KIKI's Goes Thailand: A New Chapter by the Ocean — Chapter 1

There are places you visit, take pictures of, and remember fondly. And then there are places that somehow become part of who you are. For me, that has always been the ocean.

I was eight years old when I first visited the Maldives. Back then, I could not have explained why this place fascinated me so much. I did not know anything about coral ecosystems, marine conservation, or how deeply a place could shape the person you would eventually become. I simply remember looking at the endless blue around me and feeling something I did not yet have words for.

More than 15 trips to the Maldives later, I think I finally do.

The ocean is where I feel most like myself.

Some of the most beautiful memories of my life happened there. Swimming above coral reefs and watching an entire world move beneath me. Seeing manta rays appear out of the blue and glide past as if they were flying. Swimming beside a whale shark and realizing just how small you are in comparison to the world beneath the surface. Waking up on a boat surrounded by nothing but water. Seeing dolphins before breakfast. Sitting barefoot on a beach as the sun disappeared into the horizon and wishing, just for a moment, that time could stop.

Every time I left, I knew I would come back.

And I always did.

Why Am I Always Waiting to Go Back?

For most of my life, the ocean was somewhere I travelled to. I would look forward to the next trip, count down the days, arrive and immediately feel that familiar sense of peace — and then eventually pack my suitcase and fly back home.

Back to Switzerland. Back to work. Back to routines, responsibilities, appointments, plans, and everyday life. Back to waiting for the next time I could be close to the sea again.

There is nothing wrong with that life. In fact, I am incredibly grateful for it. But somewhere along the way, one question became harder and harder for me to ignore:

Why am I always waiting to go back?

Why was the place where I felt happiest something I only allowed myself to experience during holidays? Why did being close to the ocean always have to come with a return flight?

And eventually, that question became something bigger.

If I already know what kind of life makes me feel alive, why am I waiting for “someday” to live more of it?

Someday Is a Dangerous Word

I think it is incredibly easy to build a life around “someday.” Someday I will travel more. Someday I will live somewhere warm. Someday I will take the risk. Someday I will have more freedom. Someday, when I have saved enough, achieved enough, planned enough and finally feel completely ready, I will do all the things I have been thinking about for years.

There is always a reason why now is not the perfect time. There will always be another milestone to reach, another uncertainty to solve, another reason why waiting one more year would be easier.

But at some point, I realized something that scared me more than leaving ever could.

I could keep saying “someday” for a very long time.

And maybe one day I would look back and realize that I had spent years waiting for permission to live a life that had been calling me all along.

I do not want to spend my twenties waiting for the life I imagine myself living later. I want to find out what happens when I give myself permission to try now.

I Am Not Running Away

Maybe the strangest part about this decision is that I am not leaving because I have a life I desperately want to escape from.

I have a home. I have people I love. I have family and friends I will miss more than I can probably imagine right now. I have familiarity, security and a life in Switzerland that I know how to live.

And leaving something you love is complicated.

There are moments when I am so excited that October cannot come quickly enough. And then there are moments when I look around and realize that soon all the ordinary things I barely think about today will suddenly be thousands of kilometers away.

Choosing this life does not mean I am not scared to leave the one I already have.

Maybe that is exactly what makes this decision mean so much to me.

I am not leaving because I have nothing to lose. I am leaving even though I have so much here that I love.

I am not looking for a perfect life somewhere else. I do not believe moving to Thailand will magically turn every Tuesday into a holiday. There will still be work. There will still be stress. There will be difficult days, homesickness, uncertainty, problems I cannot predict yet, and probably moments when I ask myself what on earth I am doing.

But I do not want a permanent vacation.

I want to experience a different way of living.

What If the Ocean Became Part of Everyday Life?

For so long, some of my favorite moments existed outside my everyday life. Warm evenings. Bare feet. Salt in my hair. The sound of the ocean. That feeling after spending hours in the water when you are tired, sun-kissed and completely happy.

