Museum Treats

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I'm not going to lie.  Before I acquired enough brain cells to understand the point of going around museums and galleries, the bit I looked forward to the most was the gift shop.  If I wasn't allowed to snap away on my Fisher Price camera, at least let me buy a cheap keyring or novelty pen to take home as a momento of yet another visit to the bloody tank museum (dad has an unhealthy obsession with tanks that was usually met with bawling moans from disgruntled me and a weak smile from mum). 

Of course, museum and gallery shops have moved on from rainbow printed rubbers that don't actually erase anything and poor selections of postcards.  The selection of items that go into the stores are heavy with curation much like the exhibitions themselves.  I've expressed my love of the shops like the V&A in the past but now a bigger beast has risen.  Culture Label is an amalgamation of gift stores from over 60 cultural institutions… the list is pretty comprehensive… V&A, Tate, ICA, Royal Academy of Art, Natural History Musuem, Imperial War Museum etc etc as well as smaller places like Whitechapel Gallery, The Vinyl Factory… with more to come as it only launched quite recently. 

I did a bit of initial scouring and I've got gifts sorted for a few people as well as coming out with a fair number of fashion-related goodies…and in some case, oddities.

Let's talk about these Anne Boleyn pants for instance, that were apparently created for a Betty Jackson show last year.  I might have to scrap my knickers as outerwear rule for these.  Or perhaps Tudor devotee Wendy Brandes would like to do the honour.  Worn over rights with a backless leotard under a sheer black trench/jacket and some big chunky boots?  Ok, that might have been the hypnotic sway of bewitching Boleyn talking…

Culturelabel

36 comments

  1. what a great website. i do still always look forward to visiting the shop after a visit to the museum though…

  4. hey, I´m from czech republic & i love your blog! and…may i tell you something? …i think you look like you were from some japanese horror 😉 (i mean it nice)

  5. Oh I am so tempted by the pants and napkins – to be worn together of course 😉
    There is nothing more exciting than a museum gift shop!
    x

  8. The dress for dinner napkins are a riot. I love shopping in museum gift stores. Sometimes they have great jewelry reproductions.

  9. Oh no, why do you do this! As if I wasn’t feeling bad enough paying conference fees in GBP (you heard that? that was the sound of my wallet dying), now you show these awesome trinkets!

  12. Oouh, I love it. Love the museum shops and all the odd(useless) things. I was at the V&A yeaterday. Love the atmosphere.
    XXX

  14. I love the glasses. Unfortunately things sold in gift shop are always much mor expencive as they would be in a ‘normal’ store. That’s actually why I don’t buy them.

  15. As a lover of art museums and galleries, thank you for this post! Art museums are getting awfully creative these days… True, things sold in gift shops are always more expensive, but when you’re getting into museums for free (in the UK particularly) its nice to pay them back/help them out a little bit with these purchases rather than a hefty entrance fee.

  18. I’ve never went to museum shops ( stupid principles ) and now I see what I have missed!

  19. ah, it’s a shame the skull-tipped pencils for sale at the Museum of London don’t make the site, they’re amazing.

  21. Oh how cool! Really good conept, love the little trinkets you can get in gift stores 🙂
    Chelsea-strangeflowerdiary.blogspot.com

  25. Yesss, I love the gift shops in London! Mostly I venture round the book section but my last trip to London I finally noticed the cute goods! One day I’ll have the money (after all the book spending) to buy something at the Tate Modern… One day… sigh.

  26. LOVE this! Museums always carry the most interesting merchandise. Going to art museums is always a joy… seeing the art pieces AND visiting the charming little gift shops. 🙂 Tank museums aren’t exactly my thing either. actually i’ve never been to one so maybe they are my thing. i hope not -_-

  29. I’ve had that Tate bag for three or four years and LOVE it dearly – if I’m going anywhere, it’s coming with me!
    Also very chuffed because I bought it on sale for only ¬£25 and it was such a spectacularly fantastic buy! 🙂

  30. I love the pillowcases and the broach! Great finds!! Those dinner napkins are too too funny.

  31. I appreciate museums and galleries for intellectual purposes but I still think the gift shop is the best bit! I have no shame! But then the V&A shop has such great stuff, and the Tate is a world of cuteness too. Sometimes I pop into the Tate Modern just to look around the shop and buy a badge!

  32. I have had the Make Do and Mend book from the Imperial War Museum for a couple of years now and it is wonderful. I love it so much. It always makes me smile when I see it on my shelf. A lot of gift shop merchandise seems overpriced, but £4.99 is a Bargain!

  33. I have just bought the coasters which when put together make a map of Newcastle, tee hee! x

  34. I love buying little knick knacks from museums too. My friend once designed some merchandise for Baltic. I was super proud. I want those Je t’aime pillow cases. Bad.

  35. Meream: I’m not sure whether that’s a rhetorical question…! Well err….a tank museum is basically a war museum…. but filled with just err… tanks used by armies… big green things with giant wheels…. god, that’s the worse definition ever!

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