Small Batch :: Pink Koala

Since 2006 Katrina Griffis  and Pink Koala Designs  have been pairing modern and vintage influences and offering a collection of stylish, functional and practical accessories. Their products are simple, modern and sustainable. 

Pink Koala is a great name!  What's the story behind it?

Well, I've had lots of names for my business starting from when I was first discovered my passion for design names like Milani Designs, Akoma, Suave Designs, Nicole K. Designs, Ethos, and ultimately Pink Koala Design. One day I was brainstorming for a new name and it hit me.

Since childhood, koalas have always been my favorite animals and pink is my favorite color. The more I started thinking about the name, the more it stuck. Koalas have pouches to carry their joeys, and I make bags that carry our “joey’s” diapers, toys and everything else. Quite often we see images of koala mom and joey and it reminded me of family so I wanted to make sure that my products were centered around family  and put the “fun” in functional items. I also used koalas to help design my products when deciding shape, color and features. So the name Pink Koala is very much intertwined with every part of my business.

Your designs do a great job of combining modern and vintage aesthetic.  Where do you find inspiration?

I’m in love with the 60s and 70s. I love bright colors and nice textures but I also love the clean lines and uncomplicated style of vintage modern fashion and design of the era.  Old department store catalogs, vintage clothing and old movies from that era really get my ideas flowing. When I’m looking for fabrics or when I’m looking at new shapes for bags, I’m always pulling from the 60s and 70s. Patterns and prints from that era literally jump out at me and I get so excited.

We love your mission statement acronym, CMPS.  Can you tell us what it means and why those things are important to you?

CMPS are the qualities that drive my design.  They are compact, multifunctional, modern, practical, portable, sustainable, stylish, simple and smart. Our bibs are stylish and modern, practical and simple, portable and compact. Our DiaperKeeper is all of these qualities. When I’m designing a new product, I keep these qualities in mind. If I’m making a bag, I think “How I can make this bag more multifunctional?” I think about the life beyond the initial purpose of the bag. I want it to be sustainable something that can have many lives and many purposes. Of course, I want my design to be modern, clean and stylish. Every design might not have every quality but at least three will be represented in every one of my designs.

If you absolutely had to choose a favorite, which of your products do you love the most?

My favorite product is the DiaperKeeper. It’s a modern changing clutch with pockets and changing surface and I’ve personally used it for three years. The diaper pads that came with the diaper bags I bought weren’t up to my standards, so I came up with the DiaperKeeper. Even if I didn’t make it I would recommend it!

Last but not least, describe the type of world you'd like to design.

The world that I would design would be like New York City - filled with influences from multiple cultural tapestries. Designing a blue bag the color of the rooftops on the homes in Santorini or a heavily beaded bag inspired by the neck bands of the Maasai people of Kenya and Tanzania is really what it’s all about.  Design is because it celebrates our diversity as a global population. What’s better than that?

Photo Credits :: Pink Koala Designs

Sarah Von is a Vianza contributing columnist and interview wrangler.  If you follow her on Twitter, you’ll be privy to all sort of tweets about small business, good ideas and, um, cheese.