KGS helps startups, corporations and other organisations get a deeper understanding of themselves, their brand audience and the world.

• Brand audit - a complete review of your brand ecosystem

• Cultural research - a deep dive into the subcultures your brand audience inhabits - from ideologies to rituals and aesthetics.

• User research - ethnographic studies, user journeys interviews and product testing.

I always try to improve my understanding of cultures by observing or partaking in the enactment of rituals. From the mundane to the transformative. The playful to the solemn. The quiet to the confrontational. The private to the shared.

One of my favourite rituals is this beautifully simple and inclusive expression of Carioca identity that takes place on Ipanema Beach in Rio de Janeiro. Here, hundreds of people congregate on the large rock formation Pedra do Arpoado to watch the sunset. A communal act unifying primordial sun worship with Instagram culture. Camera phones are used as ritual props, the medium for connecting with the divine – capturing it: the sublimity, the energy, the immortality.

Storefronts is based on a research project studying retail design across the globe.

Karl Grøndal has documented a plethora of styles and concepts. From high-end brand flagships in affluent shopping areas to mom-and-pop stores in informal settlements.

Escape your algorithmic taste profiles on TikTok and Instagram and become inspired by the diversity of the real world.

The Storefronts book feature images from:

New York, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Bogota, Paris, London, Rome, Milan, Brussels, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Cape Town and other places.

Public Design is based a research project studying the design of urban environments across the globe.

“An aspect of public design I find particularly fascinating is the way we enshrine nature. The quintessential modern example lies in how the Manhattan skyline frames Central Park, juxtaposing the soft, green expanse of the park against the concrete structures of the city. If you start looking for it, you will realize we enshrine and idealize nature everywhere in the urban landscape. Integrated into buildings, trees framed by cast-iron grates along the streets or just a plant in a pot. I find this combined deification and subjugation of nature profoundly human.”

- Karl Grøndal

The Public Design book feature images from:

New York, Rio de Janeiro, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Bogota, Paris, London, Rome, Milan, Helsinki, Copenhagen, Beijing, Shanghai, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Kobe, Bangkok, Hong Kong, Cape Town and other places.