What a hectic couple of months! Bedfords Shop closed its doors in late August for a refit and revamp having served Peter Bedford Housing Association successfully as a retail training site for 16 years. We opened our doors again last week under the new name Outpost. While Outpost looks radically different and has extended its services to become a both a homewares, furniture and gift shop and a community hub and exhibition space, it remains, at heart, committed to the clients we serve as an innovative housing association charity in North London.
Taking its inspiration from the idea of an outpost where disparate communities and people came to stock up on necessities and supplies, the aim of our new shop, Outpost, is to offer products that are functional, fun, visually appealing, sturdy and sustainable.
The story of some of our new products can be found in the Creative Industries Training and Trading Enterprise at PBHA. For the last few months tutors and clients in our printmaking, textiles, joinery and home furnishings programmes have been focussing their efforts on designing and developing products for Outpost. Some of the products really make us smile and the one that most stands out to date is the Stooble.
The Stooble is a quirky, functional, multi-purpose, hard-wearing stool that doubles up as a portable coffee table or kids table. Made from recycled wood, the Stooble is designed by Jonathan Rothenberg, our joinery tutor and a freelance designer, made and finished in our joinery and home furnishings workshops by PBHA clients and sold in our shop be retail trainees from our work programmes. The Stooble ticks all the right boxes!