Greenwich Town Centre And Cockpit Arts celebrate partnership

16 June 2008:

Lush Designs, Emma Nissim, Debbi Little, Lost and Found and Inkeri Medley all at home in Greenwich

Greenwich town centre is buzzing with beautiful shops courtesy of a band of local designers who have their studio workshops at Cockpit Arts, the revered Deptford-based hotbed of creativity and the UK's only creative-business incubator. Each of the shops has opened during the recession showing how ‘real' designers can flourish in hard times, especially with a supportive landlord to give them a ‘leg up'.

Lush Designs, selling gorgeous folksy home accessories, principally lampshades, featuring hand drawn illustrations, started the trend in June of last year when it opened its first ever shop. Partners Maria Livings and Marie Rodgers have worked together since they shared a studio a Maidstone Art College where they both studied painting and printmaking. They have a long association with Greenwich and neighbouring Deptford where they have developed their idiosyncratic decorative style from studios which form part of an artistic community in this corner of South East London. Maria and Marie are often to be found in the shop, creating the drawings which will soon appear as prints on their products.

Lush have since been joined by two new shops which share the name of their lead designers - ‘Emma Nissim' and ‘Debbi Little'.

Emma Nissim is a skilled printer and textiles designer known for her silk scarves and leisure wear collections, and Debbi Little is famous for her highly coveted, limited edition ball gowns and cocktail dresses made from recycled parachute silk.

Both designers have sought to give other designers a platform to sell their creations. Emma Nissim's lovely Greenwich Market Victorian-inspired shop, just a few doors down from Lush Designs, is also home to Allison Wiffen's ceramic cufflinks. Debbi Little's bijou boutique on College Approach (next door to the famous Johnny Rocket jewellery emporium) also features designs from Inkeri Medley, who transforms second hand clothes into unique and quirky but elegant new designs - skirts become tops and jackets become skirts; collars turn into waistbands and sleeves dance about the feet - and Becky Oldfield's Lost and Found label, offering vintage flag cushions and handscreen printed tea towels and hemp/silk cushions (Becky recently caused a sensation in Selfridges when she launched her range there). Together the three designers create something of an eco chic hotspot.

About Cockpit Arts
Cockpit Arts currently helps 165 resident designer-makers to grow their businesses through its centres at Deptford and Holborn, both in London, and hundreds more through a dedicated professional development programme.  

Open Studios takes place at Cockpit Arts Deptford on Friday 19 June (6pm-9pm), Saturday 20 June and Sunday 21 June (11am-6pm).

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