Despite having no need for art supplies whatsoever, these sort of shops always drag me in somehow. There must be some psychological condition that when you see a family of items, each one of them seems much more attractive. Particularly true this is, when the items are neatly organised.
Here, for instance, are colour pencils:
Most are sold already, but the attraction still works.
Or some ropes:
You cannot not want them.
It’s Planet Modulor, a Berlin shop for all things material from stationery to scale models (photos from the April 2006 trip). Entrance:
Note the 3D stairways.
Inside signage:
More:
Nice colours:
A ruler:
Just copybooks:
Also copybooks. If I ever wrote, I would use one of these:
Clean:
Scale models of humans:
Transportation and furniture:
This department drew my attention immediately:
Looks like some transit maps:
I don’t remember what was inside, so probably it turned out to be not that interesting.
Scrolls with street panoramas:
The coolest department was the one with 3D printers. You can stand in a circle, they would take pictures of you all around and then print you out like this:
To try out markers, you colour some patterns, not boring white paper:
Every time I see black paper and light pens, I think I should start sketching user interfaces on paper like this:
Also recommended: London Graphic Centre at Covent Garden (Mercer st. and Shelton st.). Another place where you can easily spend an hour.
See also: