APOC Store launches Christmas e-market for alternative fashion gifting
London-based APOC Store reveals its 2022 Christmas e-market – an alternative edit of fashion and jewellery from a new generation of avant-garde and consciously-minded designers
In the autumn of 2020, Ying Suen and Jules Volleberg launched APOC Store, a discipline-spanning marketplace which collates the best in progressive, avant-garde design – from fashion and jewellery to art and homeware – with a focus on emerging talent and niche, offbeat labels. Oftentimes pieces are entirely one-off styles, made-to-order, or crafted from repurposed materials (Suen and Volleberg note they are drawn towards ’progressive and consciously-created pieces’ in their curation). True to this approach, the name APOC is an amalgam of ‘Anthropocene’, ‘epoch’ and ‘apocalypse’.
‘We live in the Anthropocene, a time when human activity dominates the world we live in with enormous consequences,’ they say. ‘As a result, a new generation of creatives has emerged who care about the world and want to make a difference.’
Alternative fashion gifting: APOC Store Christmas e-market 2022
A new Christmas e-market – which was first launched late last month with regular drops coming throughout December – continues this approach, Suen and Volleberg curating an array of alternative gifts as a riposte to the Black Friday sales and rampant consumerism of the festive season. ’Every year, we always tried to get a special gift for our loved ones, ideally something unexpected and something they wouldn’t get themselves,’ Volleberg tells Wallpaper*.
’From Black Friday onward, consumers are purchasing to insane extents, partly due to brands and retailers offering deals too good to pass on. At APOC, we wanted to do a launch of special products that are made with minimal impact, mostly made by the designers themselves in their own studios, and often made from remade or deadstock materials.’
Fashion highlights include Swedish designer Matilda Sundkler, who works under the alias Sylvi Sundkler creating deconstructed garments – corsets, bags, dresses – from shrunken waste fabrics in a process she developed, or Berlin-based Lou de Bètoly, who incorporates found and second-hand materials into her playful and oftentimes surreal collections (one particular handbag is a soft-toy donkey stitched with glass beads and Swarovski crystals). Olivia Rubens’ ‘planet-friendly knitwear’ also features in the edit, as does South Korea-born Central Saint Martins alum Sungbin Hong’s label Nibgnus which features sensual cut-outs and heart-shaped motifs.
Elsewhere, artist duo Nicholas Gardner and Saša Štucin of Soft Baroque – whose work recently featured in the Danish Pavillion at the 59th Venice Biennale – have created a one-off anodised aluminium vase, while Brussels-based Naomi Gilon offers three unique ceramic handbags (the artist’s signature piece) and a series of candleholders as part of the e-market. Los Angeles jeweller Emma Pryde also features, her offering comprising necklaces, earrings and bracelets inspired by both digital video-game realms and ancient artefacts – the perfect festive adornment.
Wallpaper* Newsletter
Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.
Jack Moss is the Fashion Features Editor at Wallpaper*, joining the team in 2022. Having previously been the digital features editor at AnOther and digital editor at 10 and 10 Men magazines, he has also contributed to titles including i-D, Dazed, 10 Magazine, Mr Porter’s The Journal and more, while also featuring in Dazed: 32 Years Confused: The Covers, published by Rizzoli. He is particularly interested in the moments when fashion intersects with other creative disciplines – notably art and design – as well as championing a new generation of international talent and reporting from international fashion weeks. Across his career, he has interviewed the fashion industry’s leading figures, including Rick Owens, Pieter Mulier, Jonathan Anderson, Grace Wales Bonner, Christian Lacroix, Kate Moss and Manolo Blahnik.
-
A new Oxford Street pop-up celebrates IKEA's blue bags
IKEA's iconic blue bag gets its own pop-up concept store, the 'Hus of Frakta'.
By Smilian Cibic Published
-
Audemars Piguet and Kaws have created the Royal Oak Concept watch we didn't know we needed
The Audemars Piguet x Kaws Royal Oak Concept Tourbillon 'Companion' is slick wrist-worn art
By Thor Svaboe Published
-
A friendly rivalry coloured by kinship: Wendy Maruyama and Tom Loeser on their two-artist show
'I wanted to make furniture, just not traditional furniture, but weird furniture,' says Wendy Maruyama on ‘Colorama’, a two-artist show presented at design gallery Superhouse (until 11 January 2025)
By Gregory Han Published