Experience a Nordic Christmas with WØRKS

Docklanders are being offered the chance to experience a Nordic Christmas thanks to sustainable hand and body care and home fragrance store WØRKS. 

The Scandinavian-inspired store is a first of its kind in the area, and was created by husband and wife, Christoffer Kjærgård and Suze Raymond, who wanted to bring their values together and create something unique and new. 

“Christoffer is Danish and when he moved to Australia, he was looking for small beautiful design elements for home but couldn’t find many with a Scandinavian style, and then I’m vegan and all into organics and sustainability,” Ms Raymond said. 

“We had no background in product development, but we wanted to do something together and put all of our values together and this is what we came out the other end with.”

Now an established brand with a strong focus on organics and sustainability in a strikingly chic Scandinavian design, WØRKS is looking ahead to its first Christmas in Docklands with a positively uplifting festive cheer. 

As a successful grant recipient in the City of Melbourne’s Christmas Collective program, WØRKS will be transforming its shop floor into a Nordic Christmas from December 13. 

“One of the key criteria [for the grant] was celebrating the traditions of other countries, and they were also looking for sustainable initiatives, and we thought, ‘this is perfect’,” Ms Raymond said. 

“There is so much going on with plastic decorations, glitter and tinsel, and that is all so bad for the environment, so we put together the proposal for our event, which is a Nordic Christmas theme in terms of the aesthetic, and we will be focusing on a 100 per cent plastic free Christmas.”

Inspired by the few times she has been able to experience the magic of a Christmas in Denmark, Ms Raymond said they would bring in multiple live Christmas trees that would stand bare in order to create the illusion of a beautiful “Scandinavian-style Christmas forest”. 

The store will then be consumed with festive spirit through the addition of Scandinavian-style paper and wooden decorations that are all plastic free, reusable, and offer a timeless aesthetic. 

“People will come in, experience this Christmas forest, and then if they want to participate in our Advent calendar-style event they can take a selfie to upload with the organised hashtag, and qualify to enter a draw,” Ms Raymond said. 

Going into the draw will then allow the attendee to pick an ornament off the wooden tree set-up, with the number on the ornament corresponding to a prize. 

Included in the prizes is everything from chocolate and candy canes for the kids, to beautiful Christmas decorations, and WØRKS latest most-commonly-asked-for product; handbag-sized hand creams and body balms.

Aligning with the sustainability focused theme of the store’s products, the mini product can be easily refilled from an at-home larger glass vessel, and is a “100 per cent post-consumer recyclable material, and made in Melbourne to reduce the carbon with shipping”. 

The event will then wrap up on December 23, which aligns with the Nordic tradition of a “little Christmas”, and there will be sparkling wine served, chocolate for the kids, more giveaways and VIP discounts. 

“We are trying to bring something that is family friendly, welcoming to all ages, and provides an opportunity to learn more about a different culture and more about sustainable ways to decorate homes and apartments simply and effectively,” Ms Raymond said. 

“We want to create some buzz and connection in the area and provide people with an opportunity to connect with a local family-owned business and to connect with their neighbours or another business owner.”

As well as thinking of how to share the festive spirit through its event, WØRKS has also just recently released its duo hand and body packs, that have been carefully packaged with recyclable cardboard in a Christmas design, and with a in-built card. 

“They’re new and exciting, and the concept is that you don’t need to buy a card or even wrap it,” Ms Raymond said. 

The duo packs will be available in four different signature fragrances and, just like all of their products, the collections are named after Danish cities, including Aarhus, Ødense, and Køben (after Copenhagen, or “København” in Danish). 

Different from your everyday skincare products, they are not only made of high-quality skin health formulations, but also have performance functions, with body balms being made to plump and firm, and hand creams for anti-ageing and tackling hyperpigmentation. 

And with the recent recognition of being named Most Sustainable Personal Care Brand in Australia 2022, WØRKS has well and truly established itself as the must-have Christmas product this season. 

WØRKS is open from 11am at 897 Collins St in Docklands, and will be offering a late night shopping special for their little Christmas event to round off the year. •

Photography by Ajay Viswanath.