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“Don’t be scared, and start slowly” – Chef Perez Cocina’s Esteban Perez brings us behind the scenes at Colombian Street Food

With small markets, pubs, and cafes lined up among Camden High Street, you’ll find the Colombian Street Kitchen at no. 11. This is a new concept by Chef Pérez Cocina owner Esteban Pérez.

Chef Pérez Cocina is a catering business specialising in modern Colombian cuisine, with its focus on introducing the unique flavour and taste to the British market.

The story behind the Colombian Street Kitchen name

Having operated two successful pop ups before, Esteban wanted to focus on an entirely new experience. “My pop ups before were for sit down meals. The idea with this time around was to create food that people can take away.”

“When working on my business plan, I identified the type of people that would come and try my food,” Esteban says. “I knew that my customers were between 24 to 40 and were usually festival goers who like good on the go.” Knowing who his customers were helped Esteban develop a specific type of food that is new and will be known for its quality.

Location. Location. Location.

Location definitely helps the footfall and reception of a pop up. After reading about a shop that popped up in the same location in Camden, Esteban knew that it would be a good fit for the Colombian Street Kitchen. “People would come in and tell me, ‘there’s nothing like this in Camden.’” He recounts a time a customer told him he had gotten down off the bus after seeing the shop’s sign while passing by.

Having a place that is known for heavy footfall, it was a good opportunity to also introduce new products. Since people were not familiar with Colombian cuisine, Esteban promoted his pickles that he designed specifically for this pop up. “People would be curious and ask about it. They were able to try it here and we receive a lot of good feedback.”

Insider tip: find out how to reach new customers with our Ask the experts blog post.

Be proactive

Social media was a key tool in promoting the Colombian Street Kitchen. “I used my Facebook page to let people know about what’s going on,” says Esteban. Instagram and Twitter were also important in getting the word out. Find out how to make the most of Twitter for your pop up from our experts.

Taking advantage of the situation such as location is also vital to running a successful pop up. “I knew people want to try new things, so we did a lot of sampling,” says Esteban. “I’m noisy during the afternoon, so I’d be outside telling people to ‘come inside and try our food’. People I was talking to during the first week were the ones that kept returning.” It’s important to remain consistent in order to have a steady flow of people coming in to visit the shop.

Don’t be scared and start slowly

For those who are thinking of launching their own pop up, Esteban advises to take the chance. “Don’t be scared. When you want to do a pop up, usually it’s because you know what you have is good.”

Another tip he has is to start slowly. When he first started, Esteban only booked for 9 days. “I didn’t want to spend a lot of money because I wasn’t sure. But after 9 days and the feedback I received, I knew that it worked. I ended up extending it to a month.”

If you would like your pop up held at 11 Camden High Street, check out the space or discover more for yourself here.

Millions of new retail shops

by Nicholas Russell

We walked from the main part of the shopping centre, to the Pop Up Village. We passed clean, orderly stores – shoe retailers, a lingerie shop, a café. Throbbing deep house music gradually replaced the ambient jazz. Crossing the threshold into the village, everything changed.

A store with a giant boom box painted and objects made from retired jeans. Another space had a pastoral forest on the wall, an old leather couch, and a phonograph playing. I looked back at the mall behind, and felt I stumbled on something creative. Truly special and unique…”

Boulevard Berlin
In April 2014, We Are Pop Up launched The Pop Up Village at Boulevard Berlin, in Germany. Boulevard Berlin sits in a pre-war building in the upscale Stieglitz neighbourhood. The name comes from a public thoroughfare through the shopping centre that connects Schloßstraße with Harry Bresslau Park.

Corio – the owner of shopping centre – is one of Europe’s most forward-thinking property groups. Gerard Groener saw early on that the European retail leasing market demands new thinking. Consumer incomes remain under pressure, and brick-and-mortar retailers suffer from the explosive growth in online retail.

