Cool Shop - Perth

Thea & Sami now has a new stockist in Perth. Yay for Mr Sparrow! A cool name for a VERY cool shop. Savvy owner Anna Macoboy was kind enough to email me these wonderful images and to share the story of her lovely space.

If you are thinking that the building resembles a church then you would be right as it was the Subiaco Methodist Church until about 13 years ago but has now been converted into apartments and shops.

So what will we find at Mr Sparrow? In Anna's words:

I sell a mix of secondhand and new homewares, gifts and accessories and also plants and gardening tools. I try to display the products in a way that adds to their meaning and inspires my customers.

I picked up almost all of the furniture in the shop from peoples' verges during bulk collection, including the bath tub, an old Early Kooka oven and several birdcages, and then fixed it up and repainted it.

I also have little postcards that I display alongside the products that tell a little about the designer, as I think it really adds meaning to know where something has come from and how it came about.

From the beginning, I really wanted to create a space that was as exciting and enjoyable as the products themselves, so that people would come here as much for the experience as the products. At first I thought that would be a challenge in such a small space, but now I think the shop's size actually adds to the atmosphere.

I hope that visitors to my shop feel like they've stepped into another world for a few moments, and leave feeling inspired and excited by what they've seen.

The bathtub (top image) is a fish pond - I saw something similar in Japan years ago and when I started imagining my shop I was determined that I would incorporate this...even when I ended up with a space that's only 28 square metres! It creates a really nice atmosphere though and the fish keep kids entertained.

Thanks Anna! If you're in Perth, please visit Mr Sparrow to find our range of lovely hand-made natural soaps with more products to follow in the future. Visit the Mr Sparrow website here and read Anna's blog here.

Don't forget the Handmade Living Blog Tour that has now started over at Posie Patchwork and will continue right here on Sunday. The full schedule is available here.

Images courtesy of Mr Sparrow.