SIT here!

May 24, 2012 immrfabulous

Another event and I had the perfect friend to send in my place! 
A fab designer herself and she's got great taste!

With Mr. Fab away he asked me to cover the opening of SIT.

At first I thought maybe this was some cruel joke, I arrived at the address, the windows were covered and I thought maybe I was in the wrong place, but eventually I managed to find a door and make my way inside.

SIT is a Pop-Up design shop located at 820 11 Avenue SW.

I was greeted by some lovely ladies who offered me a choice of red or white and invited to meander throughout the space.

I was first of all impressed by the DJ in the back corner who was playing some vibes that made me feel more like I was dining at a trendy bar in Soho rather than a retail location in Calgary’s ‘Sodo Design District’.

The furniture was all displayed very nicely, the usual modern creams and greys with clean lines and light textures, nothing I hadn’t seen before.

There are a lot of furniture stores in Calgary, but what sets this one apart is the collaboration with local artists and online store such as babybot who have a great online presence but don’t have a store of their own. The concept that a designer can get into this space for their customers to see their product in the flesh rather than just online is brilliant. I was impressed with Babybot’s great colors, interesting design and color blocked displays.

Made ME think twice about having a munchkin or two, but then I thought: “No, I will stick with my Pinot Grigio!”

Another highlight was spotting the installation art pieces by local sculptor Juan Gonzales that were scattered around the store like this piece:

All in all, I think the idea of a ‘Pop-up’ store is very interesting and will be great for collaborating online stores with artists, HOWEVER, I think only being open from May til October will do them a disservice; by the time Calgarians know about the concept and where they are, they will be changing locations again.