For independent designers, artists and makers, securing a permanent bricks-and-mortar presence isn’t always realistic. But for a few weeks in Pōneke/Wellington, 38 Australasian creatives have found a home under one roof.
Open now at 82 Victoria Street in Te Aro, SLUG is the latest iteration of the retail-meets-exhibition concept founded by JPalm designer Julia Palm. Part store, part creative showcase, the temporary space brings together fashion, photography, art, homewares, books, fragrance, ceramics and jewellery, offering a snapshot of the creative community working across Aotearoa and Australia right now.
Running until October 4, the most recent edition spans both emerging and established names, including Awatea, Jimmy D, Jojo Ross, Fringes, Laurence Sabrine, Oosterom, Rhoda Nunn and more. But just as important as what’s on the racks and shelves is the thinking behind the space. Designed to be relaxed and approachable, SLUG gives its participating creatives a physical platform to share their work, meet customers and exist alongside disciplines they might not ordinarily encounter in a traditional retail setting.
SLUG’s roots stretch back to 2016, when Palm staged its first iteration in Dunedin after completing her fashion design degree at Otago Polytechnic. Then known as JPalm Presents, the project took over an empty retail space with the support of Urban Dream Brokerage, bringing together fashion, photography, jewellery, film and live music in a celebration of the creative community around her.
“It was an active snapshot of my creative community, and at the time – nothing felt impossible to give a go,” she told Fashion Quarterly. “That was really the catalyst for me continuing to host pop-ups – seeing how important it was to interact with the community in an approachable environment, and how closely that connected to what I was trying to do with JPalm.”
Since settling in Wellington in 2018, Palm has continued to stage pop-ups in the city once or twice a year, experimenting with different iterations before officially landing on the name SLUG in 2021. Over the decade since its beginnings, what started as a way to bring Palm’s own creative community together has evolved into a much larger platform for independent talent.
The response to the current pop-up suggests there’s a real appetite for spaces like it. Palm says the pop-up has been “almost too busy” to handle, with customers returning multiple times, bringing friends and discovering new designers along the way. “People want individuality, small-batch production, and to know they’re supporting the maker first and foremost,” she says.
Curating the 38-strong line-up is a mix of instinct, existing relationships and finding the right balance. Established designers sit alongside first-time exhibitors, while fashion, jewellery and photography collide with ceramics, fragrance, homewares and books. “I don’t want SLUG to feel like a typical temporary shop,” says Palm. “I want it to feel like one collective environment, where there are interesting collisions between different disciplines and aesthetics.”
There’s no strict formula, either. As Palm puts it: “A lot of it comes down to seeing something and thinking, ‘I NEED that in SLUG!’”
For Palm, SLUG also reflects what she finds most exciting about Aotearoa’s creative community right now: a willingness to do things differently. “People are increasingly making things on their own terms,” she says. “I’m particularly excited by people who are building their own worlds around what they make, not just producing a product, but creating an aesthetic, a language and a community around it.”
That resourcefulness is especially important when permanent retail remains out of reach for many independent brands. With rent, staffing, fit-outs and stock all adding significant overheads, Palm sees shared spaces like SLUG as a way for designers to meet customers and test their work in a physical setting without shouldering those costs alone.
Pōneke has also proved a natural home for the pop-up. “Pōneke is a small city but there’s an enormous amount of creative energy here,” Palm says. “There are designers, artists, musicians, makers and independent businesses doing genuinely interesting things, and I think we all deserve spaces that reflect that.”
Crucially, Palm wants those spaces to remain approachable. “You shouldn’t need to know the right people, or understand the ‘rules’ of the creative scene to walk through the door.”
Perhaps fittingly, Palm doesn’t have a rigid blueprint for where SLUG goes next. Its ability to change with each space, city and group of creatives is, after all, part of its appeal.
“I’d like to keep pushing the idea of what a temporary retail space can be, bringing in more disciplines, different kinds of collaborations, launches, workshops and events, and finding new ways for people to experience the work,” she says. “I always think: while we have access to a space in the central city, something that isn’t often available to independent designers, let’s push it to the max.”
Taking SLUG beyond Pōneke is on the table too, with Palm open to bringing the concept to different cities when the right opportunity arises. What she isn’t interested in is expansion simply for the sake of it.
“I’d rather keep it feeling considered, a little unexpected, and genuinely connected to the people involved and the platform it provides for my creative community,” she says.
Wherever SLUG goes next, preserving that sense of discovery remains more important to Palm than simply making it bigger.
“For me, Slug has always been about creating a space where interesting things can develop,” she says. “As long as that’s still happening, it will keep evolving.”
