One of my fondest childhood memories is accompanying my father to the kopitiam in the early mornings, watching him order his kopi amidst the hot, humid, and cacophonous buzz of the coffee shop.
What transfixed me was the sight inside the glass: the dark, inky brown of the kopi with a thick, gooey layer of condensed milk pooled at the bottom, waiting to be released. My tiny fingers would pinch the tip of the metal spoon as I stirred, eyes fixated on the universe unfolding in the cup. Slowly, the milk dissolved into the fragrant kopi, transforming it into a warm, creamy brown.
There was an intimacy in those swirls — in watching sweetness and bitterness fold into one another — and in the unhurried mornings I shared with my father. Before the weight of adulthood, before life grew busier and mornings turned rushed, what remains are fragments of memory: the clink of metal against glass, the rich aromas of kopi. Time has moved on, as it always does, but those moments endure as a tender reminder that some things are meant to be savoured, not rushed. It is this spirit of slowing down that my team and I now seek to design into the experiences we create for others.
Just as those mornings with my father taught me the quiet magic of waiting; of stirring slowly and watching something transform. I’ve come to see that friction can be a gift. In a world that often prizes speed and instant gratification, there is meaning in designing experiences that ask people to pause, to linger, to notice.
At Co:Creation Workshop, this is what we strive to build: moments where slowness becomes part of the encounter, where effort deepens value, and where participation itself becomes the story.
We call these frictional experiences — and they are at the heart of how we transform simple techniques like water marbling into memorable brand activations.
This year, as Singapore marked its SG60 celebrations, I found myself returning to that memory of stirring kopi — of how slowness, ritual, and anticipation can hold meaning. It felt like the right moment to translate those ideas into a shared experience, and The Good Weekend , organised by The Social Space, provided the perfect canvas. Set in The Foundry, a heritage space reimagined for community and social impact, the market gathered local brands and changemakers to celebrate what makes Singapore unique. For us at Co:Creation Workshop, it became an opportunity to bring the kopitiam — that everyday symbol of comfort and belonging — into the heart of a national celebration, and to show how art-making can transform a familiar ritual into something surprising, playful, and memorable.
At The Good Weekend, our team introduced Co:pitiam — a booth that reimagined the kopitiam breakfast table as a site for art-making. On the surface, it was a simple water marbling activity. But every detail was designed to surprise, delight, and slow people down.
The familiar was made strange: soy sauce bottles became paint dispensers, coffee shop cutlery trays held the marbling baths, and melamine chopsticks replaced artist’s tools for swirling. Our facilitators stepped into character as kopi aunties, playfully guiding participants with humour and warmth. Even the final outcome — a ceramic coaster — was sealed and packed in an old-school plastic da bao bag, tagged with a handwritten note.
The process itself was intentionally paced: six minutes to swirl, twenty minutes to wait while the coaster dried and was sealed. In between, guests wandered through the market, anticipation building until they returned to collect their finished piece. This friction — of time, effort, and ritual — transformed what could have been a quick craft into a memory that felt earned and deeply personal.
These choices weren’t gimmicks — they were intentional layers of surprise. Surprise disrupts autopilot; it pulls people into the present. The moment a participant realises the soy sauce bottle in their hand isn’t for seasoning but for creating art, their eyes widen, their attention sharpens, and delight follows. This is the magic of playful design: it makes people curious, invested, and ready to remember the experience long after the moment passes.
For brands, the value of friction is in what it creates: anticipation, desire, and meaning. At Co:pitiam, a coaster was never instant. Participants spent six minutes dripping, swirling, and dipping — then had to wait twenty minutes for their piece to be sealed and ready. That wait, that gap, heightened anticipation. Collecting the finished coaster became a moment of reward, satisfaction, and pride.
In contrast to throwaway activations — instant freebies that vanish into tote bags (tell me, how many event/brand tote bags have you already accumulated in your cabinet at home?)— friction makes the memory sticky. It requires effort, and effort makes the outcome feel earned. When participants slow down, they engage more deeply, and the experience lingers in their minds. For brands, this is invaluable: people don’t just remember what they received, they remember how it made them feel.
Past brand activation with Jo Malone and La Mer designed and facilitated by Co:Creation Workshop. Each experience is customised to translate brand identity into artful, memorable encounters.
Co:pitiam was just one example — a tribute to kopitiam culture and Singapore’s SG60. But the principle is adaptable to any brand, occasion, or identity.
Imagine a luxury brand where marbling is inspired by fabric textures or fragrance notes, creating keepsakes that echo elegance. For a sustainability brand, the marbling could be inspired by circularity and reuse; using recycled materials as the base objects for marbling (like upcycled wood offcuts or repurposed packaging). Each piece becomes both an artwork and a statement of renewal, reinforcing the brand’s commitment to waste reduction and creative reuse. For team bonding, the activity could expand into a collective mural or collaborative artwork, where every member contributes to a bigger whole.
The medium, the tools, the narrative — all can be customised. The constant is friction: slowing people down, engaging them deeply, and using art as the connector.
The swirls of kopi I once stirred as a child taught me that some things are meant to be savoured, not rushed. That lesson is now the foundation of our work at Co:Creation Workshop.
Frictional experiences — the kind that surprise, engage, and slow us down — create lasting impressions. They transform brand activations into living memories and team sessions into shared stories.
This is what we do best: crafting moments of pause and wonder through art, and designing experiences that linger long after the day is over.
Shared from both memory and practice,
Samantha Tio
Co-Founder & Chief of Communities, Co:Creation Workshop
