We first hopped across the pond in late 2014, launching our European standalone store in the Newburgh Quarter, Soho. The neighborhood is a picturesque tangle of cobbled streets, dotted with boutique retailers, sat just off London’s iconic Carnaby Street.
Having shared our tale of home-grown manufacturing for nearly two and half years, it’s only now that we have embraced the opportunity to celebrate our brand’s passion of craft on a greater, local platform.
Shinola is incredibly proud to be a sponsor of Clerkenwell Design Week 2017.
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As the UK’s leading independent design festival, hosted every May since 2009, Clerkenwell Design Week is frequented by an abundance of international designers, architects and press, all in search of inspiration and innovation from a curated line-up of established and emerging design brands and talents. Three days of intimate showcases, wowing installations, industry talks and celebratory events promise to attract close to 35,000 members of the design community.
Commonly identified as one of the leading creative hubs worldwide, the Clerkenwell district is populated with more design businesses and architect practices per square mile, than anywhere else on the planet. It has always been home to the creatives of London. After the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, Clerkenwell saw craft workshops pop-up by the dozen, inhabited by distillers, jewellers, printers and, most famously, watch and clockmakers.
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To pay homage to our much loved London, we partnered with Giles Miller Studio – an established design practice who call the city their home, and who describe themselves as “composers of materials.” Specialising in textural design, most commonly applied within interior architectural projects, Giles Miller and his team set out to tell visually engaging narratives, through carefully considered compositions of shapes and materials. Comparably to Shinola’s, their design process is attentive to detail, cuts no corners and assures quality finishes and consumer satisfaction.
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Together, Shinola and Giles Miller Studio have developed ‘The Bolt – A Celebration of Craft’.
Inspired by the Shinola lightening bolt motif – symbolic of manufacturing precision found on almost every product – The Bolt’s facade has been hand-assembled using 8,000 separate birch plywood pixels, each cut by machine, hand-sanded and hand-finished in gloss black paint. Assembled to a cage of ‘ribs’ and arranged in a louvre-system, to allow a glimpse through to the handcrafted products within, the undulating curves of its façade are inspired by the supple leather hides used in Shinola’s leather goods.
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Within the space, visitors will earn access to an edit of Shinola finest products, from watches to turntables, plus will be able to make purchases on the spot! Journals can be monogrammed, plus small leather goods can be personalised by an on-site leather painter. Furthermore, 20% of every journal sold will be donated to Craft Council – a Clerkenwell-based charity, working to maintain and promote fine craft and design skills within London’s historic design community.
The Bolt will be open from 10am – 9pm from Tuesday, May 23-25, on St. John’s Square, Clerkenwell, EC1V.
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