Kristie & Coralie's Drink, Shop & Do
Two minutes from London’s Kings Cross station sees London’s coolest Christmas pop-up shop, Kristie & Coralie’s Drink, Shop & Do. Only open til the 20th December over three Thursday-Sunday long weekends, pick up gifts from upcoming designers, take part in craft workshops and most important – enjoy the splendid tea, homemade cakes and wonderfully retro cocktails.
Kristie & Coralie's Drink, Shop & Do
Coralie Sleap and Kristie Bishop have turned the former art gallery into a delight – seriously kitsch red, pink and green decorations encircle the glass fanlights of the high ceilings. Retro 50s poinsetta red and Californian turquoise are the team’s signature colours. The curved bar glitters with fairy lights and 50s period furniture and paintings (which are all for sale!) decorate the room. The sideboard in the photo above sells for £65 and the reclining nearly-nude for £150.
Kristie & Coralie's Drink, Shop & Do; Kim Richardson
Through the front door and you are greeted with an red and white candy stripe lobby area, hung with papier-mâché piñata twig-antlered reindeer and paper-frilled snowmen made by Kim Richardson, selling at £50 and £20 respectively. To the left are shelves stacked with old-fashioned sweets in jars, as well as tea pots, cake stands, cups and saucers and even seed markers created by ceramic designer Esther Coombs who takes vintage china pieces and draws onto it a slice of London life in the form of buildings, bridges etc.
Esther Coombs; Lok Ming Fung
In addition, look out for ceramic designer Lok Ming Fung’s Oohhh.. collection of ceramic boxes with barnacle-like decoration hand-sprigged onto the surface. Coralie tells us that she met many of the designers stocked in the shop, such as Lok Ming, while studying ceramics at Central Saint Martins and loves the opportunity to display and sell her friends’ work.
Birgitte Haahr Lund; Rescued and Revived; books by Black Dog Publishing
Upstairs, the back wall is decorated with a colourful graphic mural painted by Danish-born artist and illustrator Birgitte Haahr Lund. Underneath sit cushions made from recycled materials by Rescued and Revived, as well as a selection of books from Black Dog Publishing – organised by Matt Bucknall, a graphic designer at Black Dog, as well as the designer of Kristie & Coralie’s striking candy-striped graphic identity.
Grace Wilson; Claire Platt
A 50s cocktail cabinet houses the tiny sets of painted porcelain figurines created by Grace Wilson, such as the New World set of elephants and dancing folk or the boxing polar bears. Claire Platt graduated with an MA in Textile Design from Bath Spa this summer and we loved her textured knitted wallpieces- flying ducks, planes and stylised owls. Look out also for porcelain tea cups and mugs from We Love Kaoru with gold trim and alphabet lettering.
The bar serves tea, coffee, finger sandwiches, homemade soup and cakes, as well as festive cocktails with names such as Christmas Cooler and Ginger Rodgers. In addition, Kristie and Coralie have organised a different craft workshop for every day they are open, from Christmas Card Cut & Paste to Play with Clay, 80s style.
Be sure to go along and support them!
Kristie & Coralie’s Drink, Shop & Do is at 9 Caledonian Road, N1 9DX and open December 10-13 and 17 -20 from 12 midday to 12 midnight.
Kristie & Coralie’s Drink, Shop & Do
Kim Richardson
Esther Coombs
Lok Ming Fung
Birgitte Haahr Lund
Rescued and Revived
Black Dog Publishing
Matt Bucknall
Grace Wilson
Claire Platt
