Pound Shop Lecture

Value beyond all belief

The pound shop lecture was a lecture that I felt was in a sense closer to home, as with the other lectures most were established artists and had a wide arrange of collaborations, connections and spoke mainly of their work as professionals, however with the pound shop the lecture focused on the steps after university and making it into the industry and more dominantly how to make money and be financial as a creative person. The lecture started of on how to get money for starting a shop and what is the best option for different circumstances for example by using a already disused on the high street and creating a pop up shop would mean there would be low over heads and there would be no fixed contract so you can leave after the month period. In addition to this when the lecturer spoke of how by using a disused shop made the public want to go back there and therefore made the place more desirable so after they had left many of the properties business wanted to buy the properties is a way of possibly bringing life to a area and repleanising abandoned shops which is something that could be done across the country to help not only creative people but also a rough area. I found this part of the lecture interesting even before they had started talking about the creative pratices, due to it made it more apparent how the credit crunch had hit students leaving unuversity, in addition to this for past projects I had looked into shop design and financial aspects for owning a shop from the differences in pop up shops to perminant shops only in a theoretical few point, so by having someone that actually went through that gave a realism to the situation.  In the lecture I particularly liked how when going through each of the shop layouts each of the designs had a particular feel and where in themselves a piece of artwork rather than just simple shelving and also how the theme of the hand crafted items related to the homemade asethitic of the place, this was also examplified by the idea of using stuff that was cheap and found to create the set designs with. Which gives the customer a experience and therefore makes a person more likely to by the product.  I loved the way in which each design changed, and also how through making different contacts in the industry, that work in different pratices they could ask people to design they shop for them and give them the reign to create a one off piece of art from the likes of Asiv Khan. Another thing I found interesting was the way in which there has been changed to the pound shop from the likes of introducing more expensive items to the use of the interent and a argos like system for customers to buy the product and howthe pound shop is not scared to change its original ideas and develop itself as the interest in the shop develops. The introduction of the cart and the pound shop tour, I felt was unique particualarly for the likes of a shop specialising in hand made crafts, and would be something that interested the public as it is not seen often and is a good marketing idea to get the work out to the public. I finally have to lastly mention the products themselves in particular the criteria in which the pound shop use to determine whether they will purchase a product which is; Is it something you would buy yourself, does it have a sense of humour, do you need this, can it compete with the likes of etsy, consider function and consider the printing. By having the structure of what they will and will not take on board is useful as it makes the process of what you will and will not take on board easier as everyone in the team knows the criteria and company ethos.