BOX CLEVER

If you’ve been to Shoreditch and don’t know what BOXPARK is then you must have been spending far too much time with your face in your phone.

 

Firstly, it is right by Shoreditch High Street Station, the excellent London Overground line which runs north to south London. Secondly, BOXPARK consists of 60 huge shipping containers painted black and white with chevrons that steer you into the space, without you quite being aware of it. Thirdly, it is directly opposite the iconic Tea buildings. Really, you cannot miss it.

BOXPARK is the brainchild of Roger Wade, the original owner of BoxFresh, which started life on a market stall. After selling the company, he was looking for a fresh challenge and came up with the idea of a pop-up mall. This combines the ethos of market trading, (flexibility of short term leases and affordable rents) with an overarching brand identity – making the whole greater than the sum of the parts.
 

BOXPARK did not destroy any existing buildings as the land it occupies was previously derelict. It opened in 2011 and was the first pop-up shopping mall in the world. An additional benefit is sustainability - if the lease runs out or it all goes pear-shaped, it can simply pack up the containers and take them elsewhere, with minimal impact on the environment.

Right from the start there was a canny strategy going on at BOXPARK. It understood that in a world where everything can be bought online from the comfort of your own sofa, you have to offer something extra. So BOXPARK is as much about entertainment as shopping. Most of the upstairs units are food and drink outlets and there is a diverse and never ending series things to do - from lino cutting workshops, to talks by illustrators, independent film screenings to DJ sets. It’s hard to keep up with everything that is going on.

Being in BOXPARK is a unique experience for everyone, made all the more so by its sense of community. There is an array of global and local brands across fashion, footwear, homeware, cafés and bars – but the uniting essence is innovation, vibrancy and attitude.

We thought it would be good to speak to some of BOXPARK’s current residents and ask them what makes it and Shoreditch so special.

Playn Eyewear was launched 2 years ago, by cousins Lisa and Tess. The frames are handmade and designed with the principle “80% plain and 20% play”.

Tess told 99shoreditch why she is so enthusiastic about the area “I love that there is such an eclectic mix of people who get together to work, drink coffee, eat and live. This breeds a lot of creativity and innovation, which is quite special and unique to the area”. 

The appeal of Boxpark is that “it’s such a well curated mix of independent brands. You can find surprises and beautiful products in almost every store that you would not find elsewhere”.

Elizabeth Hirst owns TUSCH UND EGON who offer unusual, one of a kind art and design products. Bursting with colourful, quirky pieces it fits in perfectly at BOXPARK. She says “Shoreditch is buzzing with creativity! There are lots of original shops, cafés, and galleries that attract a colourful, interesting mix of people”.

Bed Head is one of the more established, commercial brands at BOXPARK. It is a hair salon full of unmistakably bright products. It has embraced the BOXPARK ethos completely and happily coexists alongside its smaller, independent neighbours.

Gen Itoh, Creative director explains why Bed Head and BOXPARK work so well together “I love East London. It’s a non-stop circulation of fashion, art, music and culture. Bed Head Hair Space allows us to raise our game artistically, pushing the work we do using Bed Head products, organising events whilst creating great hairstyles”.

Salma, the stylist, says it is the constant change in Shoreditch that appeals to her “New cafés and shops appear every week. Behind every corner there is always something interesting to see. BOXPARK fits our brand well as it’s simplistic, young and easy to approach. People come here to find something new and up to date”.

Filling Pieces was established in Amsterdam in 2009 by owner and designer Guillaume Philibert. The shoes are designed to fill a gap in the market - between Haute Couture and Street Couture. They are less in your face than some trainer brands and have a more chic, understated look. Sales consultant Emad says “The area is special because of the creative vibe it has. We are a creative brand and so it matches us perfectly.”

Secrets from the Boxpark residents! 99shoreditch asked all these people about a secret / favourite place to go locally and here are some of the answers:

Tess – “For a healthy and super tasty lunch, I can highly recommend Cookdaily upstairs at Boxpark- it’s delicious. And it’s Vegan!”

Salma –“I love the bar near Bethnal Green station called Satan’s Whiskers. Exciting cocktails and great service make your weekend. Private enough for a lovely get together with friends”.

Elizabeth - “One of our favourites, breakfast at Franze and Evans on Redchurch Street”.

Emad - “That would be Shoreditch House”.

