only friends you haven’t met yet
The Drinkery is a Russian-influenced bar shaped by DJ culture, nightlife and a strong existing community. While this gives the bar a distinctive character, the project explored how its identity could reach beyond its established audience and create new points of entry for a broader crowd.
Rather than replacing what already made The Drinkery recognisable, the opportunity was to introduce a more approachable and expressive layer to the brand — one that could expand its appeal while remaining connected to the bar’s existing culture.
The most approachable way into The Drinkery was already part of its everyday life. KIKI, a long-haired dachshund who visited the bar daily with its owner, had gradually become a familiar face among regulars — naturally reflecting the bar’s belief that “there are no strangers here, just friends you haven’t met yet.”
Rather than inventing a new mascot, we turned this existing relationship into a character the brand could build around. KIKI offered a more playful and accessible entry point into The Drinkery, extending its personality beyond its established nightlife audience while remaining rooted in the community already around it.
The left shows the original 2D character design. The right presents AI-assisted 3D concept models generated from the same design, used to quickly evaluate the character's volume, proportions, and appearance from multiple angles before further development.
KIKI was developed as a character with two distinct states: daytime and nighttime. The shift from work mode to drinking mode mirrors the familiar rhythm between routine and release, giving the character a simple behaviour that can evolve across different situations and stories.
A burning tail became KIKI’s defining feature, turning the warmth and energy of the bar into a recognisable visual signal. Together, the dual states and recurring motif create a character system that can change in mood and expression while remaining unmistakably KIKI.
KIKI extends beyond a character into a participatory part of The Drinkery experience. Through a community event built around collecting, exchanging and styling KIKI cards, the identity creates reasons for people to interact, play and connect within the bar.
The character becomes a shared point of participation between existing regulars and new audiences, giving people a way into The Drinkery that goes beyond nightlife alone. In this way, KIKI helps the brand expand its community through experience rather than simply changing how it looks.