This piece originally appeared on the We Are Pop Up blog on 8 October 2015.
For London Design Festival, Islington design destination ARIA hosted Walala In Da House, a takeover by Memphis-inspired illustrator and muralist Camille Walala. In a clash of colour and creative talent, Camille and others joined forces to fill the front window with a an eye-popping installation including prints, shelving, seating and ceramics.
Alongside items by the self-proclaimed purveyor of powerfully positive digital print, viewers could immerse themselves in the work of progressive design studio CoBALTUM, East London local artist Dale Kirk, set designer Julia Jomaa, artist Rosy Nicholas and Memphis-Milano furniture mavericks Hopper + Space.
We Are Pop Up spoke to Carl Blücher, Creative Director at ARIA and good friend of Camille, about the colourful collaboration and its unprecedented success at LDF 2015.
We’ve seen Camille’s work popping up all around the city, from Old Street’s “Dream Come True” building to We Built This City on Carnaby Street. It’s great to see her designs now being championed by ARIA – why was this the right time to bring a collaboration to the table?
It’s all about the timing, it just felt right. Camille was ready for a project and her colours and shapes were perfect for ARIA – we’ve always been about colours. I always wanted to work with Camille and 6 months ago when I had to start thinking about London Design Festival, I approached her and she kindly agreed.
The response was more than I could ever wish for, and when Elle Decoration featured us as the No.1 thing to do during LDF the pressure was really on!
The mixture of talent involved with Walala In Da House works so well in ARIA. What are the best things about creative collaborations with artists and designers in-store?
I like to pick emerging artists to help them to build their profile, and have a good contact list of journalists and influential creatives who always like and support our ideas which is encouraging. We have always seen the need to collaborate with the next generation of creatives - as a store we want to remain at the forefront of contemporary design; we want to excite our customers and collaborations like this allow us to do so.
Our customers have started to expect this from us. That’s why we are always keen to spot the newest kids on the block. We’re also always willing to experiment and take risks by creating collections and collaborating with emerging artists, then waiting to see how they’re received.
The installation may be over, but you can still bring a little Memphis style into your life with the Walala In Da House range for ARIA here.
Photos by me.
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