APOC Store reimagines London boutique as rotating gallery for independent designers
Design retailer APOC Store has reconfigured its London boutique so it doubles as an informal gallery where emerging creatives can showcase their work amid "incredibly challenging" industry conditions.
APOC Store is a "curated marketplace" that stocks fashion and furniture by young, independent designers, from Harikrishnan's blow-up latex trousers to Ying Chang's cardboard stools.
Founders Ying Suen and Jules Volleberg opened their first permanent shop in London Fields, Hackney, last year, which has now been pared back to provide a minimalist white backdrop for a changing roster of collectible designs.
"Every six months, we will collaborate with a new artist to completely redesign the store and produce custom works that will also be for sale," Volleberg told Dezeen.
"Making a living as an independent designer is still incredibly challenging," he added. "With our store, we wanted to give designers a space where they can stay true to their vision and have full control over their work."
"Some produce one-off pieces each month, so even we never know exactly what will appear."
The debut designer showing at the shop is Barnaby Lewis, a southeast London furniture maker who works predominantly with steel.
Among Lewis's bespoke pieces are a gothic-style desk anchored by spindly legs and a wiry black chair with a fishbone-shaped back.
One of his intricate room dividers, characterised by illustrative cutouts of a sun, moon and stars, also features in the space, finished in the same dark-hued metal as the rest of the furniture.
Suen and Volleberg explained that while the store's exhibition will change twice a year, its understated, gallery-style backdrop will remain in place to allow each of the rotating designers' pieces to speak for themselves.
"If I'm being completely honest, going into the store every day, I got bored of the space staying the same," Suen reflected.
"I'm the same with my home – I move and change things every few months. It didn't take long for the original interior to stop provoking new feelings for me. That boredom pushed us to rethink the store not as a finished design, but as an ongoing framework that could evolve whenever we wanted."
"The gallery series was conceived as a way to treat the store as a living, evolving space rather than a fixed backdrop," she added.
"Each iteration introduces a different world. We think this creates a more engaging interior because visitors aren't just encountering products, but a specific moment in time. It encourages repeat visits and allows the space to remain curious and relevant rather than static."
In recent years, emerging designers have been up against rising costs and red tape when attempting to exhibit across London. But young creatives are finding new and innovative ways to get their work seen.
At last September's London Design Festival (LDF), for example, non-profit collective Design Everything presented a touring exhibition from the back of a van.
The photography is courtesy of APOC.
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