Inspired – Greg Quinton, The Partners

My name is Greg and I’m a shopaholic.

There, I have said it. That’s the hardest part apparently. Of course, I love all the usual things: art, magazines, music. But, it’s when those skills combine to create shops that I really get excited.

Why? Well, I could blame my mother of course, one of my earliest memories was a black-and-gold exotic peacock-feather-filled magical kingdom I later discovered was BIBA. In reality it’s because nowhere else exposes you to more ideas per square foot, or engages so many of your senses. When it’s good it’s very very good, and when it’s bad it’s horrid.

Shops are at the ‘pointy’ end of creativity. Tiny details make massive differences. There’s a wonderful exercise (Pine and Gilmore) that helps you absorb how all five of your senses are being affected.

I like nothing better than to walk into a new store, absorb the magic, then try and work out how it’s been created and why it makes me feel engaged – or not.

Understanding why those thousands of ideas and decisions have come together for that brief moment of time to create theatre. Theatre with a difference, as you play the star part. Your role is to enjoy the experience and say thanks with your plastic. It takes a shopaholic to know when to enjoy and walk away (usually).