" and after all, your my ................."

The Japanese connection.   Masamichi Katayama and his company Wonderwall are producing some great retail designs. Wonderwall produce some slightly surreal shops that seem like a lot of fun. These guys have a great website. It's well worth a look for its origami approach to display. This Godiva Chocoiste shop has a clean almost cartoon feel. Chocoiste what a great word. Minimal palette with a fantastic effect. The shop is in Tokyo.

Chocolate Dali

Fantastic detail, surreal raised and fielded panels.

Photos by Kozo Takayama

Back to Interior Design School

I hope you had a peaceful Christmas. First blog of the new year and its China focused with Shanghai shops in particular. The luxury goods brand Hermes have centred their attention on the Chinese market and created the Shang Xia brand tailored to a newly affluent Chinese population.

As the CEO of Hermes, Patrick Thomas puts it

Instead of buying another company, we thought, ‘Why not create a brand from the ground up that shares our philosophy — outstanding quality, creativity, and strong style?

From my Interior Design point of view it is the physical shop in Shanghai that works so well.
The mainly white interior sets off the product sharply. The clean layout with a clear visual access to the quality product on display and the absence of defined wall and ceiling planes give the interior an almost cave like quality. They also have a furniture range that is simple and elegant. I love to see the mix of clothes, accessories and furniture in the one shop.

Also check out the music on their website very peaceful, as the beginning to any new year should be.

Let it Thaw.

It's been a busy week. I'm working on the Box Seven Design Website. Should have something other than a holding page to show soon. After two weeks of freezing weather its all starting to thaw. But the garden looked something like this.

which lead me on to this shot I had on my phone from the time of the London Design Week.

These were in a shop on Redchurch Steet. If you know it let me know. They had some lovely stock.

And from here while looking through my reference photo file. I came across these which continue the snow theme. If I remember correctly its a confectionary shop.

theurel and thomas in San Pedro Mexico

Tenuous snowy connections from my back garden to San Pedro.

Shopping in Moscow

3,14 Project is a  Moscow shop. The design is by NB Studio and this is their latest work. I love the clever use of old buildings and these pictures show it done well. The clothes and the building fit perfectly. This shop really reminds me of Hostem in London, have a look you'll see what I mean. More shops like these please.

http://nb-studio.ru/

Brothers in Vans

On a little Internet ramble I came across the work of the Wilson Brothers and Brinkworth. Brinkworth are the people behind the All Saints shops. Girls you'll know them, boys you may have stood outside their shops waiting. The shoe shop shown is Foot Patrol's newest outlet in  London.The spare lighting and use of raw timber really remind me of the Hostem shop that I've written about. I have a thing about raw wood its such a warm elemental material.  The foot patrol shop concept is a shop within a shop, a box within a box with the pitched roofed enclosure set behind a standard glazed shop front. The timber used is recycled scaffold board perfect recycling for a construction downturn. Basic black fittings are set against the timber  keeping everything simple for product display. I love the Foot Patrol Logo set out in neon, raw and urban.

Photography by Louise Melchior at Brinkworth

Mix your shop up

 I have always been a fan of mixed up retail. You know the type we Irish used to do so well like a Pub- Grocer- Funeral Director business where you could have a few pints then buy a half pound of tea and some rashers for when you got home and all this from the same pub.

I've been to a few strange mixed shops but one that stands out was a hairdresser - denim shop - vintage vinyl record shop in Spitalfields London. In the coiffure section you sat at vintage dressing tables to have your "do" done. The "dos" were all post Hoxton Fin and asymmetric fringes.  The dressing tables were from different decades 20's 40's and 50's, very cool. The basement was home to the denim and vinyl records with ABBA playing on a little Dancetron set on the floor.

The LeCool group have catalogued these mad little shops in London and other cities

Mat Osmon of LeCool describes the London book thus

"It's for people who love the city, People who love scooter shops that turn into coffee shops, and flats with aeroplane wings through them, and manga libraries, and doll's house furniture shops, and bubble-and-squeak stalls, and hairdressers-cum-art galleries-cum-nightclubs, and rollergirls, and so on and so on .

So if its for people who love the city, any city then it's for me.

There is a LeCool Dublin Website but this lists events rather than places. Maybe its time to catalogue Dublin's more eccentric shops.

Which one would you put at the top of your list? I know a lot of my readers are not from Dublin. Let me know of the quirky places where you live?