From London with love
Working with Corio, the We Are Pop Up team developed the concept From London With Love. Eight independent British fashion retailers coming to Berlin, trading for a few months in one of Berlin’s busiest districts. For the retailers, From London With Love represented the opportunity for British entrepreneurs and SMEs to test continental Europe’s hottest retail market.

When we started We Are Pop Up, it was difficult for London-based small businesses to find short-term prime retail property in London. Foreign geographies were unthinkable. Now, there are over 1,000 short-term retail spaces available in London, and our brands are traveling to Berlin.

The world is flatter
Ten years ago, Thomas Friedman wrote The World Is Flat – a sweeping overview of globalisation.

“In a flat world, where value is increasingly created, and complex problems solved, by whom you connect with.”

In the decade since, software platforms emerged, directly connecting people to create new opportunities in specific sectors. Thanks to AirBNB, the self-catering holiday market now rivals multinational hotel chains. Kickstarter has channelled $1B in funding to independent creative producers. In the last year alone, the price of a BitCoin has increased 10% month-on-month. Furthermore, thousands of other platforms – across every sector – chew away at structural inefficiencies and archaic processes.

The rise of lean retail
In January 2012, Dr. Alastair Moore and I sat in the Crown pub on Monmouth Street, discussing what an AirBNB for retail property would look like. The idea gave millions of brands and entrepreneurs the opportunity to experiment with prime retail spaces, from High Streets to shopping centres. At the time, empty shops dotted every London neighbourhood. Old retailers like Jessops fell, and nothing new rose in their place.

Then, Homeslice’s food truck turned into a Neal’s Yard restaurant. Fashion boutique Wandering Minds started with six weeks in BOXPARK Shoreditch, and now has three stores – two in London and one in Berlin.

Independent brands renew the shopping centre
From London With Love launched on a Thursday evening. Moore and I leaned over a railing and toasted champagne. Through We Are Pop Up, eight independent British brands launched shops in an upscale Berlin shopping centre.

Moore looked around, surveying the village. Compared with the other shops in the centre, our retailers had an artisan quality. Murals painted on walls. Vintage furniture. Products not found anywhere else in Berlin.

“Now this is cool,” Moore said.

Cool brands keep each other warm this winter

Frame’s dance, fitness and holistic studios are right smack-bang in the middle of “the greatest two little suburbs in the entire world – Shoreditch and Queen’s Park.” So with such established locations, we were intrigued to find out what compelled Frame to pop up at other venues through their new pop up series ‘Frame on the Move’.

Frame on the Move will see Frame classes popping up at various locations around London and nationwide, ranging from rooftops to nightclubs, to churches and even clothes stores, creating incredible one-off experiences on top of a damn good work out!

Each Frame on the Move experience will be full of suprises, from tea on arrival or post-workout make-overs, live djs to green juices.

We Are Pop Up caught up with Frame’s co-founder Pip Black, to understand what a collaboration with another brand can bring to a pop up project.

We love the Frame Studio, why take Frame on the Move?

Frame on the move aims to create unique experiences to convince the population that ‘exercise’ doesn’t need to sit out on it’s own limb, but is actually just part of your overall lifestyle, and can link in with food, music, cocktails, movies and other pastimes we love.

A secondary aim is to take Frame out to locations that suit people who don’t live near one of our permanent sites. Most of our ‘MOVING’ is set to happen in January, when health and fitness is at the forefront of everyone’s minds, but it doesn’t mean that we should stop going to our favourite restaurants and bars… lets work out in them instead!

Frame on the Move yoga on Boundary Rooftop was beautiful this morning. We Are Pop Up certainly enjoyed it, but what does a collaboration like that bring to your brand?

