The Little Shop Of Boscombe




The Little Shop of Boscombe
As part of this years art festival in Boscombe, Dorset I designed and (with some help from friends) constructed a Victorian style Apothocary shop unit in The Royal Aracde. The arcade was built in 1892 and is stunning! Large shop units with high ceilings, curved glass frontages, and ornate architectural features, the arcade was, in it's day THE place to shop.  
The installation was built purely from cardboard and was to serve as a backdrop to 

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Projection mapping to the draw and shelving unit situated at  the front of the shop unit. 
Bubbling sound and images of bottles.


Initial sketches of the proposed design for the shop, to be constructed purely from cardboard.



First day of construction. A friend helps me to build the cardboard frame. The framing takes 12 hours to complete.The ceilings to the unit are at  3700mm height!

The framing is completed and I can begin to clad the walls to the rear of the shop unit.
The rear of the shop will be the shop owners sitting room.

Photo taken of inside the wall.

Photo to the front of the shop unit. Ceiling fittings to negotitate when on the ladder!


 

This is crazy! What have I taken on?!



Construction of a large fireplace in the sitting room. To the rear of the shop unit.





 Photograph of the front of the shop in the Royal Arcade, Boscombe
The cardboard construction is now taking shape. Structure is going in for the worktop.

 

 Construction continues. The large shelving unit is just visible to the left of the photograph

The large shelving unit, worktop and 2x Boscombe Bells (see Boscombe Bell post) taking shape.





The unit is damp. The cardboard is beginning to warp! Look at the door to the sitting room.




A crackling fire in the sitting room!
2 Boscombe Bells  sit proudly on the mantlepiece, either side of Mary Shelley.



The installation is  now complete. The smell of corrugated cardboard is overwhelming!
Through the door, visitors will enter the sitting room to watch a short film about some of Boscombe's past.

 Nancy Crickle's Drawing Room, with a roaring fire...

Too much light is pouring into the shop! The apothecary bottles are not very visible. The large Victorian windows to the fron of the shop unit will need to be blacked out. It's going to be quite a job.


Photographs of old Boscombe and a book on some of the area's  history.
The bottles just visible on the shelves.


The Boscombe Bells on display in the window. Only visible through small peek holes at child height!


The front of the shop 'blacked out'. Peek holes to see 'The Bosombe Bells' and the 'Boscombe Cardis'.©

A large copy from an orignal photo, taken of an elephant parade on Boscombe's High Street in 1901 is on display in the window.


 Visitors arriving for the shop

Visitors waiting to get into the Drawing Room, to meet the owner of the shop Nancy Crickle.