I started wondering what it would feel like if those things were no longer reserved for a few weeks of the year.

What if I could close my laptop after a normal working day and go to the sea?

What if the ocean was not somewhere I had to escape to, but simply somewhere nearby?

What if I could wake up on an ordinary Wednesday and know that the thing that has inspired me since I was eight years old was only a short distance away?

That does not mean every day will be extraordinary.

Actually, I hope it will not.

I want grocery shopping, deadlines, laundry, work calls and completely normal days. I just want to find out what those normal days feel like when I build them somewhere that feels a little closer to the life I have always imagined.

So, Thailand.

This October, that question stops being hypothetical.

I am moving to Thailand.

Even now, writing those words feels strange. For so long, Thailand was an idea, a conversation, a plan, something in the future. And suddenly there are real dates, real flights, real suitcases to pack, and a very real moment approaching when I will have to say goodbye.

I do not know exactly how long this chapter will last. I do not know where it will lead me. And I definitely do not know whether the version of Thailand I have imagined in my head will look anything like the reality of actually living there.

But for once, I am okay with not knowing.

I want to experience Thailand beyond a holiday. I want to discover places slowly instead of counting the days until a flight home. I want to learn, explore, work, create, meet people, make mistakes, change plans and see what happens when life is allowed to be a little less predictable.

And, of course, I want to be closer to the ocean.

And KIKI'S Is Coming With Me

KIKI'S Cases began with the same thing that has quietly shaped so much of my life: my love for the ocean.

The sea turtles, manta rays, whale sharks, corals, colors and little details of the underwater world that have inspired so many of my memories eventually started inspiring my designs too. I wanted KIKI'S to feel like a small piece of that world you could carry with you every day — and I wanted the brand to give something back to the place that inspired it.

When I started KIKI'S, I did not know that only a short time later I would be packing it into my suitcase and taking it with me to Thailand.

And maybe that is what excites me most about this next chapter.

I have no perfectly planned answer for what “KIKI'S Goes Thailand” will become.

Maybe I will discover marine conservation projects that deserve to be shared. Maybe Thailand will inspire new designs. Maybe I will learn more about the reefs, marine life and environmental challenges there. Maybe I will meet people whose stories belong here. Maybe some of the best ideas are things I cannot possibly know yet.

I want KIKI'S to grow with the experiences that inspire it.

And for the first time, the ocean that has always existed behind this brand will not feel quite so far away.

I Don't Know How This Story Ends

I think we often want certainty before we make big decisions. We want to know that the risk will be worth it. That we will not regret leaving. That everything will work out exactly as we imagined.

I cannot promise myself any of those things.

Maybe Thailand will become home for years. Maybe it will lead me somewhere completely different. Maybe I will love it in ways I cannot imagine yet. Maybe I will miss Switzerland more than I expect. Maybe I will change.

I hope I do.

Because I am starting to understand that not knowing what happens next is not necessarily something to be afraid of.

Sometimes, it is the whole reason to go.

I would rather try, discover that something is not for me, and come home with a story than spend years wondering what my life might have looked like if I had been brave enough to find out.

This Is Chapter 1

So no, this is not an article about how I figured out the secret to life.

I have absolutely not figured it out.

It is not a story about leaving everything behind and finding paradise either. I already know enough about the ocean to understand that paradise is rarely as perfect as it looks from the outside.

This is simply the story of choosing to listen to a feeling that has followed me since I was eight years old.

The feeling I get when I see the ocean.

The feeling of wanting to stay just a little longer.

The feeling that maybe home does not always have to be the place where you were born, but can also be something you discover along the way.

For years, I kept leaving the ocean and promising myself I would come back.

This time, I want to stay a little closer.

I am excited. I am scared. I am grateful. And I have absolutely no idea what the next chapter will look like.

But maybe our dreams are not always meant to stay dreams until “someday.”

Sometimes, we are allowed to choose now.

And this time, I am choosing the ocean.

See you by the ocean.

— KIKI