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<\/p>\nA stone\u2019s throw from Broadway Market\u2019s small plates restaurants, aesthetic bakeries and Instagrammable florists sits an industrial canal-side yard that was once the beating heart of the east London art scene.<\/p>\n
In the early Noughties, Vyner Street in Bethnal Green was a thriving mecca for independent gallerists and up-and-coming artists, many of whom were lured to the area by the promise of cheap rent and big warehouse spaces in which to throw the latest hot-ticket private view.<\/p>\n
But rapid gentrification of the area, amplified by the 2012 Olympic Games, forced many of its creative residents to relocate, and the street quickly lost its regular crowd of collectors, hipsters and art students all congregating on the pavement.<\/p>\n
Now, a new retail concept is aiming to restore the buzz back to the area by hosting free private views, supper clubs, cocktail evenings and book launches, creating a new third space for the east London design industry.<\/p>\n
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The Mix is located in a former warehouse<\/p>\n
The Mix is a warehouse turned interior obsessive\u2019s dream helmed by the tile brand Bert and May, who have co-curated a distinctly \u201cIRL\u201d shopping experience with ten of Britain\u2019s coolest independent brands. Its founder, Lee Thornley \u2014 the man largely responsible for making earthenware tiles trendy again \u2014 hopes the venture will become a meeting place for art buffs: \u201cHackney is a bit of a design centre of London, and this factory is our former home. I used to live on the canal here on a boat in 2013, so it feels very odd to me, walking down the street. It\u2019s a bit more gentrified than it was back then.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2022 The best British factory tours and workshops you can visit in 2025<\/a><\/p>\n The destination warehouse brings together British brands that share a love for handcraft and sustainability. These include the Brixton-based kitchen hardware company Pluck, Sophie Cooney \u2014 who deals in maximalist weaved stair runners \u2014 and traditional toilet purveyors Thomas Crapper, who have been supplying vintage toilet cisterns to the royal family since 1886. Each nook is colourfully sectioned away by paints chosen by Farrow & Ball<\/a>\u2019s longstanding colour guru, Joa Studholme; the woman responsible for conceiving some of the brand\u2019s greatest hits like Elephant\u2019s Breath and Wimborne White.<\/p>\n Joa Studholme, Farrow & Ball\u2019s colour guru, helped to decorate the interior<\/p>\n Much like a souped-up Ikea showroom, there are interiors show-sets to wander around, helping people who struggle to visualise inspiration online. \u201cIf I\u2019m doing anything at home, the first thing I do is make a mood board. This is almost like the physical version,\u201d Thornley explains. \u201cIn the centre of the showroom we\u2019re going to have an area called the Play Station, the idea being that you can grab a free tea or coffee, take a tray and build your own board with different paint colours, fabric swatches and hardware.\u201d<\/p>\n The British designer and hotelier dreamt up the idea for the space after stalling demand for Bert and May\u2019s hand-poured tiles encouraged him to think outside the box. \u201cAs a brand, we\u2019re not booming in the UK at the moment; we\u2019re actually flat on last year, so we wanted to bring together other makers who stand for the same values as us. It\u2019s very normal to have a fashion department store with lots of different brands under one roof, why not design? We don\u2019t sell kitchens, but our tiles will now sell better because they\u2019re in Puck\u2019s showroom.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"Interior](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/\/72cfdf1a-9cbb-497b-b31c-5e4aebab4850.jpg\")
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