The collaboration with Boundary Rooftop came about due to us wanting a zen rooftop space with views to showcase our wonderful yoga teachers, and the Boundary wanting to promote their new ‘glass box’ allowing for rooftop events and drinks all year round. I couldn’t think of a better place to do a yoga class, and the Boundary staff have been incredible helpful and positive about the idea… (nothing to do with the amount of stretchy ladies on the roof!) It works so well because the time we want to use the space, the rooftop was currently not being used… so it’s not affecting their normal operations.

As the Boundary is such a unique and classy venue, it brings really positive connotations to the Frame brand, adding a hint of luxury to what we do!

What advice would you give to anyone thinking of popping up in partnership with another brand?

Make sure the brands ‘fit’ – nothing worse than working with a brand that’s trying to talk to a different demograph. Also make sure both sides are working equally on the project. I’ve found myself in a few situations in the past where i step back and realise Frame is providing everything… venue / staff / marketing / database… and the other brand is basically just taking the piss, sitting back and doing nothing!

What brand partnerships have worked well?

We did a big collaboration with Sweaty Betty, with FRAME RAVE in September!

And any forthcoming exciting brand partnerships you can share with us?

We are planning some really exciting things with Nike for January, alongside working with Paradise by way of Kensal Green, Casa Negra and The Hoxton.

To book Frame on the Move, see here

To pop up in Frame’s Shoreditch or Queen’s Park studio, see here.

Japan’s highstreet collides with London – The Collectionaires Pop-Up Shop at Saint Katharine’s Dock

On Friday night we stopped by Collectionaires very first Pop-Up Shop currently taking place in Unit G of Ivory House at St. Katharine’s Dock in E1W 1AT. Collectionaires is the brainchild of Skye Xu and Kevin House and launched in April this year. It sells exclusive, very high quality designer clothing from Japanese designers and brands – quality is paramount and the clothes really are beautiful, unique pieces.

Luckily, we were able to pull Kevin aside for a few moments and ask him about the Collectionaires story. A few months back Skye and her friend were talking about launching a new clothing brand bringing Japanese designer goods into the UK market. Skye has a degree in marketing and e-commerce which she has been putting to good use with a range of clients and previously worked at the Financial Times ‘How to Spend It’ Magazine, but dreamed of launching her own business. Kevin has an Information Technology background – specifically energy utilisation – and has been interested in new business models for a while. When he heard what they were planning he was inspired to join in.

Collectionaires has set up as a business using high street retail as a supplementary part of their retail strategy – with a focus primarily on online sales. They will host 4 or 5 pop-up shops a year, showcasing their products and reaching new audiences. Kevin shared a little about their experiences of sourcing the brands in their collection.

In Japan the brands are well known – they are stocked in the equivalent of Selfridges but aren’t yet on UK high streets. Collectionaires want to support a shift in UK perceptions of Japanese fashion brands. They focus exclusively on bringing Japanese designers into the UK market. They understand the import regulations and requirements – and are building an audience for these beautiful products. I love the idea that a start-up retailer is using a pop-up shop to bridge the gap between high end brands in different markets.

They have started with 6 brands for a 7 week Pop-Up at St Katherine’s Dock and have launched their online website http://www.collectionaires.com/

We highly recommend getting yourself down to the pop-up shop to check out the clothes for real – and picking yourself up some little Christmas pressies online or in-store.

www.collectionaires.com/

facebook.com/collectionaires

Twitter @collectionaires

Find the shop:

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Tinned Bananas at BOXPARK – go nuts!

Tinned Bananas is a new breed of women’s fashion. We make crazy designs and print them onto stretched fabric to give you a different style of clothing!

Our prints are our own, they are who we are and they are what define us. We take inspiration from raw funk to gritty soul and we fill our prints with untapped energy. One thing’s for sure: their explosive personality will blow your mentality!

Taking the next step in our creative journey we have recently opened our flagship store at the world’s first pop-up mall, BOXPARK.

We want there to be a soulful feeling in everything we do and ensure there is a constant flow of good energy in our work! Here at our pop-up store at BOXPARK, funk is king. We want you to open your mind and bring yourself to life and our store at BOXPARK allows us to do just that!

