Is it a sculpture of fit out?

Sorry Thanks I Love You is collaborating with Sydney-based artist Claus Stangl to transform a polystyrene pop-up shop at Westfield Sydney into a dynamic, hypercolour sculpture.

 

One of Sorry Thanks I Love You’s hallmarks is an experimental approach to creating positive experiences and inspiring moments of happiness. Whether it’s offering free yoga in our stores after dark, or bringing a thousand live bees into our store to make honey, every week we’ve pushed ourselves to come up with new ways to inspire moments of happiness in our visitors.

 

We’ve taken the same experimental approach to the way we operate: always questioning what a shop (and it’s fit-out) can be. Our Westfield Sydney pop-up project, inspired by Issey Miyake’s signature experimentation with synthetic materials, designed by architect Michael Flynn and custom made entirely out of 100% recyclable high density polystyrene foam, is the culmination of this approach. Part installation, part sculpture and part playground, it’s the first time a “shop” has ever been made entirely out of foam - which meant there was no telling how it would evolve.

 

Over the past six weeks we’ve watched our visitors interact with the installation, and seen its crisp, clean lines start to warp as people stroke, prod and poke this irresistibly tactile material.

 

In the same spirit, over the next two weeks Sorry Thanks I Love You will be collaborating with Sydney-based artist and long-time friend Claus Stangl to transform the installation into a dynamic, hypercolour sculpture that changes every day.

 

Armed with handsaw, chisel, brush and acrylic paints, Stangl will carve, crumble, reshape and paint the foam installation over a series of live in-store artist sessions, embracing the chaos of his environment, and the new medium, as he works.

 

Stangl has spent the entire weekend working on the project and his crafty, tromp’loeil paintwork has already tricked visitors into thinking he’s revealing colours beneath the polystyrene’s surface. Organic, porous and completely unique, the sculpture has been described by visitors as a giant eruption, an urban coral reef and even an ancient, fluro rockface.

 

The pop-up will continue to feature a rotating selection of new Japanese design, including new season collections from Tsumori Chisato and Bao Bao Issey Miyake, despite Stangl being on site most days transforming it. The 100% recyclable installation closes on 17 February and will be factory-converted into insulation by a certified EPS recycler upon completion of the project.

 

See the artwork in person on Level 4 of Westfield Sydney, corner of Pitt and Market Street, or watch the project unfold with us on Instagram.