More than a place to buy stuff, the V&A East Shops are flexible and adaptable spaces that create an active destination for visitors to the V&As East London site. Through loose fit, mobile furniture and permeable threshold defining display areas, the shops can adapt to hold events from product launches, workshops, launch parties and of course, a day to day shop experience. The design is deliberately lo-fi - simple and intuitive to use and navigate. It draws on the pragmatic, utilitarian aesthetic of maker and workshop spaces to connect the items being sold with the places they are in some way created. Telling the story of design, making and fabrication that is at the heart of the V&As history and identity. Off-the-shelf galvanised steel racking is paired with refined and tactile materials (stained ply, recycled plastics, timber terrazzo and flawless lacquer finishes) to create a robust, durable and sustainable material palette that is deliberately composite and collage like, expressing the dualities and complexities of the historic institution and its modern day values.