With corporate multinational similar streets you just don't get a mix up, a shop where you could  buy some boots and buy a painting. Let me know if your thinking of getting one off the ground.

A Ribbon of White

The design of a shoe shop in Rome the home of the worlds finest crafted footwear. The design of a shoe shop on the Via dei Condotti one of the worlds top retail streets. The design of this shop could only be entrusted to a man answering to the name of Fabio Novembre. 


The shop is not particularly new but it caught my eye being a bright winding ribbon of white Corian that forms shelving and crosses ceilings. The shop is Stuart Weitzman. The last time I was on the Via dei Condotti I had my dehydrated family with me and this shop and others like it were off the agenda for a visit. Fabio Novembre what a fantastic name he puts me in mind of Pericles Liatsos  who featured in my very first post. I'm thinking of starting a collection of designers with fantastic names. Send me any you know. We could even run a competition for best name and feature their work to see if it lived up to their name.

Photos via Mimomoss

Game Set and Sekt

From clothes in Dublin to clothes in Basel. The Set and Sekt shop in Basel. Good space with room to breathe. It has an art gallery feel. Note the little blue shopping trolley, mixing high end fashion retailing with the chosen grocery conveyor of the little old lady on Moore Street Dublin. In not a fan of the chairs although I've never sat in one of these. They would have to be very comfortable for me to be convinced. But what I like is the bar at the end or more importantly the spirits bottles suspended from the roof. I wonder if they pour you a stiff drink as they give you the total on your clothes spend. The bottom photo was taken on opening night rather than on a sale day.

Dolls with great Buns

On Sunday morning a little bit older and not proportionately  wiser after a night out on Dublin's North Great Georges Street I headed across the city for breakfast. This journey was taken on the suggestion of Mrs Seven. She has been trying to get me over to Dolls clothes shop and its immediately adjacent Cafe Bibis for some time but I know the meaning of the word ulterior . This double venture clothes and cake is the work of Petria and Maisha Lenehan and Mrs Seven has been a frequenter of the original Dolls shop on Clarendon Street for some time. I've found the bags hidden at the bottom of the wardrobe.

The shop set behind a smart grey shop front is light and uncluttered with the all important sofa for rest while she has a rummage on the racks. There are some old original victorian shop display cases that contrast really well with frameless structural glass balustrade to the basement stairs. White walls and a parquet floor ad to make up a crisp feel and perfect backdrop to display some lovely clothes. Good to see Petria has some men's lines in stock too.

The cafe takes up less room and there is a glass door link between the two. The seats here are Hans Wegners Y chairs. There is also an option to sit under the canopies outside. I had a very good Eggs Benedict variation chosen from the chalked up back of door menu. All of the food is made by Maisha and they do great coffee. Its great to see this new cafe and shop development located on a corner amongst the red brick terraces of Dublin 8.  

You will find Dolls and BiBis on  Emorville Avenue Dublin 8.

Images via Dirtyfabulous Irish Times Nickysragtales

Bills Brighton

 Bills cafe in Brighton has been in operation a number of years now.

I dropped in again on my trip over a couple of weeks ago.

It's a smart operation where you can buy fresh veg and other food products or 

sit down for some wholesome grub made with what's on display.

There is and obvious synergy between the retail and cafe elements and in the case of Bills the result is definitely more than the sum of cafe and shop. Its become an institution.

The furniture is all of the scrubbed wooden kitchen table type. The building is called the depot and that's what it looks like with unpolished concrete floors and exposed ducting. The whole effect is unprocessed which is what the food is about.

In for a Treat

Funky new shops, I love to see them opening up in my neighbourhood. If their selling something that might possibly add to my waistline all the better especially with Autumn coming in and it being a time when we all like a little comfort food. "Treat" our new neighbourhood shop is  a deli and gift shop located on Cabra's Imaal Road that sells fine coffee, cakes and breads. They've also put together a great selection of cheeses, cold cuts, relishes, oils and gifts.


The shop is owned and run by Linley Jones and Sally-Anne Bennet. Sally-Anne is an interior designer and has kept a keen designers eye on all that can be seen in the design of the shop and the choice of gifts on offer.


The smart grey shop front makes a great addition to the parade shops that make up Imaal Mart and the guys have selected some lovely vintage dressers and tables to display their Treats on.
This type of enterprise is something i've posted about before. Quality independent shops are what will keep our shopping streets exciting.

Photos Via Treat