we love the city we live in."
So much so that they are currently even delivering care packages with a selection of their wines in Warendorf - unfortunately not quite our catchment area...
"We have put a lot of heart and soul into our wine store. It's nice that you can not only taste it, but also see it," says a delighted Ina Oakley.
Click here for the website of the Klaas wine store
More about Ina Oakley
