Paul Smith's Exhibition

 Recently I went to visit one of the new exhibitions in London by Paul Smith. It was based near London Bridge in Design Museum.

Paul Smith has established himself as a leading and uniquely British designer. He is renowned for his creative spirit, which combines tradition and modernity.

 I really liked this cute, pink shop filled with books, post cards, bags and other little sweet stuff promoting Paul Smiths exhibition. I'm such a kid when it comes to pretty, small things. *sigh*

 When you enter the place it is filled with many framed photographs, drawings. At first it all looked a bit random and made me even question why are these even here? When you look closely, they are all very individual pieces that reflect Paul Smith's life; football teams, daughter's drawings, birthday cards, personal inspirations.

 This was Paul's very first Showroom. It was a bedroom in Paris, it included six shirts, two jumpers and two suits which he laid out on the bed. Only one person turned up at the end of the final day and placed an order. That was the beginning of Paul Smith. It was crazy to look into this small room and think that it all started like this. Gives you so many ideas to think about yourself, that hard work does pay off and your passion keeps you going.

The sweetest thing about this exhibition was that in almost 3 separate rooms he spoke about his wife. He constantly praised her work and said he would have never done this without her. However, it was a bit odd how he never actually spoke about where he studied, I only saw his wife's first few designs and where she graduated. He did go in a lot of depth about her! 

This was my favourite room,  'Inside Paul's Head' - had many screens which were located all around this room, full of moving images that reflected Paul Smith's thinking. His voice was playing in this room where he was explaining his thought process in detail, explaining that he always picked up on patterns, textures and always wished to present this in his designs.

Personally, I don't know why they've done this to this wall...but HOW COOL?! that must have taken them ages.. makes you think how a little repetition of something so simple can make such difference.

Paul Smith specialises in an inventive use of traditional craftsmanship and cutting-edge to create beautifully made, desirable, modern pieces.

 'We produce twenty-eight collections a year.' 

'My inspirations for collections come from anywhere - an art book in my office, a market in India, a church in Lithuania, traditional dress from Guatamala.'

One of the rooms had a couple of screens which projected Paul Smith talking about his S/S14 Show. It was very modern and didn't feel like I was in a museum at all. It almost made me feel like I am watching a short movie at my uni in a lecture, or something I would watch at home. The space felt a little squashed, people where overcrowding the place but I saw a couple of people come back to watch it for a second time, because it was inspirational and really shows you that he is just a normal guy - who is also very rich! haha and successful of course.

This is what his desk looks like today. He even stated in one of his interviews that he hardly sits at his own desk because it's so crowded all the time! One of the writings in the exhibition stated that 'We are working constantly to design three clothing collections for women and four clothing collections for men, the print design alone takes up a lot of my attention'.

Today Smith remains fully involved within his company, leading the growing team. Designing the clothes, selecting fabrics, approving the shop locations and overseeing every development within the business. 

Overall I did really enjoy his exhibition, it was like taking a short trip to understand his life, his journey and his success even today. For those that live in London I would highly recommend to go and see it yourself, and those that are away hope I gave you a good insight into this exhibition :)

My next quick visit was at The White Cube. No, seriously it is a huge, white, building which is cube-shaped. Every time I come here, I just love the spacious rooms, it really allows you to see everything clearly and focus on one piece at a time.

Unfortunately I could only take one photo, as we weren't actually allowed to take photos, but oh well I took one by accident hehe. Love the colours and it feels so realistic, it literally took over the whole wall.  I wasn't too impressed with the little exhibitions at White Cube but it's always interesting to come and visit.

Last little trip was when me and the uni girls we're passing by this small shop called 'Black Eye Wear'.

We asked to see some glasses, they all seemed to be unisex, very vintage looking. One of the pairs that I liked was around £145 so they're not cheap, but they are definitely something I will be investing in one day..because.. look at them?! 

Well hope you enjoyed the little journey with me around London, even though it was raining all day that day! (as always, of course) but I did learn some interesting stuff about Paul Smith, gained some inspiration from White Cube and got to see some cool glasses!

Hope you're all having a good Friday!

Love, Skai x