Go to the Design Museum to your weekly store
The London museum is home to a pop-up shop designed by Camille Walala, which sells essential goods such as pasta, toilet rolls and tea bags in packaging by ten emerging artists
With museums in England waiting to reopen in May, the Design Museum in London is gaining a head start by launching the Supermarket, an installation shop selling beautifully designed staple groceries.
Product packaging shows the work of ten emerging artists, from the painterly aesthetics of Charlotte Edey and Holly Warburton to the bold illustrations of Kentaro Okwara. Visitors can pick up groceries like bread, beans, porridge, and pasta, as well as household products like dish soap and possibly the most attractive toilet roll ever, thanks to packaging from Michaela Yearwood-Dan. Bottles of gin and tonic designed by Ruff Mercy (the installation is in collaboration with Bombay Sapphire) are less important.
The products will be available online and in the Design Museum in an installation room that will be brought to life in colorful splendor by Camille Walala, who gives the supermarket her distinctive patterns and pallets. The artist continued to brighten public spaces during the pandemic and was recently hired to work on the cover of an issue of Evening Standard Magazine co-created with Yinka Ilori, Lakwena and Jeremy Deller to mark the gradual reopening of London.
"The past year has been a real challenge for artists who have not been able to show work or collaborate as usual," said Walala. According to Tim Marlow, Director and General Manager of the Design Museum, the supermarket should be "an opportunity to think about what we are buying, who will benefit and what we consider essential". The proceeds will go to the Design Museum's new Pay-it-Forward program, which gives aspiring designers and artists free access to exhibitions, lectures and events.
Camille Walala, who designed the room and a shopping bag
The supermarket is open from April 21st to 25th at the Design Museum in London. designmuseumshop.com