There's no place like home...

We're excited to share the news that one of our designers Jo Ash, founder of Rubyshoes Rocks has now set-up her own on-line shop!

We have had a few pieces from her incredibly popular bunting collections at Look Like Love for a few months now, and with the hopefully imminent arrival of Summer, barbecues in the garden, and festival season on the horizon, Jo has timed it just right to launch her own on-line shop.

All made by hand, and with a unique twist to each design, there is no room here for twee that's for sure, as Jo is single-handedly on a mission to change the perception of bunting for the better. Long gone are the traditional triangular varieties, and with frills banned, Rubyshoes Rocks!

Check out her new 2012 collection on-line now, with a patriotic edge for all your Jubilee and Olympic celebrations, you'll be all set...

All warm and fuzzy...

As part of our second, and final week at the pop-up, we wanted to introduce a few live demonstrations with a couple of our designers. After a successful afternoon with CM Carter with her doodle pad out on Saturday, we welcomed Sandy Powell in yesterday to work on a bit of a mini photo-shoot, as well as bringing her sewing machine for an in-store demo of her corsage making skills...

Taking advantage of the white space, we were able to create a room set of her existing collection as well as photograph her new S/S 2012 collection, which will be on show in store on Friday and Saturday, as well as available on-line...

The pop-up was then turned into Sandy's workshop and amidst ruffles of taffeta and felt, we soon had a collection of floral nuggets in bright and muted tones, which made there way into our window, pretty much immediately! With the white space dotted with colour, a new layer of texture has been added to the exhibition giving a warm and cosy feel.

Next up, Kayleigh will be with us on Friday bringing her pens, paper and quote inspirations, shifting the space from textile workshop, to illustrator's studio in the blink of an eye...

Comic timing...

It's great to be following yesterday's post with another one of our designers having their work being picked up...

CM Carter, our cartoonist and illustrator in residence, already selected for our Pop-Up People exhibition, has had her work picked up by the U.S-based quarterly comic anthology Seqapunch.

The premise behind the comic is to include a selection of the best new comic strips from independent artists and illustrators regardless of theme, content or style. They say the only major rule is that it has to be good, "...great storytelling will always have a place at Seqapunch..."

Carter was selected as one of the twenty featured artists with her quirky comic entitled 'Edgar Orange and The Four Prawns' a story about a lonely man called Edgar who has a very special gift!

The comic strip is the first in a series Carter is working on, so expect to see more from Edgar and his great adventures very soon...

Sugar and Spice...

One of the things we love about what we do is pushing the promotion of our designers as much as possible. Exposure through our blog, shop or exhibition is always great, and then a few weeks ago we were contacted by the award-winning design company Brinkworth. 



Having known the guys at Brinkworth for a number of years, they were looking for an illustrator who's work they could use to grace the walls in a new Indian restaurant project they were finalising the design for.








We instantly thought of Ben Phe as the perfect addition to a modern Indian establishment, as his intricate illustrations on both paper and glass, have a certain ethnic quality to them. Brinkworth were looking for a quick turnaround, so we put them in touch with Ben, so he could arrange a selection of his prints to be used.



The restaurant in question was Cinnamon Soho, the newest addition to the Cinnamon brand owned by Vivek Singh, with previous restaurants Cinnamon Club and Cinnamon Kitchen already established eateries.











The moody interior with a few flashes of colour provide the perfect back-drop to Ben's work, the first of many walls we hope his detailed pieces will be on show for all to see...

In store...

After a good first week open to the public, (although slightly hampered by the incredible rainfall), next week we have a few things in-store...

On Saturday, illustrator CM Carter was with us drawing live and she was offering some her cartoonist tips and tricks, so we hope that next week's in-store activities will have the same draw...

Monday, Tuesday 23/24th; With graduating designers coming to that stressful part of finalising work for degree shows, we will be on-hand with a portfolio surgery, offering advice on how best to present work to stand out from the crowd for the shows, and for those all important first interviews...

Wednesday 25th; Textile designer Sandy Powell will be in-store with her sewing machine for a live demonstration on how she creates her beautiful pieces...

Friday 27th; Not only will we have a late opening next Friday (open from 10-8) illustrator Kayleigh Hadley will be sketching here too, send us some of your favourite song and movie quotes, it might get turned into a one-off hand-drawn illustration!

Saturday 28th; The last day of the exhibition, and our official first birthday, so expect a few extra bits and bobs from our six designers making there way in from the on-line shop for one day only...

Unlucky for some...

On a leafy street in SE15, set half-way between the grittiness of Peckham, and the affluence of East Dulwich, we set about opening our very first pop-up exhibition on Friday 13th...

We were slightly dubious about the already over-used term of 'pop-up', but in our case it pretty much summed up the two week showcase we had planned, and although one of the biggest storms hit the streets of South London literally an hour before we opened the doors, we couldn't have asked for a better turn-out.

We were joined by five of the six designers, who were on-hand to talk about their work, and celebrate the launch following a good few months of preparation and meetings.

Of course none of this would have been possible without the support of TheHouseWith, offering us the use of their perfectly proportioned space. A former photographer's studio, it has been the blank canvas we have been looking for to show off the curated collection of new designers.

New illustrations by Kayleigh Hadley and CM Carter sit opposite each other towards the rear of the shop, and create a rebellious angst-ridden teenagers bedroom style to the space. 

Silver jagged offerings from Roisin Connolly and Michael Carroll segment the exhibition, and act as a natural pause point before the bold and bright work from Ben Phe and Sandy Powell which add a punchy blast of colour towards the front. 

There was also time for Ben to add our very own over-the-door sign in his signature style, with CM Carter adding her illustrations not only to the window, but to our open/closed sign as well. This was a true collaboration from all involved, making it all the more special for us.

For this first exhibition, we wanted to offer a range of works and specialisms to highlight the cross-section of talent that exists across the country, and from the response from Friday night's launch, everyone was as excited as we were to bring these six new designers to the fore...

Kayleigh Hadley

CM Carter

Michael Carroll

Roisin Connolly

Ben Phe

Sandy Powell

TheHouseWith and Look Like Love present Pop-up People - 14th-28th April - 174, Bellenden Road, London SE15 4BW

And the winner is...

A couple of weeks ago we launched a competition to win our first limited edition canvas bag, plus a £10 voucher to spend on-line at Look Like Love...we asked who we had chosen to grace the bag itself from the six designers taking part in the Pop-up, and the answer is CM Carter.

We looked at several illustrations for the final bag design, but felt the piece from CM Carter not only best represented us, and our collaboration with The HouseWith, it looked pretty cool too!

Everyone with the correct answer was put into a hat and the winner picked at random, and we are pleased to announce that Amelia Irta is the winner! Well done Amelia, we will be sending the bag, and £10 voucher this week, as well as a set of the designer postcards produced for the Pop-up itself.

But don't be disappointed, we have the bags for sale on-line right now for the bargain price of £5!
Head over to the shop to pick up your own limited edition bag, or if you are in South London over the next couple of weeks, we have them available to buy directly from the Pop-Up...