Darkroom in Elle Decoration
We are very pleased to be featured in the February issue of Elle Decoration. Download a pdf of the article here or click here to read the feature...
Elle Decoration – February 2010 issue NIGHT CROSSING New design store Darkroom is a stylish crossover between interiors and fashion. There aren’t many shops where the boundaries between design and fashion are so beautifully blurred as Darkroom. At the new concept store in London’s Bloomsbury, cool interiors labels such as Moooi, Minimalux and Thomas Eyck sit cheek by jowl with cult accessory brands like Fleet Ilya, Stærk (both specialists in leather goods) and Medecine Douce (avant-garde jewellery). There are outsize necklaces that double as wall-hangings, chunky plaited wool scarves that resemble eiderdowns, and rope-like gems reminiscent of curtain tie-backs. Items are grouped to create interesting contrasts, not by genre, so you might find a handbag next to a cushion or a vase teamed with a metal chain bracelet. The shop is the creation of Rhonda Drakeford, co-founder of graphic design practice Multistorey, and textile designer Lulu Roper-Caldbeck. The pair have previously collaborated on cushions and rug brand Themselves, and have also contributed their own colourful graphic prints, stationery and vintage-fabric cushions to Darkroom – as well as ranges of indigenous African art, for which they share a passion. The shop’s USP, though, is its original display concept: striking pedestals designed by Brit design due Frank show off wares, while the dramatically dark decor tuns the ‘white cube’ cliché on its head. ‘Lots of shops – especially interiors ones – present everything in a very minimal way, and we wanted to move away from that,’ says Rhonda. Black walls are cosy and approachable as well as being modern – I’ve got them in my own home, and they’re actually really relaxing.’ Finally, it seems that black is the new black!
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