Our retail space is open for 3 months, from the 1^st November to 1^st February!

During our time at BOXPARK we want to engage with our target audience as much as possible. We will be offering a range of in-store discounts and hosting a number of special events! Customers will also have the chance to purchase exclusive products that are available only to BOXPARK customers.

BOXPARK is a great concept and is perfect for companies like ours! It is simple and a great way for start up brands to find their feet, have fun with their customers and create a buzz around their brand! Owner and founder of BOXPARK, Roger Wade, is a key figure in supporting smaller brands. He is currently leading the battle to reduce business rates in the area, which would give companies a better chance to succeed in this tough industry and ultimately, help rejuvenate our high streets!

BOXPARK is more than a shopping experience. Located in one of the most happening places in East London, it is a society made up of creative ideas that continues to push boundaries, offering customers something new week in week out. It is the start of something new.

We are always listening and looking for the opportunity to talk to people so please don’t stay quiet, come and see some our weird and wonderful prints, visit us at BOXPARK, Shoreditch. x

Tinned Bananas at BOXPARK – go nuts!

Find Tinned Bananas at BOXPARK »

www.tinnedbananas.com

A jewellery designer’s pop-up journey – Gimme That Thing

Story #3 – Gimme That Thing – A jewelery designer’s pop-up journey

Amanda Robins doesn’t take no for an answer. She designs jewellery in Manchester, and was trading on Etsy and at local artisan markets. A pop up shop would offer Ms. Robins and fellow artisans to an opportunity to showcase their work, and meet new customers. The process was not easy, and she discovered a variety of friction points along the way.

In the end, her entrepreneurial spirit won out and Handmade Local became one of Manchester’s first pop-up shops. The success of Handmade Local also helped a letting agent secure a long-term tenant for a property which had sat vacant for over a year…

“This March, I ran my own pop up shop, Handmade Local, in Didsbury, Manchester and included the creations of over twenty local artists / designers. I stocked fine art, ceramics, handknitted fashion, retro baby clothes, soaps, lotions and potions, cards, fibre art, craft kits, quirky soft toys and a whole heap more.

“It was open for 5 weeks, a couple weeks longer than I was looking for, but this was the shortest time that the landlord would rent the premises for. A difficult thing for me as the organiser was to find shop contents insurance for that short period. I ended up being covered by a company who specialise in artists’ cover.

Two days before the Handmade Local pop up shop opened:

“This is the shop once it had been dressed:

“The most difficult aspect of this venture was actually finding premises. Pop up shops are practically unheard of in this area and it took me a year to find a landlord or estate agent who was willing to accommodate me. None of them would let premises for less than three years. My shop, which had laid empty for over a year, was viewed via the agent while it was in my hands and consequently it is now being rented out on a long-term lease.

Paris Earrings, Vintage-Style Eiffel Tower Glass Retro Jewelry

“As a jewellery designer I was able to sell my own items and promote the artisan markets that I take part in each month. I now have several repeat customers from the strength of running Handmade Local.”

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Gimme That Thing

http://www.etsy.com/shop/gimmethatthing

chicitarobins@yahoo.co.uk

https://twitter.com/GimmeThatThing

Pop Up Shop Stories: Pop Up Ping Pong

Pop Up Shop Story #1 – Pop Up Ping Pong – Humble beginnings…

Nesma and Amin love ping pong. They started sharing that passion with their local neighbourhood in London. Other enthusiasts responded, and there’s now a series of Pop Up Ping Pong parties – complete with their own soundtrack. They collaborate with London favourites #BRGR for epic burger pong nights…

(This is being written to epic background music: Bloc Party – The Pioneers (M83 Remix))

Once upon a time, Nesma and Amin were super-competitive about Ping Pong.