So, day or night, if you leap off the train at Shoreditch High Street you will practically land in BOXPARK and with so much going on, you will never be short of something to do - or discover. 

http://www.boxpark.co.uk/99shoreditch-tour-boxpark/

Ustwo - a perfect match for Shoreditch

Ustwo is perhaps the archetypal Shoreditch company. A digital agency that has grown rapidly since launching in 2004 to three studios around the world in New York, Malmö and London. They are now an established force in the tech marketplace. 



With an impressive range of clients including Sony, Barclays and ebay they describe themselves as ‘a global digital product studio launching products, services & companies that make a measurable difference to the world’. 

 

Ustwo have made themselves at home in Shoreditch, occupying an enviable 3 floors in the Tea Buildings and employing over 100 people, with plans to expand further. 

They understand that creating the right culture within the building is key. ‘Our studios are unique environments where we co-create, enjoy life and work hard to help realise our dreams - as well as those of our partners and clients.’ Visually everything is therefore as you might expect - from the life-sized cow, to the table tennis tables, bikes and other quirky paraphernalia hanging on the walls. 



There are sound business reasons for having such a creative environment to work in - Ustwo's desire to be the best. ‘We're dedicated to delivering pixel perfect work for clients, as well as our own products.’ This is perhaps best exemplified in the two BAFTAs that sit proudly in the living room area, which were won for their smash-hit game Monument Valley. 

Ustwo plough a large part of their profits back into their own initiatives ‘so we can continue to innovate, learn, create opportunities and share rewards for all’. These include DICE, which facilitates mobile tickets to leading events with zero booking fees and Billogram, which makes invoicing easier and quicker for small to medium sized business.

They position themselves as thought-leaders via their #ustwothinks programme. This is a forum to initiate debates affecting not just their own industry, but also addressing wider cultural concerns and trends. Last month they hosted a seminar entitled ‘Does Culture Create Value?’. With a panel of experts from Google, Barclays and Blue State Digital they discussed who should own culture, and the question of environment versus culture and authenticity.

 This group of talented and hard-working people, who have turned technology and creativity into an ethically sound business platform, is what Shoreditch is all about. In a way they mirror the transformation in the area itself, from scruffy start to more polished present, without losing their energy or innovative edge. 

ustwo.com

@ustwo

Ventilation Innovation

Spiralite® is a UK success story and a real tale of a small company disrupting a traditional market. The ducting business does not sound very glamorous and for half a century manufacturers have used galvanised steel tubes to move air around offices. Bulky and inefficient, these tubes are the industry standard in a sector lacking in innovation.

Enter Peter Merrien and Peter Dudley, who decided to shake things up. Their new approach involved eschewing metal altogether and instead opting for foam insulation. Foam had been considered before this, but their genius involved working out how to manipulate it and make it round, like existing pipes. 

Patented technology cuts grooves into sheets of foam, then the sheets are efficiently rolled into pipes and voila! - long-lasting, lightweight, non-leaky, thermally efficient, environmentally friendly ducting for the office of today. Off cuts are recycled and transformed into kitchen work surfaces. 

99 Clifton Street prides itself on its forward thinking credentials and was therefore keen to adopt this new approach. The benefits for are that Spiralite®’s light weight means it requires less man-power to fit on site, as there is no heavy lifting, welding or cutting. It also makes air conditioning systems more efficient due to the lack of leakage, clever shapes and low frictional resistance. Double bonus.   

The managing director, Mel Ragnauth is keen for the decision making to move further up the chain. ‘At the moment we sell mostly to mechanical services companies and the building trade, but we are excited that modern developers like UBS on 99 Clifton St, are taking a more active role. That way more innovative ideas with real benefits to the end user can make it onto sites.’

 

Spiralite®’s journey has been a relatively quick one - seven years ago it was at the design stage and it has only been running commercially for four. Octopus Investments, a UK private equity company, saw the potential and invested in the firm last September. Octopus have a considerable track record in helping energy-saving technologies grow into big businesses. In the UK alone the ducting market could be worth up to half a billion pounds, so there is plenty of room for more growth. 

On my visit to their factory it was hard not to be impressed by the product, as it lay around like enormous bits of Meccano. As we were there gigantic, primary coloured sections, destined for the outside of Guy’s Hospital, were being craned onto lorries. There is a real buzz in the factory, generated by the enthusiasm of all the staff, who believe this is the future. 

 

          

So, whilst Spiralite® might never manage to make ducting sound exciting, they can certainly give it the twenty-first century twist that fits exactly with the Clifton Street approach.