We talked with the lovely Catherine Viriya of WOK Store, Milan. WOK was founded in 2007 by Federica Zambon and Simona Citarella.
1. Is there a special meaning behind the name WOK?
Wok is a versatile cooking vessel where everything desired are cooked by mixing with other ingredients and spices, creating a delicious flavor as a result. The main idea is creating a multi-brand store where all the brands could be combined together to create a special mix. For Wok, the ingredients are the brands we choose, and the spices are our taste.
2. What defines the styles that you sell?
Our style is eclectic, niche, and special.
What inspires us the most is our love for art of fashion and design.
4. Thoughts about fashion?
I like to think more about each and every designer’s emotion, passion, and the effort they put in creating the collection in order to convince us to trust them and purchase their pieces.
5. What do people really like to wear/buy?
People really like to buy accessories and special edition items.
6. What's an interesting trend now?
7. Who are your most interesting shoppers? Any stories about shoppers you would like to tell?
We have a lot of customers who are students and tourists. Since Wok Store is not located in the city center, the most interesting part for us is to see some tourists who really spent times and made efforts to visit us by showing up in our store with a map.
8. Do you have any fashion events at the store?
Of course! We held in-store events every now and then. Our closest upcoming event is collaboration with NABA (a Fine Arts Academy in Milan) for Milan Design Week, followed by a launching event of the first collection of Wok (yes, we’re launching our own brand!), and an event regarding Eastpak Limited Edition Collection on May.
9. How often do you stock new products?
Mostly we stock new products every six months, but every month there’s always new products to be introduced.
10. When do you have sales?
In the store we have sales on January and July, but our online shop follows the sales based on every country
11. Anything else you would like to tell us?
We believe that we have to keep learning, and there’s always something to give and take between the brand and us every single day. Wok is a melting pot of ideas, so we are most open to anyone who would like to share their minds with us!