Bats were thrown, tears were shed, but the love for the game grew stronger. As with any passion you want to share it and so we set about doing just that. Without any resources being obviously available to us we began to beg, borrow, wheel and deal!

And thus, we became Pop Up Ping Pong.

What we didn’t realise was that our humble beginnings were also our greatest strengths. Our local neighbourhood rallied around to lend us their unloved tables, a local landlord of a certain disused venue got in touch, and even our online followers contributed to our Collaborative Playlist on Spotify. We had ourselves a party!

Our passion has since turned into a business and our bricks and mortar competitors don’t let us forget it! They can take our Red Solo Cups, Beer Pong and Unlimited playtime – but they can never take away our freedom!

We are a party with no walls – no rents or wages. We are free to be original and create.

So we only have one thing to say to everyone: “POP UP!”

Pop Up Ping Pong is looking for a pop-up space in London. [ Full details ]

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We Are Pop Up’s pop up shop stories tells stories from the community about popups, supperclubs, exibitions, and events. Share yours…

Hot Pop Up Shops: Global Edition – The Garage in Fairfax, California

Nestled at the foot of Mt. Tamalpais not far north of San Francisco, Fairfax, California, has long been a small but thriving enclave of artists, musicians, and creative makers of all kinds. Pop-ups may be becoming common in large cities, but it is in the smaller communities where they can often have the biggest impact. The Garage opened this past weekend in Fairfax, and looks to be a shining example of how pop ups can enable sustainable, localized shopping in communities of any size.

The Garage has come together with all of the right ingredients for a great pop up: a group of passionate makers who want to focus on their craft; a centrally located space that had been sitting unused; a region which has long embraced creativity, sustainability, and local commerce (Fairfax has even adopted its own currency, the Fairbuck!). The founders of The Garage, Krissy Teegerstrom and Michele Schwartz, had the idea shortly after the annual Sustainable Holiday Crafts Fair in town. They, and many of the other vendors who have joined them, felt that it was a shame that they could only offer their goods in person during the periodic events like the fair, and so in the new year they began the search for a more permanent space.

It didn’t take long to come across the former auto repair shop that has been transformed into The Garage, as it was a vacant space sitting at the corner of one of the main intersections in the center of town. Though the property is currently for sale, the owners had an appreciation for the community aspect of the project, and so agreed to lease the space while looking for a buyer. All of the vendors involved pitched in to help transform the empty property into a vibrant, thriving shop space filled with countless personal touches, and on the morning of April 25, The Garage opened for business.

Inside you’ll find:

Original textiles by CCMG
Screen prints and leather goods by Chromaculture
Illustrations and prints by Daniel Krakauer & Janis Anzalone
Graphic tees & restyled vintage clothing by Featherweight Clothing Co.
Fine fashion jewelry with serious edge by Lili Bee Jewelry
Earth-friendly letterpress paper goods by Parallel Print Shop
Wearable art & fine art photography by Smiling Dog Studio
Re-purposed vintage home goods by Sunny Day Salvage

The Garage is open Wednesday – Friday, 12pm to 6pm, and Saturday & Sunday, 11am to 7pm. Located at 2000 Sir Francis Drake Blvd., Fairfax, CA 94930, it’s a great stop on your way to the beautiful Marin coast and countryside, or as a destination unto itself. Founder Krissy Teegerstrom offers some great suggestions for a day in Fairfax on 7×7.

See more of The Garage on our Pinterest board

Pop Up Shop Story : Atomica Gallery looks forward

In a previous post, we shared the story of Finchittida Finch’sdf pop-up: a shop developed from scratch by a previously online-only business. This week we’re happy to introduce Atomica Gallery (@atomicagallery), one of the few truly pop-up art galleries which ran from December 4th – 24th this past holiday season. They’ve recently secured a long-term space in Hackney and we were eager to know what the journey has been like to go from pop-up to full shop.

