We were incredibly thankful for the opportunity to re-inhabit the historical Burger-Phillips building during the 2013 Holiday Season. It all felt very Warhol-Factory-esque. about 9,000 square feet of possibilities. In 2013 we popped up about 10 times, and there was promise of permanence there. What other city would just hand you the keys to a space like that? As was our usual fashion, we had little time, and no budget to transform the space that had been abandoned for decades. We couldn't waste the opportunity, as scary as it was.
We grabbed hold of some of our friends, who's design products were a great fit for what we always wanted Harold&MOD to be - a lifestyle of creativity, beauty, and fun. It was a wild time, working late into the night painting, building, and dreaming.
This was collaboration; this was renaissance.
Birmingham was described as a renaissance city last year in an article in the New York Times, but that article focused primarily on large construction, big business, and big projects. Historically, renaissance was the rebirth of arts. In our city, the Magic City, many of us are most excited about small local business, art and design, food and drink, and the have-nots who are working to give it there all.
We are honored to spend this magnificent resource promoting these kinds of people. We divided the space into design studios for the small companies who worked on product for the shop: Alabama Funk , Little Forest , and DIGS Design. (We will feature each of these companies in future posts). In the front, a 4,000 square foot Harold&MOD shop which sold not only our furniture and clothing, but also the aforementioned friends' products. And about 500 square feet devoted to the Freshfully Mini-Market which brought local food to downtown Birmingham, which is somewhat of a food desert.
It was a good start, but also a hard one, filled with limitations that taught us to be flexible and creative. The 5 design studios, grocery store, and Harold&MOD shop were powered by 3 outlets. There wasn't heat, and it was the coldest Birmingham winter in over 100 years. The lighting fixtures were prison grade which, partnered with the cold, didn't exactly work in the favor of creating a luxury shop, but we did what we could. We worked together, shared meals and resources - it was broken, but it was home.
12 days before Christmas, we were celebrating at an in store Holiday event and block party, and out of nowhere, the ceiling fell apart, wrecking one of our clothing racks - no one was hurt - but it was obvious that our time at Burger-Phillips had ended.
That couldn't be the end of the story though. How could a retail business survive with being forced to close 12 days before Christmas. Again, providence prevailed. 3 days later, we found a beautiful space on 1st Avenue N - a block away from coffee shops, bars, and other retail. Again, we banned together and were able to set up in record speed. If you want to see THAT shop, then come visit us and see for yourself!
This is the destination to which our journey of pop-up shops, fashion shows, all night work nights, and months of stress brought us.
Photos in this entry were all captured by our friend Charity Ponter
The video was directed and filmed by our friends at Made in the Magic City
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