Pop-up design shows and galleries from around the globe in 2016
Temporary spaces are arriving all around the world. Many studios and galleries experiment by making the move to pack up and travel across seas or outside to accomplish a new design territory via a pop-up. From an inaugural concept store, to a summertime gallery that bathes in the sun, keep checking back to see the pop-up spaces stopping us in our tracks...
Expormim
New York, USA
Spanish design brand Expormim has hopped the pond for an inaugural East Coast takeover at the new DDG-designed XOCO 325 building (pictured above left) in Soho New York. In a fusion between the Valencian company’s Mediterranean warmth and DDG’s cold, cast-aluminium architecture, they form a unique synergy in the temporary space with their equally sustainable, yet aesthetically dissimilar crafts.
Writer: Sujata Burman
Inside, Expormim has created an urban boutique decked out with a selection of greatest hits, including rattan chairs by Oscar Tusquets Blanca, a 1970s-inspired ’Swing Chair’ by Mut Design, and steel Lievore Altherr Molina coffee tables. The organic finishing touch: a floating ceiling of blonde wood hanging lamps, courtesy of Spanish brand LZF in collaboration with Expormim
25 years of Muji Europe
London, UK
When Muji transported their effortless vision outside of Japan, the European market was introduced to a new type of refined simplicity; the brand presented the functional at its most ’empty’ using their unique manufacturing process.
They are now celebrating 25 years of Western takeover this this month with a special London pop-up exhibition made up of 25 archival posters spread across a St Martins courtyard space, alongside 25 of the Japanese brand’s iconic pieces that exude their minimalistic aesthetic.
Writer: Sujata Burman
The posters, all art directed by Kenya Hara, highlight a plethora of memorable moments in past 36 years that the brand has been in existence, from the introduction of Baby MUJI and promotion of easy washing clothes to their campaigns on humanitarian clothing and the simple and effortless horizon of Muji as a brand
While the posters explore styles through times with organic images and vintage illustrations, we are bought back to the heart and sole of the brand with the uncomplicated selection of 25 essential products that includes the classic Muji pen, notepads and toothbrushes
minä perhonen at Artek
Helsinki, Finland
Coinciding with Helsinki design week, Artek’s flagship is playing host to fashion and textile brand minä perhonen for the month.
The pop-up celebrates the Finnish furniture brand’s embrace of the Japanese label’s playfully abstract fabrics.
Writer: Sujata Burman. Photography: Aino Huovio
An inaugural collaboration in 2008 saw an Alvar Aalto ’Stool 60’ adorned in custom made minä perhonen fabric. They have since collaborated on various stools, chairs and cushion coverings in an assortment of prints
From organic leaves, trees and animal prints to more graphic stripes and brickwork, the vibrant forms are found across the space, often hanging off the ceiling and floating on mannequins, all in celebration of this fruitful relationship.
Photography: Aino Huovio
Eh-Frame by Kit and Ace
Cape Cod, USA
Kit and Ace are bringing back Canadian A-Frames with their Cape Cod pop-up. Going for a lightweight version of the traditional architectural style, the fashion brand uses shipping container materials instead of wood. Coated in blue and white, the label stands out at the quaint seashore location with its technical wares and symmetry.
Writer: Sujata Burman
The portable structure utilises perforated and corrugated metal, with the addition of sky lights in the ceiling frames to allow natural sunlight in
Inaugurating in the US, the company hopes to chase the sun and transport its boutique to another summery location in December
of/Berlin at KaDeWe
Berlin, Germany
A handful of upcoming Berlin-based design studios and artisans are getting a time to shine in the department store spotlight. Curated concept store of/Berlin is known for supporting local craft, often giving guided tours of workshops and connecting buyers directly with manufactures. For the summer months it is bringing 50 of those studios to a pop-up at continental Europe’s largest department store, KaDeWe.
Writer: Sujata Burman
Branded by a striking grassy green backdrop, of/Berlin is offering up a plethora of its boutique design, lifestyle and fashion wares, from the likes of Büro Famos, Our/Vodka and WertWerke
Remaining until the beginning of September, the store is located in the ’Apartment’ section of KaDeWe, a space hosting creative inspiration that has previously seen the likes Hay and Vitra on show
Rossana Orlandi Summer Gallery
Sardinia
Each summer, design dame Rossana Orlandi packs up and heads to the seaside. Joining the myriad other suspects who gather in the plush Sardinian resort of Porto Cervo, she takes with her many of the eclectic design pieces that pepper her Milan garden, by the likes of Seletti, Maarten Baas and Fernando Mastrangelo.
