The request was deceptively simple: design a bridal shower that felt like stepping into a Parisian boutique. Not a theme party. Not a Pinterest board brought to life. A genuine spatial experience, one where every object, surface, and sightline contributed to a single, cohesive atmosphere. The bride-to-be wanted something intimate yet considered, personal yet polished. The kind of event where guests feel the design before they notice it.
KINN Studios approached Ma Chérie as we approach every project — through the lens of architecture and spatial narrative. From the earliest conversations, we understood that the word "French" was not a decorating theme. It was an invitation to think about a very particular kind of sensory refinement: the unhurried elegance of a Parisian boutique, where everything is placed with intention and nothing is accidental.
The Brief and the Approach
Every project at KINN Studios begins with questions, not Pinterest. Before we touched a mood board, we spent time understanding the bride: her sensibility, the relationships she wanted to honour in the room, the feeling she wanted guests to carry out the door. These conversations shaped every downstream decision, from venue selection to the curvature of the lettering on the custom signage.
We selected Venue 308 in Calgary for its clean architectural lines and generous natural light. The space operates as a raw canvas: enough character to feel warm, enough neutrality to absorb a design concept without competing with it. For Ma Chérie, this was essential. The French boutique aesthetic we were building is defined by restraint and proportion. A visually busy venue would have undermined it before a single element was placed.
The design direction crystallised around a specific quality: the atmosphere of a small, impeccably curated Parisian shop where every object on the shelf has been chosen not to fill space but to reward attention. This became the filter for every material, every colour, every proportion in the room.
The Bespoke Perfume Cart
The centrepiece of the Ma Chérie experience was a custom-built perfume cart, designed and fabricated specifically for this event. Styled with fresh florals, curated fragrance bottles, and hand-lettered signage bearing the Ma Chérie mark, the cart functioned as both an installation and an interactive moment. Guests could explore scents, layer fragrance notes, and create a personalised perfume to take home.
This was not a rental. It was not sourced from a prop house. It was purpose-built by KINN Studios to serve a specific spatial and experiential function within this particular room. The cart anchored the centre of the venue, creating a natural gathering point and a conversation piece that drew guests through the space in the way a storefront window draws you off the sidewalk.
We design spaces that feel like memories before they become ones.
The perfume cart was not decoration. It was experiential design in the truest sense: an object that created behaviour, invited participation, and anchored the spatial story of the room. Every guest interacted with it. Every guest left with something tangible. And the interaction itself, the act of selecting and blending scents in conversation with friends, became one of the afternoon's defining moments.
Material Palette and Spatial Coherence
The material palette drew from the language of French patisseries and vintage boutiques: soft creams, muted pinks, aged gold accents, and textured linens. Every element was intentional. The typography was hand-selected to echo Parisian signage traditions. The colour story ran from the florals through to the tableware, the napkin folds, and into the dessert display, creating an unbroken visual thread that gave the space its quiet coherence.
This is the level of detail that separates experiential design from event styling. In a styled event, the elements are individually beautiful but exist as separate objects in a room. In a designed experience, the elements are components of a single spatial narrative. Remove one, and the others feel its absence. Add one that does not belong, and the entire atmosphere shifts. Ma Chérie was designed to this standard: a complete environment where nothing was arbitrary and everything earned its place.
Cherry-Themed Desserts by Deep's Delights
The culinary component was designed in collaboration with Deep's Delights Catering, a Calgary-based Indian-fusion dessert and catering studio. The dessert table was conceived as an extension of the spatial design, not a separate catering brief. Cherry-themed confections, gluten-friendly options, and a display architecture that echoed the French boutique language of the room.
The result was a dessert experience that guests could see from across the venue, drawing them through the space the way a patisserie window draws you off a Parisian side street. The display risers, the serving pieces, the colour gradient of the confections themselves — all of it was coordinated with the broader design palette. This is what integrated design looks like: the food is not adjacent to the experience. It is part of it.
The Difference Between Decoration and Design
What distinguished Ma Chérie from a conventional bridal shower was the totality of the design. There was no seam between the spatial concept and the guest experience. The perfume cart was not a rental; it was purpose-built. The desserts were not ordered from a menu; they were designed into the room. The venue was not decorated; it was transformed.
This is the difference between event styling and experiential design, and it is the work that KINN Studios exists to do. A styled event can be beautiful. A designed experience changes the way people feel about being in a room. The former is visual. The latter is spatial, sensory, and emotional.
Calgary's event design landscape is evolving. Clients are moving past generic decor packages toward genuine spatial experiences — events designed with the same rigour and intentionality you would bring to a retail interior or a gallery installation. Ma Chérie was a demonstration of that shift: a private celebration designed with architectural thinking, cultural sensitivity, and an obsessive attention to the details that make a space feel complete.
For the full project gallery, visit the Ma Chérie case study in our portfolio. If you are planning a celebration that deserves more than decoration, we would love to hear about your vision.