The FH Mall, Poultry Street, Nottingham, NG1 2HN
e: deckedout@live.co.uk


Decked Out is situated in the FH Mall, formally known as The Flying Horse Arcade. It is run from a leased unit provided by Savills Estate Agents to the university which enable graduates and current students to exhibit and sell their work.

As part of the Decorative Arts course and the business module in the third year, students are able to use the unit to sell craft based products, allowing them to test the market for products which they are producing. The set up of the gallery/shop was taken hold of by the nine live trading business students for which I am seen as one of the four managerial people. The other people are Nicola Walters, Charlotte Dey and Lucy Moon.

The setting up of the gallery/shop took place during the last two weeks of the Easter break, but prior to this, discussions to the possible layouts and content were talked about. There was no budget, so all funds were goodwill or paid by, by the students themselves.

The name of the shop came from our first social night, and we decided that this would be a good idea to continue. It sums us up as a course and would later also tie in to the graduates degree show “all hands on deck” – ‘Decked Out’. We wanted the branding to be contemporary and clear to read. It was thought that the Bauhaus style would be most suited but a slimmer version. The branding follows on in the logos for the bags, receipts and other paperwork for the business. This gives the shop a corporate look.

Paper work and terms and conditions that were to be handed out to present students as well as past and other university staff were drawn up by myself and then looked at by the other students.
As a collective, we decided to have both plinths and trestle tables to display work on, all of which had to be painted white and put together. This would give the space a shop look but still a relaxed gallery appearance at the same time.

The shop opened on the 17th April 2009. The night was a celebratory evening for the students. Champagne, wine and other non-alcoholic refreshments were arranged by the live traders, ice and buckets provided by Varsity and glasses hired from Tesco Extra Ilkeston. An after party was held at Nottingham’s renowned cocktail bar Brass Monkey, Lace Market.

Images provided by Anna Byers (final year graduate) & Debbie Whitmore (University Photographer)