Hasta La Ideas

An Australian couple’s innovative approach to homeware retailing

For many, choosing how to outfit their home has become as important as how they choose to dress. With people like Tom Selby showcasing interesting creatives’ homes and work spaces, and thousands of Pinterest boards dedicated to home décor it’s become the expression of personal style through interiors has reached a fever pitch. Helping Melbournians do this is The SuperCool, a pop-up shop and online store created by Kate Vandermeer and David Nunez (Noonie). Enticed by the quirky goods on offer, we caught up with Kate to discuss retailing, retro styling and the reasons why pop-up shops are here to stay.

How did the idea for The SuperCool come about?

We both wanted to work together doing something creative and we love stuff for the home/studio spaces. In my own trend research as part of iSpyStyle I’d noticed that pop-up shops were more than just a fad and did some research regarding vintage peddlers. I found the idea of taking your wares to the people was a really relevant retailing style in the current retail revolution we’re having. So we workshopped that idea and then on our honeymoon met with heaps of artists, designers and vintage collectors.

It all began late last year, as a bit of an experiment to see how it would go. After just the first two locations Melbourne Central and Pope Joan we realized we had tapped into something unique. The response from customers and media was pretty overwhelming and we thought that we should go guns a blazing into 2012 with TheSuperCool!

How does it work in terms of finding and hiring the spaces?

There’s no real strategy; it’s very organic. We look for unusual spaces that have good foot traffic. We like to collaborate with other industries (Pope Joan and St Ali in terms of food, and Great Dane in terms of high-end Scandinavian-style furniture) and we like to move around different neighborhoods.

You have some really different stuff. Where do you source product?

Literally all over the world. We’ve had product from Norway, Sweden, Germany, France, UK, Spain, USA, Hong Kong, Argentina, Brazil and, of course, Australia. We like to have a healthy mix of both local and international design and we support a lot of small independent designers and makers and work with a variety of vintage collectors. We’ve also started making some product ourselves and hope to do more of this down the track.

Are you able to make a full-time living from this? If not what else do you guys do?

So far, I’m the only one full-time in the business, plus I’ve still got a handful of clients from iSpyStyle that I take on project work with and try to fit around TheSuperCool. Like any new business, you put in far more hours than you see profits but we’re starting to see the rewards from this and its definitely given us hope that it will be a full-time gig for both of us soon. Noonie still works full time in the corporate sector alongside working on TheSuperCool at nights and weekends.

In addition to being business partners you’re also married. How has it been working together?

I would say 90% of the time I’m pretty lucky—we have really similar taste and views on business. I’m a bit more cautious and he’s more of a risk-taker. So we balance out each other well. He’s awesome at logistics, systems, operations and is a wickedly good researcher and buyer. I handle the branding, social media, online store and admin side, as well as the visual merchandising. We both do the retail side of things and we both enjoy connecting with the customers and chatting about what they’ll do with our stuff.
That other 10% is tough. When we’re exhausted from working 45 days straight and we have to bump in/out of a shop—it’s physically full on and that can test your patience, but we’ve managed to make it work thus far and we can see a light at the end of the tunnel.

How does The SuperCool differ from other online shops (i.e. for people unable to visit the pop-ups)?

We like to think that we offer an interesting curation of unique objects. We put time and effort into the displays of our products online as well as in store. We offer great affordability for people and that they don’t get ripped off. We’ve also tried to make the online store descriptions an echo of how we are in store when chatting with customers. We offer DIY tips, we try to be witty and not take ourselves too seriously and make it fun! The online store still has a long way to go though and we’ve got some big plans for the future.

What’s next?

We’re pretty excited to announce that we have just taken on a six-month lease for a semi-permanent shop at SO:ME Space at the South Melbourne Markets. We did a pop-up there for six weeks earlier this year and it was so well received, so when one of the shops came up for lease we jumped on it.

Sylvia Llewelyn, author of the book “Old Buttons”

I’ve been home from London for a few weeks, but since I had my camera round my neck from the entire time I was in the UK I have a LOT of photos still to share! I already posted about the amazing time I had with Emily Chalmers, but after we parted, there were still more stalls to explore in the market.

Sylvia Llewelyn is a thespian, collector and author dividing her time between London and other European cities. She has over 300,000 buttons in her collection and recently authored a small but thorough book on the topic of old buttons. I purchased the book plus a few buttons from Sylvia and her booth at Spitalfields’ Thursday afternoon antique market.

Most of the buttons reproduced in the book are at actual size, as Sylvia demonstrates. The book and an extensive array of buttons are available in the Old Button Shop.

Here are some old enamel numbers in a shop on Portobello Road. I was really tempted to purchase one of the small numbers that were about an inch long—it would make a cool pendant! But I couldn’t decide on a number: none of them had any special meaning to me and they were technically of French rather than English vintage. So I took lots of photos and walked away.

Speaking of playing cards, in issue #13, Mitzi Curi provided a selection of ephemera for me to include in the magazine. I met Mitzi last year at The Creative Connection. She writes:

“My name is Mitzi Curi and I’m a Michigan antique dealer, crafter, and blogger whose goal in life is to get a little vintage goodness into every home. I rent space at two antique malls which house four booths, each with a specific theme. The selling doesn’t quit there. I have an Etsy shop where she I sell my creations made from vintage materials and the occasional vintage find.  Favorites are my cuff bracelets made from vintage wallpaper, repurposed furniture hardware jewelry, and vintage hats.  

People seem to be appreciating vintage paper ephemera and typography like never before, and I enjoy sharing my large stash of images with the world. Visit my blog at www.mitzismiscellany.com to learn a little and get inspired by my numerous vintage obsessions!

I settled on this classic card 13, pictured below, to include in the issue.

Though I do have a fondness for flash cards (and these ones add up nicely):

And just because:

Art, antiques, books and more come together in Portland

Even on a street bustling with galleries and boutiques, Ampersand Gallery stands out. Owner Myles Haselhorst opened the intimate space in Portland, OR in 2008 to create, he says, something that “feels less like a retail store and more like the interior of someone’s home, someone who is a collector of art, books and found artifacts.”

Having collected vintage photography for about a decade, Haselhorst presents shows at Ampersand that range from the serenely beautiful, like a series of 19th-century hand-colored Japanese photographs, to the downright macabre. “There are billions of snapshots of cute babies, but it’s less often that you find a whole series of morgue photos that were shot in Hoboken, New Jersey, back in the 1930s,” Haselhorst said, referring to a show that he curated, framed and presented in 2010.

Ampersand also serves as a vintage bookshop and publishing house, whose works focus on photography and design and are arranged in between antique cases, custom-made furniture by Kerf Design in Seattle and rolling carts that were designed and built by Haselhorst and his father. The furniture serves as the perfect foundation for Haselhorst’s extensive collection, from a set of typeface archives to camping brochures from the 1960s.

At a time when most publishers are scrambling to reinvent their materials in all-electronic formats, Ampersand’s treasures offer a reminder that a beautifully printed and published book is an art object that you can hold in your hands. “In today’s economy, you have to stay on your toes,” Haselhorst said, “especially if you are selling books and art, which more and more are getting absorbed into the endless offerings on the Internet.”

Ampersand’s next exhibition, “Gazed Upon”, will open on 29 March 2012. Guest curated by photographer Amy Elkins, the show examines the questions of female beauty and self-identity and will feature work by Cara Phillips, Stacey Tyrell and Jen Davis. Head to the Ampersand online shop to see more of what’s in stock.

Ampersand Gallery

2916 Alberta Street

Portland, Oregon 97211