Writer: Sujata Burman
Marking her ninth year in the spot, Orlandi drenches the harbour-side space in plenty of fun. This year’s newcomers include Stefano Giovannoni ’Rabbit Chair’ for Queboo, which made its mark bouncing around Salone del Mobile in April
’Arts and Letters’ at Aesop
Boston, USA
The Paris Review is popping up with an exhibition at Aesop’s store in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The temporary exhibition features seven prints by artists including Christo, Andy Warhol and Louise Bourgeois, four of which are up for sale in the store’s art hub, that will operate until September. Pictured left: works by Aram Saroyan (1989) and Louise Bourgeois (1994). Right: a work by Robert Motherwell (1965)
Writer: Sujata Burman
Known for their design and architecturally led spaces, the Australian brand’s raw industrial walls and minimalist aesthetic create a perfect gallery setting. Pictured: works by Andy Warhol (1965) and Sol LeWitt (1983)
The space also includes a temporary library of anthologies, publications and back issues of The Paris Review, which is also available for purchase. Pictured: work by Alex Katz (1991)
Summer exhibition by The Apartment
Båstad, Sweden
Tina Seidenfaden Busck, founder of lauded Copenhagen design gallery The Apartment, is packing up some of her treasures and heading to the beach for the summer. Collaborating with weaving studio Märta Måås-Fjetterström over the sunny season, Busck has been inspired by the weaver’s wall hangings, and injected the space with modern masterpieces by the likes of Ilse Crawford, Michael Anastassiades and Muller Van Severen.
Writer: Sujata Burman
Located in the Swedish coastal resort of Båstad, the lighting and seating subtly enhance the charm of the patterns and colours in Måås-Fjetterström’s space, giving it a simple and contemporary essence
Pantone pop-up cafe
Monaco, France
Back for the second year running, Pantone returns to Monte Carlo with its vibrant pop-up cafe. Located on the summery seafront location of Grimaldi Forum, this year’s edition features a shipping container in strikingly bold Monte Carlo red, serving up a colour coordinated, branded menu that offers healthy juices and salads, to pizzas and pastries.
Writer: Sujata Burman
The shipping container doors open to reveal an internal feature of gradient hued cans, from sunny yellow through to tangerine and Monte Carlo red
Thonet Pop-Up Cafe
Vienna, Austria
Michael Thonet’s 1859 ’Vienna Coffee House Chair 214’ is perhaps the defining image of European cafe culture. Now, Thonet is paying homage to its own legacy with a pop-up coffee shop in the Alte Post building, a complex in Vienna’s 1st district. The space will be showcase a range the brand’s wares: from the ’214’ chair, to contemporary pieces like Jorre van Ast’s ’1060’ bentwood table and James Irvine’s ’S 1123’ bar tables, and Bauhaus-era tubular steel furniture.
Writer: Tom Howells. Courtesy Thonet
The cafe-cum-showroom is stretched over 250 sq m, within which visitors can enjoy speciality coffees and snacks. The space is designed to appeal equally to architects, furniture enthusiasts, Thonet dealers and cafe visitors.
Writer: Tom Howells. Courtesy Thonet
The pop-up was conceived by the quarterly lifestyle publication Standart Mag and Jonas Reindl Coffee. The arts publisher Gestalten has provided a library’s worth of reading material for customers looking to really settle in.
Writer: Tom Howells. Courtesy Thonet
Away concept store by Visibility
New York, USA
Luggage brand Away have chosen industrial design studio Visibility for their first ever concept store. Nodding to the nomadic style that Away channels in their travel wares, Joseph Guerra and Sina Sohrab of Visibility were inspired to create two separate designs of the store, Tokyo and Stockholm. The two culturally different spaces are divided by translucent ovals hanging from the ceiling as an architectural division in the location that remains till August.
Writer: Sujata Burman. Courtesy: Albert Cheung
The Scandinavian side is clearly represented with subtle hues and clinical white-tiled plinths for the merchandise to lean on.
Courtesy: Albert Cheung
Meanwhile over at the Tokyo space, an organic mixture of raw brick and oak come together with the addition of plant life.
Courtesy: Albert Cheung
Gallery FUMI
Sardinia, Italy
For the eighth year running, founders Valerio Capo and Sam Pratt celebrate the Sardinian summer with their pop-up Gallery FUMI space in Porto Cervo. Bringing their sculptural and contemporary craft to the Mediterranean island, they hope to broaden the exposure of the talented hand-selected group.
Writer: Sujata Burman
The eclectic selection includes many of the permanent works with some newcomers including the ergonomic ’Primal Pottery Project’ by Ole Jensen that originally featured during Salone del Mobile this year
A selection of their already available works include Max Lamb’s blood-red ’Urushi’ Stools that add vibrancy to the creamy sunlit beachside space
Pinch & La Gent at The Koppel Project
London, UK
In a full embrace of craftsmanship, Pinch design have collaborated with new online platform La Gent over the summer months, taking residence at recently opened creative space, The Koppel Project on Baker Street. Launching last year, La Gent promotes the crafted works of design, beauty and fashion brands including American Studio, Apparatus, Samuji and Susanne Kaufmann. The space is eloquently set up in a mix of La Gent products alongside Pinch’s latest releases including the newest colourway for the Jesmonite table ’Nim’.
Writer: Sujata Burman
Included in La Gent’s curated selection of tableware goods are The Coffee Registry’s scientific coffee kit, and Azmaya’s Japanese copper tea kettle