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New concept, new venue: Pop-ups arrive in Egypt For fashion designers, like Deana Shaaban, who recently revealed her new collection at a locale called 18.213, the new "pop-up" venue concept for hire suits her perfectly
The owner and director of Communicatons Boutique, Sahar El-Arishy, is a marketing guru who speaks in a dictionary of peppy, eloquent, heartfelt buzz words, enthusiastically supporting those with talent and a brilliant idea. The marketing guru's business office (aka her “happy space” in El-Arishy-speak) in Maadi seemed destined for a bigger purpose. On the ground floor of a residential building on a quiet, yet well-known street in Degla, Maadi, her office space feels like a small, multi-level version of a white, modern, New York loft. El-Arishy tells Ahram Online that she began an internet search on how to maximise her office space, and that's how she came across “pop-ups.” Originally, pop-ups cropped up as a concept among gourmet chefs, especially in the US and Europe. Considering the short attention span of restaurant enthusiasts in the past couple of decades, a restaurant could avoid becoming passé by chefs going to a new venue, setting up shop for a short stint, and then setting up shop elsewhere. It also gave young chefs, who hadn't acquired any sort of reputation, a chance to show off without the long-term expense and risk of setting up a restaurant. The idea has expanded to venues, where any venue can serve multiple purposes. One such creative use of space are concerts played in laundromats in the UK. Bands are squeezed by the steep percentages that bars and other venues tag them with, so a band with a small fan-base takes over the off-hours of a laundromat for a night. No loud concert music will pump from El-Arishy's office, as she explains she's in a residential area. Her locale, which she calls 18.213 (because it's building 18, on street 213), also lacks a kitchen, so chefs would face difficulty setting up an ad-hoc restaurant there. Examples of how the 18.213 locale can be used include: a product launch, art exhibition, fashion or jewelry collections, book-signing or a small fair. On Saturday, 10 March, 18.213 saw it's opening to the public. Deana Shaaban, local fashion designer, and El-Arishy teamed up for a double-opening. Shaaban revealed her Spring/Summer 2012 collection and 18.213 held it's first pop-up event. In any case, she's adamant about positioning her pop-up venue, reserving the right of selection. Anyone who proposes to use the 18.213 space must prove that their idea is new to Egypt, fresh and already has “a scene.” What's the difference between the 18.213 venue and any other locale for hire? An art gallery is suited only for art. The ambiance of a conference room in a hotel is usually depressingly boring. Besides, hotels are not always convenient for clients. Similarly, though El-Arishy's pop-up venue is available for a short period, a max of 48-hours at a time, she says. It's easy to get to in Maadi, and street 213 is much-traversed, next to the Maadi Grand Mall, a well-known landmark. The type to “get-involved,” she doesn't want to simply make it a space to lend. El-Arishy also lends her mass comm skills (where she majored in marketing and advertising at AUC) and her world professional experience in the UK and US, to make her client's event an EVENT. (For more Life & Style news and updates, follow us on Twitter: @AhramLifestyle) http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/37988.aspx
