Tyler Mallison

In every hip city around the world, ‘pop-up’ shops and galleries have become a nearly ‘permanent’ feature (ironically) in the creative urban landscape. In equal measures, craft studios and limited edition print shops have become the counterbalance to the industrially manufactured mass goods we have come to love and voraciously consume.

The latest entry, spotted last week in London was the Jealous Gallery pop-up print studio at Heal’s— an institution in domestic design. The shop typically oozes good design and has proven itself as a reliable destination for quality furniture of good taste. However, in contrast to its younger sister next door, Habitat, it has at times looked a bit too bourgeois, irrelevant and tired for the young creative professional consumer. This is especially true as a result of the ongoing economic turbulence and consequent reassessment of what defines ‘good value’, which has driven dramatic shifts in trading up and down across categories.

The ‘Jealous Gallery’ interactive pop-up print space has certainly brought a fresh energy to the shop, with the creative activity and buzz of the printers bringing a new life to the shopfront, inviting shoppers in from the cold. The young, contemporary vibe was a pleasing contrast to the somewhat static and posh air typically present in the shop. But what will be the impact after it leaves? The question is how Heal’s will retain this creative energy that it gained from the short-term partnership?