By Cate St.Hill
Recommended White Papers
Project: Spun Sweet Shop, London
Design: Data Nature Associates
Construction costs: £60,000
Size: 80 sq m
A new colourful sweet shop designed by Data Nature Associates has opened in London.
Photo: Data Nature Associates
For the first Spun store in Covent Garden, Data Nature Associates was tasked with infusing a typical Victorian shop front with a playful, space-age interior. Conceived last year by James Ellender, Spun creates handmade sweets by a skilled team of candy master and makers, all produced in open shops directly in front of the customer.
Photo: Data Nature Associates
The main inspiration for the shop was the handcrafted aspect of sweet making, with fixtures and fittings designed to evoke traditional confectionary shops and processes. These are paired with elements based on the technical components of the brewing industry, for example stainless steel and copper piping.
Photo: Data Nature Associates
A central element of the design is the pick and mix display in the windows of the shop. The relatively small floorplan of around 400 sq ft meant that the shop’s stock had to be carefully stored. Rather than a standard grid of Perspex containers, Data Nature Associates designed a bespoke structure inspired by scientific models of the atomic structure, built from stainless steel cylinders within a framework of copper pipes.
Photo: Data Nature Associates
Storage units are also made from the same materials, using glass shelves suspended within the copper framework. A display of glass jars full of multi-coloured sweets, a ‘library of flavours’, is stored in shallow shelves below the counter top. Above the counter are four Jo Hammerborg pendant lamps, a reissue of a 1963 design finished in copper, which resemble molten drops of chocolate.
Photo: Data Nature Associates
The result is a Willy Wonka style sweet shop, full of playful details and strong accents of colour, which catch the eye from the street and invite visitors to immerse themselves in the process of candy making.
Photo: Data Nature Associates
Main Suppliers:
Floor covering:
Walnut Herringbone blocks from Havwoods
Walls:
Lighting:
Jo Hammerborg Orient pendant lights
Furniture:
Metal tables for the sweet makingby Icon Engineering
All other furniture by contractor