We met up with Atomica Gallery founders Orla and Holly over coffee and brownies to hear more about what it is like to be a start-up gallery, and how the pop-up model has helped facilitate their goals and opened new doors. Holly is an experienced gallerist, working in both Sydney and Los Angeles with a number of the artists they currently show. And Orla’s background in promotion and events ensures that their openings generate a healthy buzz. Their penchant for the strange, retro, punk and pop combined in curious and lovely ways at their December pop-up. The relentless attention to detail both within the works themselves as well as their weird and simple curation proved that big explosions can be contained in small packages.

Orla and Holly came to their selected artists in an unconventional way, “Some of the artists we show have been close to us for a very long time. But we also love showcasing previously un-seen artists or those that may never have been shown in London before.” It was clear that a real challenge of curating a show with so many great artists to choose from – especially in a concise space – is the selection. For their pop-up, Holly and Orla printed out copies of all of their favorite artists’ work (hundreds!) and went through the process of whittling down to just a select few. But they are constantly on the hunt for yet-to-be-discovered artists in the UK and beyond, “We have a huge list of artists that we want to work with. We stumble across a lot of amazing artists through blogs and circumstance. So it’s not like we only want to work with established names, and we are always open to chance.”

The Inside of Atomica Gallery’s Pop-up in Shoreditch

An Advisor at Hackney Business Enterprise encouraged Atomica to do pop-ups as a way to ‘test-trade.’ By launching a new project this way, fresh businesses are able to develop a strong sense of themselves and learn through experience without the risks and investment required for longer-term rentals. But sourcing a great space, for the short or long-term, is always a challenge.

Holly explained the difficulties they had locating and accessing the right spot for their pop-up, “When we were looking for our December pop-up space, it was really stressful. We thought of many potential places around East London initially, but as it was our first big showcase we wanted an area with high traffic, and that was already warm to the idea of a pop-up. Getting exposure and building a following was one of the most important things we hoped to achieve with our pop-up. Shoreditch seemed like an ideal part of town to get the kinds of visibility and interest we needed.” And so they set about with an unconventional campaign: dropping 1-page offers reading “We Would Like To Rent Your Shop,” into the mail slots of every suitable shop.

Atomica’s Elegant Solution To Driving Footfall

Orla explained, “We got quite a few calls back, but a lot of people didn’t even know what a pop-up was, or else they expected that we would want the space over many months, and expected us to provide full fit-outs. A few weeks with minimal developments to the space was a hard sell. But we found a great place eventually.” While their pop-up was a success in terms of sales and exposure, their extensive list of artists and a growing catalogue of work meant that a longer-term space was in order.

Their new shop is part of a series of newly converted shop-spaces managed by Hackney Downs Studios. These new locations are playing host to a series of new businesses, from bikes to a bakery and all within 5 minutes from Kingsland Road – one of the busiest streets in the area. Their full-time shop will launch soon (stay tuned on the Atomica Gallery website), but future pop-ups are still a part of Orla and Holly’s future plans, “Because we’re off the beaten track in Hackney, it will give us a great opportunity to connect with a local audience. But we also want to make sure Atomica Gallery can travel to other parts of London and beyond. Some in West and South London, and we’re also thinking about Brighton. We haven’t confirmed anything yet, but doing a kind of tour would be great – a few days or weekends in new locations. We really want to make sure we have a chance to showcase our artists in places that wouldn’t see their work otherwise.”

Atomica Gallery’s Founders: Orla and Holly

We asked where Atomica Gallery saw itself a few years down the line. Holly shared, “we have done this all on our own. We’re slightly in debt but it’s working. Our new shop is quite a small one. Our dream is to have two, so that we could have simultaneous projects on. The initial plan was to have ‘art for sale’ in one location seven days a week, and then a second with rotating exhibitions. We’re learning as we go. Every week is a learning experience. Anything can happen, really.”

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We’re eager for their new shop to launch, and we’ll see you at the opening!

