Independent menswear store Hostem, located on Shoreditch’s super-cool Redchurch St, opened for business over 8 months ago – but due to it’s eclectically assembled mix of raw materials and ever-changing installations this is one shop you don’t mind coming back to. The store is designed by ‘eccentric assemblage’ duo artist/interior designers JAMESPLUMB, famous for taking salvaged and forgotten treasures and re-inventing them as contemporary and elegant spatial features. The interior of Hostem is no different, the designers used mismatched reclaimed boards to lay the floor, washed-out Swedish linen curtains line the walls and raw, exposed bulbs glow softly in the surprisingly calm and quiet space.
When the designers got to work, so the story goes, they turned up carrying a church pew covered in rotten leaves and a few eyebrows were raised – this pew now stands centrepiece as a bespoke front desk. The avant-garde/luxe meanswear store which stocks the likes of Philip Lim, Caseley Hayford, Visvim and exclusive to the store Japanese labels among others now boasts a new basement space and an installation room. This third room is an ever-evolving space where visiting designers take up residence on a short term basis. If you get along to the store now you’ll find the current installation is Dr Romanelli Prescription Shoppe, curated by LA-based designer Dr Romanelli and features his latest collaborative products for the first time in the UK.
