The Swedish fragrance brand Koyia is challenging modern consumption with the launch of its first physical store. It’s the absolute antithesis of a classic high street opening. Instead, the perfumery is hidden in a remote forest clearing. And the only currency accepted? Your time.
Koyia Perfumery is unstaffed, open 24/7, and cash-free. Instead of paying with kronor and öre, visitors pay with minutes and seconds. Part art installation, part retail experiment, the store questions a culture where money is often valued more highly than time, and proposes an alternative: what happens if we slow down and pay with presence instead? Visitors are asked to put away their phones, sit back, and spend 599 seconds on site. Research shows that this is when the nature effect begins to kick in, lowering stress levels. That time investment then pays off: the 599 SEK you might normally spend with a click – but now offered in time – earns you a fragrance in hand.
“In an era where everything revolves around quick results and where consumers are pushed to buy more, faster, we want to offer something that makes us slow down. Koyia Perfumery is probably the world’s slowest store,” stated Ylva Nestmark, co-founder of Koyia.
Surrounded by pine trees and silence, the perfumery invites visitors to experience scents born from the very landscape around them. Scents that make the brand’s fragrances distinctive. Koyia’s fragrances are locally produced and made from young spruce shoots rich in phytoncides – natural compounds released by conifers that have been scientifically proven to reduce stress and promote wellbeing.
The store was created in collaboration with Swedish designer, duo Lucas and Tyra Morten, known for their sculptural, minimalist aesthetic. The interior is intentionally contemplative, containing just a few elements – a chair and a pedestal. On the pedestal, Koyia’s fragrances are displayed, inviting visitors into a slow ritual of scent.
“We wanted to create something that exists in dialogue with time – where the materials carry the memory of seasonal shifts, and the form feels alive and adaptable, just like nature itself,” Lucas Morten commented.
Naturally, the perfumery has no postal address. Instead, visitors must find it by following GPS coordinates (57°16’08.3″N 14°10’45.6″E). Nearby lies Tallkotten, a treehouse suspended between six spruces, where guests traveling from afar can book an overnight stay via Airbnb.
“The site is perfect for our perfumery. We share Tallkotten’s vision of inspiring more people to reconnect with nature. In the long run, we hope the store can also move and allow more people to experience the phytoncide effect beneath the forest canopy,” stated Therése Bohlén Kinn, co-founder of Koyia.
