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I speak to Diana from Shop of Interest about her favourite products, her ‘I made it moments’ and how she made the jump from living in London to running The Shop Of Interest.
1.Tell me a bit about you & Shop of Interest? ‘The Shop of Interest is a super-cute boutique gallery and gift shop in Finnieston. It sells lots of niche design pieces, like jewellery and original artworks. Since I have taken over, and settled in, I also want to give it a more fashion slant and start selling dresses and more accessories. I guess that’s more who I am, because I did a Fashion MA at London College of Fashion and now I always say I like dresses more than people and it’s kinda true! Less to deal with when it doesn’t work out!
I also used to write for fashion magazines in London (my favourite job!) and I was press officer for this massive vintage brand called Beyond Retro, who are actually a Canadian / North American company with HUGE vintage shops in London, Brighton, Sweden and Bristol. I worked there for a long time and they had the best vintage you can find anywhere!’ - You’re a bit of a dark horse there working for all these amazing companies and keeping it on the DL!
2. What is your go to product right now that you stock? Oh, there’s so much. My favourite is probably the illustrations by Holly Sharpe, which have a strong fashion vibe and make me think of the work of Julie Verhoevan, who I was a huge fan of when I was studying fashion. I’m also going to have to say my vintage jewellery, by my brand Mrs Peeler’s Dress. People don’t know but so much love, so many stories and so many memories go with my handpicked collection. I think all the jewellery I have is great! Claire’s pieces really stand out too, with their distinctive art deco style and strong lines.
- We see what you did there Diana! And of course, we love being in your shop!
3. Have you ever had ''I have made it!'' moment? Not really! Lots of ‘I nearly made it’ moments and there were some awesome’ moments! Like when I edited the shopping guides at The List years ago, or when Channel 4 Talent made a wee film about my events, or when I got interviewed in The Guardian as some vintage expert. Or when I opened up Beyond Retro collaboration in Selfridges. It was so much work, had so much press Interest and was so exciting on opening night. But no, I don’t think I’ve ever ‘made it,’ I tend to work super, super hard at things and they are amazing at the time but I never really do much with it! I always seem to get distracted by bringing up my daughter. She is 13 now but it’s always just been me and her and so it takes up a lot of time and ‘to do lists’ of things going on!
- I think we have to disagree Diana! Sounds to us like you have had a lot of ‘made it moments’
4. The one thing you love about running Shop of Interest? I feel incredibly lucky to be my own boss, meeting so many great designers and artists. Moving to Glasgow wasn’t planned exactly and I was genuinely terrified what I was going to do! I had been in London so long and I always had very quirky, fashion projects going on and there isn’t really the same appetite for it in Scotland, no matter what people say. It was really scary moving and I still don’t know if it was the right thing, but having the shop makes it exciting and opens up possibilities and gives a space for me to try some of my more fashion ideas. For instance, I noticed there’s life drawing classes here, but not fashion drawing so I’m trying to launch fashion illustration classes and make the shop a wee hub for that kind of thing.
- That sounds amazing! I definitely agree more classes would be fab, especially for people dipping their toes into the fashion industry… Sign us up!
5. If you could give advice for someone wanting to stock with yourself what would it be? I think you just have to do it! Not overthink it and just trust your instincts! Right now, I want to branch out & I want to be able to stock really cool dresses so I guess I would say get in touch if you make dresses and would like a platform to sell your work!
- That is amazing, I know I was terrified asking to be stocked with yourselves but you are so right just go for it! And all those reading who make dresses well I would definitely get emailing! You can find Shop of Interest at: www.theshopofinterest.co.uk 1058 Argyle Street Finnieston G3 8LY