In one of the strongest retail sectors in the world which has spawned such benchmark companies as Crate & Barrel, West Elm, Williams-Sonoma and Pottery Barn with their precision space planning & slide rule store presentation, there is another homeware retailer whose apparently chaotic store environment masks an equally shrewd commercial strategy.
Fish’s Eddy feeds the growing appetite for vintage, individual cookware products as an antidote to modern mass commercialism and product standardisation.
The company has grown from a raid on an old china factory which offered a wonderland of sample plates, distressed and odd pieces and unique seconds. The collection has grown with the addition of cutlery, linens and an array of household jars, accessories and utensils.
Rather than dictate the purchase to the customer – the number of pieces, the uniformity of the pack – Fish’s Eddy’s store proposition is based around an eclectic “pic ‘n; mix”, an all pervasive ” mix ‘n’ match2 where the customer is free to select across categories, styles, colours, periods, designs according to their own whim and individual taste.
The freedom of expression is mirrored beautifully in the vintage props and store fittings, the wonderfully crafted messages painted lovingly on scraps of wood, or reclaimed tin signage, and the distressed wooden store environment which provides the perfect shell for the wonders that spill out over it, filling every surface with intrigue and impulse.
Fish’s Eddy looks enchanting. I was just in NYC and would have LOVED to snoop into this store’s nooks and crannies. Next trip, I’ll be there!