Magma

Magma is on the same street and is one of four stores in London which sells artistic books, magazines, its own tee shirt designs and a few fun gift sets.

-  Started in 2000, this was their first shop- they now have four in London and a couple dotted further up north.

-  One of their stores, which focuses on products rather than books, is literally five stores down.

-  Magma started off as a book shop only.

-  They now commission illustrators and designers to produce items such as their graphic tees. These are suspended from the ceiling- almost like a product installation. They give their concepts to artists who then develop the designs, adding their own signature to the initial briefing.

-  Book sales are down thanks to competition from companies such as Amazon.

-  They have a really good line of fun, small gifts, which sell well and can’t be searched for on the web. 

-  They adjust their products seasonally and to follow current trends – featuring cycling and food at the moment! 

-  An architect has now designed all their stores. They wanted nothing pretentious in the design, preferring something that would encourage customer interaction. So their bookshelf is a metal ladder structure with wooden shelves attached and suspended- giving the feel that you can just throw the books on rather than preciously placing them! The interior of their shop five doors down is made entirely from cardboard! All their shop interiors are modular and can be dismantled in a few hours - practical and visually interesting!

-  They have had regular customers since they first opened, many from creative industries who ‘enjoy time to get away from the drawing boards and computer suites and to actually interact and browse with the books’. 

//Photography by Lillie Cooper