Remaining true to its low-cost retail offer, the shop interior designed by Asif Khan revolves around the concept of economy – of means, materials and fit-out. The materials chosen for it were also incredibly cheap, but not random: dust sheets, nylon rope and white paint. He explains: "Taking an image of Christo's Four Store Fronts Corner in 1964 as a point of departure, we used a combination of cotton dust-sheets, nylon rope and white-out paint as a palette, materials which are common scenery on this street of rapidly-changing businesses".
Stacked and wrapped in dust sheets in classic Christo style, furniture (from the homes of Sarah Melin and Household founders George Wu and Sarah Gottlieb) provides an eclectic exhibition support for the products on sale, giving the whole the messy and slightly naïf air of a flea market (but a design one, of course).
People hunting for bargains are invited to delve among the objects on sale. What can you – or, rather, is worth – buying on such a small budget? The list – of poundshoppers (the designers who joined the enterprise) and of objects on sale – is long and unpredictable, ranging from BabaAkcja's ironic button series (with forms varying from a cat's face or a dissolving circle) to a trompe l'oeil and pop-up bookstand by Isabel Greenberg, silk postcards illustrated by Lisa Jones, a magnetic calendar by Sara Ferrari and bookmarks by Miguel Melgarejo. By offering such cheap but quality objects (in which the design component – involving ideas, creativity and invention – is an inescapable added value), the designers and organisers have successfully highlighted what makes a good industrial design: affordability and mass production. Elena Sommariva