Who We Are

We design futures that turn physical retail into a platform for growth.

Who we are...

We don’t just design spaces, we design futures. At Quinine, we help global brands turn physical retail into a platform for growth by elevating the ordinary to the extraordinary. By combining deep research, strategic insight, and world-class design, we create future-ready environments that shift behaviour, build loyalty, and drive measurable business results.

We look through your business to understand the customers who matter most, decoding cultural shifts and behavioural patterns, uncovering unmet needs, and identifying opportunities that give your brand a competitive edge. We believe in design that enriches people’s lives, strengthens communities, and delivers commercial impact, because physical retail isn’t just functional, it’s foundational to the future of your brand.

Our process

When it comes to creating great work, there's no magic formula or one-size-fits-all answer. Every client has a different vision, and every brief poses a new challenge. That said, our process always underpins our success, guiding our work and behaviour throughout a project.

With a focus on people and their relationship to the physical world, our research-driven, user-centric design approach creates effective solutions that support the business strategy; capturing the brand promise, motivating staff and connecting with customers in meaningful ways.

Our process underpins our success, always guiding our work and behaviour throughout a project.
Discover

We immerse ourselves in our client's world, searching for insights and a true understanding of problems, needs and opportunities. This is a phase of diverse thought and exploration, where both designer and client teams allow for a broad range of ideas and influences. Using various 'design research' methods of collecting information, we build a set of qualitative research findings to support existing quantitative research reports.
Diagnosis

In this stage, using various types of analysis frameworks, we pull together all the research findings and organise the information (images, video, objects, interviews etc.) into the problems, opportunities, insights, needs and themes. Collaborative scenario building and role-playing help the designers and the wider client team dive deeper into the context of each insight.
Define

At this stage, we revisit the initial brief to ensure we are asking the right question before we define the final project brief, identify opportunities, and recommend design principles and strategic directions for further design development.
Develop

Here we translate and interpret the design direction into a tangible solution. We brainstorm, we visualise, we develop prototypes, and we test various concepts before creating a final design solution. We use our imagination and intuition to make our ideas come alive, always checking to make sure the final design is right for the audience.
Deliver

Where we work with internal teams and suppliers to deliver the concept, this covers final prototyping, sign off, production and site management through to opening. We inspire and guide to make the design happen, true to the original vision, addressing any design or operational concerns and identifying opportunities to reduce costs and upgrade the design. As the design becomes operational, we continue to provide ongoing support and development, giving you the reassurance that one of the world’s best retail design companies is here for you.

Our people

We're a multi-national team of product designers and architects, digital and graphic designers, interior designers and business creatives who believe in the power and value of design as a strategic tool to drive innovation and growth.