It's starting to feel a bit like Parkinson around here with all these interviews. We love them though, so here's another with the one & only Supermarket Sarah. We've been thinking about creative spaces; the areas of people's homes and work places that they devote to making and customising stuff. Sarah has taken the bold step of turning her living room into a shop. By mounting her ever-evolving collection of vintage fashion and customised objects onto a wall in her home, she's created a clickable homepage for her website http://www.supermarketsarah.com/We had a chat with her about how it all came about.
You’ve left the corporate world behind you and set up your amazing shop. Have you found that a change in your working environment has had a change on you?
Yes I feel 100% me, which is amazing but also quite scary.
Yes I feel 100% me, which is amazing but also quite scary.
Do you ever struggle with the fact that you don’t have separate home and work spaces?
Yes definitely I find it’s very difficult to separate between work and play. My boyfriend has banned me from spreading into the living room. At one point we were falling over Antlers and Clothes in the hallway! Blogging is addictive and very 24 hours so I’m trying to find a balance and not to geek out continuously! I love doing Portobello Market on a Friday as it gets me away from my computer and out into the real world again.
Do you create or customise any of the pieces in your store yourself?
Yes there are several Supermarket Sarah specials!
http://www.supermarketsarah.com/detail.php?item=154
http://www.supermarketsarah.com/detail.php?item=34
http://www.supermarketsarah.com/detail.php?item=78
Yes definitely I find it’s very difficult to separate between work and play. My boyfriend has banned me from spreading into the living room. At one point we were falling over Antlers and Clothes in the hallway! Blogging is addictive and very 24 hours so I’m trying to find a balance and not to geek out continuously! I love doing Portobello Market on a Friday as it gets me away from my computer and out into the real world again.
Do you create or customise any of the pieces in your store yourself?
Yes there are several Supermarket Sarah specials!
http://www.supermarketsarah.com/detail.php?item=154
http://www.supermarketsarah.com/detail.php?item=34
http://www.supermarketsarah.com/detail.php?item=78
Your wall of wonderfulness changes frequently – what inspires each theme?
Sometimes the items I find inspire a wall and sometimes the other way round. Colour just seemed like a fun, aesthetic way to do it. The walls are also now becoming topical. We have a fashion week wall (Guest curated by Fred Butler) and we will be doing an Art wall in combination with Frieze Art fair etc....
Lots of big stores on our high streets are struggling at the moment. Do you think we’ll see resurgence in independent retailing?
Yes I think people are quite sick of homogenous brands that all look the same. I think there has been a recent resurgence in authenticity and a trend away from the ‘BUY BUY BUY’ mentality. I think people want to learn to treasure things again and not just keep buying new things all the time. The way we are marketed to we have this inner urge to buy new things with every new fad but with an economic downturn I think people are trying to understand new ways. Its not about being super organic and expensive necessarily but just unique and with personality.
What are your favourite blogs?
http://www.stylebubble.com/
http://www.fffound.com/
http://www.fredbutlerstyle.blogspot.com/
http://www.dezeen.com/
http://www.designmilk.com/
We love that each item in your shop comes with a personal story – that’s part of the thinking behind the couture contest, we want people to create dolls which reflect themselves and the things they love. What advice would you give to anyone entering the contest?
Just do it! Then think about it.
At college I always found that I thought about things way too much and then never did it. Now I just do, and I think about it later!
Good luck!
Sometimes the items I find inspire a wall and sometimes the other way round. Colour just seemed like a fun, aesthetic way to do it. The walls are also now becoming topical. We have a fashion week wall (Guest curated by Fred Butler) and we will be doing an Art wall in combination with Frieze Art fair etc....
Lots of big stores on our high streets are struggling at the moment. Do you think we’ll see resurgence in independent retailing?
Yes I think people are quite sick of homogenous brands that all look the same. I think there has been a recent resurgence in authenticity and a trend away from the ‘BUY BUY BUY’ mentality. I think people want to learn to treasure things again and not just keep buying new things all the time. The way we are marketed to we have this inner urge to buy new things with every new fad but with an economic downturn I think people are trying to understand new ways. Its not about being super organic and expensive necessarily but just unique and with personality.
What are your favourite blogs?
http://www.stylebubble.com/
http://www.fffound.com/
http://www.fredbutlerstyle.blogspot.com/
http://www.dezeen.com/
http://www.designmilk.com/
We love that each item in your shop comes with a personal story – that’s part of the thinking behind the couture contest, we want people to create dolls which reflect themselves and the things they love. What advice would you give to anyone entering the contest?
Just do it! Then think about it.
At college I always found that I thought about things way too much and then never did it. Now I just do, and I think about it later!
Good luck!
No comments:
Post a Comment