Follow Atomica Gallery on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

And sign up to their Newsletter for updates on their next event!

Pop up shop interview: A Monozygotic Temple

We first met Tida and Lisa Finch via their entry for the BOXPARK Shoreditch “Free Pop-up Competition”. Their great photographs and unique jewelry were eye-catching at first sight. Now, about a month into their free winter pop-up, we paid Tida a visit at Finchittida Finch HQ. We are very pleased to (re)announce our pop-up shop interview:

Finchittida Finch at BOXPARK Shoreditch

For all of us over here at We Are Pop Up HQ, it was very exciting to have a chance to spend some time with one of the very first businesses that we put into a shop. In support of the forward-thinking team at BOXPARK (@BOXPARK) we were able to give an excellent opportunity to a great brand. For Finchittida Finch (@FINCHITTIDA) Unit 7 at BOXPARK Shoreditch is the first physical space to host their line of jewelry and home wares. Tida happily shared her enthusiasm about their pop-up, so we started by discussing some of the best aspects of setting up a brand as a destination and what it’s like to be at BOXPARK.

Finchittida Finch seems to be right at home. Tida told us, “We love it, we feel like it’s our HQ. Being in Shoreditch is great and the East London line has just opened, so travel is easy.” And some of their online customers have come to visit as well, “when we had our launch party, a few customers came especially to meet us and check out our products in real life. It was really great to meet them. This shop has given us the opportunity to extend our brand and products to people who just walk by. And sharing BOXPARK’s newsletter announcements with our social media networks has been really valuable. BOXPARK has been supportive and quite a lot of people have come in from their announcements alone.”

Their winter pop-up, titled The Monozygotic Temple, has offered Finchittida Finch a new way of getting to know customers – by watching them relate and respond to their products in front of their eyes. By running the shop themselves, they have had the opportunity to answer questions, monitor their demographic and request customer feedback quickly.

Even though they had cause to worry with the forecast of a post-Christmas slump, sales have been going well. Tida explained, “because our products are really affordable and unique it hasn’t been a problem. We have learned a lot from watching people in the shop; most are shocked at the massive [necklaces], and say ’I love them but I couldn’t wear them.’ ” Nevertheless, the large works are intricate and beautiful, ideal for costume designers and those looking for a striking addition to their collection.

We asked whether the feedback had changed the production line at all, “It’s really important to keep the balance. The larger-scale products grab attention, but the smaller ones are affordable and fit with a variety of styles. We’ve learned a lot about how to balance our line and have realized that we need to offer a real range with every collection. This has been the kind of learning we couldn’t have achieved without being in a shop near our customers.”

Tida and Lisa are a two person team, coordinating everything from the laser-cutting of their jewelry to promotion, as well as managing their social media accounts, running the shop, doing admin and providing customer service to both their online and offline customers. And they just recently graduated from university.

Keeping both an online and offline presence in harmony and thriving is something that even the most established and stable brands have trouble with. Tida’s solution for Finchittida Finch is to find great stockists in the UK and internationally that can help get their designs more widely distributed, while also using pop-ups to connect to new parts of London.

“It’s been hard work, but absolutely worth it and introduced us to pop-ups. Before I never would have wanted to take a shop. But because of this opportunity, we’ve really got a taste for it.”

For us at We Are Pop Up, visualizing Finchittida Finch at BOXPARK didn’t take much effort. Their name alone was intriguing, their story unique, their products innovative and it is obvious that they care deeply about what they make – from design to development. We always feel fortunate for the opportunity to connect with the people behind an innovative brand that also manage to triumph an entrepreneurial spirit. Lisa and Tida are an inspiring duo – sticking to their roots and making their vision real.

You can find Finchittida Finch on their website, their blog, and the ASOS marketplace. And connect to them on Facebook and Twitter @FINCHITTIDA.

You can also read their December feature as one of BOXPARK’s X-mas staff pick features.