Perfect pop-up: Plinth opens a store-cum-gallery in Bloomsbury
Open for business until 19 March, Plinth is an innovative new retail-cum-gallery space located in Bloomsbury.
Set within the elegant confines of 44 Great Russell Street – a listed 18th century Georgian building opposite the British Museum – the initiative was conceived by co-founders Chloe Grimshaw and Paul Franklin as a means of presenting a carefully curated selection of design, homeware, original work and new editions by a range of artists and makers.
Plinth's offering sees affordable products juxtaposed with design classics and work by celebrated artists, many of which are designed for a domestic setting; Yinka Shonibare's intricately illustrated crockery, Julian Opie's 'Sheep' blanket and a candle – 'redolent of libraries and woodsmoke' – by Perfumer H's Lyn Harris sit alongside silk scarves by the lauded Chinese abstract artist Ding Yi and a striking monochromatic umbrella by art-focussed fashion design Duro Olowu.
Those products represent a neat marrying of form and function, but more abstract, decorative and conceptual limited edition pieces are also in abundance; from Richard Wilson's ceramic 'Still Life Jug', Liliane Lijn's technicolour polyester resin 'Liquid Koan' and a weighty, 14cm high brass tooth by David Shrigley (the work, he states, 'could be used for cracking nuts' with).
If the superlative selection of wares wasn't enough, Grimshaw and Franklin have also painstakingly filled the space with candles, flowers – supplied by F.Bombe – and vintage furniture by the likes of Arne Jacobsen and Alvar Aalto.
The pop-up's gallery – a double height space in the property's courtyard – will host talks by artists and curators such as Wilson, Richard Deacon, Nicholas Grimshaw and Dr Gilda Williams (which will be open to the public and subsequently available to view online), as well as workshops with makers such as Nathalie de Leval and site-specific works by contemporary artists including Susan Collis – who will be in residence on the third floor in a collaboration between Plinth and Birmingham's Ikon gallery – and Jacques Nimki, who will install 'invisible' botanical vinyl designs across the space's ceilings and walls.
'Plinth is not only about providing a new platform for unique artist-designed products and limited editions,' say the founders of the initiave. 'It’s a project centered on a spirit of openness, and creating a means by which a wider audience can access and own contemporary art.'
INFORMATION
For more information, visit Plinth’s website
ADDRESS
Plinth
44 Great Russell Street
London, WC1B 3PA
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox
-
Mighty Kia EV9 is the brand’s biggest electric vehicle. How does it scale up to its rivals?
We take the Kia EV9 – now in showrooms, in a wide range of versions – for a spin to see how the revitalised company handles the design of a big SUV
By Guy Bird Published
-
Kinsman cocktail bar shakes up Hong Kong scene with Cantonese spirits
Kinsman is a Cantonese cocktail bar in Hong Kong that celebrates traditional spirits while also creating innovative concoctions for the future
By Lauren Ho Published
-
Swatch and Tate have watches down to a fine art
Swatch x Tate watches are a joyful tribute to seven artists, including Matisse, Miró, and Louise Bourgeois
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Don’t miss: Thea Djordjadze’s site-specific sculptures in London
Thea Djordjadze’s ‘framing yours making mine’ at Sprüth Magers, London, is an exercise in restraint
By Hannah Silver Published
-
‘Accordion Fields’ at Lisson Gallery unites painters inspired by London
‘Accordian Fields’ at Lisson Gallery is a group show looking at painting linked to London
By Amah-Rose Abrams Published
-
Fetishism, violence and desire: Alexis Hunter in London
‘Alexis Hunter: 10 Seconds’ at London's Richard Saltoun Gallery focuses on the artist’s work from the 1970s, disrupting sexual stereotypes
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Wayne McGregor’s new work merges genetic code, AI and choreography
Company Wayne McGregor has collaborated with Google Arts & Culture Lab on a series of works, ‘Autobiography (v95 and v96)’, at Sadler’s Wells (12 – 13 March 2024)
By Rachael Moloney Published
-
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley confronts gaming, VR and rebirth at Studio Voltaire
Danielle Brathwaite-Shirley has opened her first institutional solo exhibition, ‘THE REBIRTHING ROOM’, at Studio Voltaire, London
By Hannah Silver Published
-
At Sadie Coles HQ, artists bring a playful sensuality to lamps
Sadie Coles HQ’s ‘Shine On’ exhibition in London features sculptural lighting by Sarah Lucas, Urs Fischer, and more (until 27 April 2024)
By Tianna Williams Published
-
Peter Blake’s sculptures spark joy at Waddington Custot in London
‘Peter Blake: Sculpture and Other Matters’, at London's Waddington Custot, spans six decades of the artist's career
By Hannah Silver Published
-
Step into Yoko Ono’s immersive world at Tate Modern
‘Yoko Ono: Music of the Mind’ spans the artist and activist's work from the 1950s to the present day
By Hannah Silver Published