If you're in the habit of wandering off the beaten track when shopping in Dublin, you might have stumbled upon two new independent stores that are quietly and deftly breaking the mould. New shops come and go, and most are unremarkable, but both the Cuan Hanley store on Temple Bar's Pudding Lane and Platform Eile on South William Street are worth a closer look - not just because of their carefully chosen selection of clothing labels for men and women but because both offer that little bit more - an eclectic range of lifestyle desirables from cushions to suede lampshades, alongside shoes, bags and such eccentricities as a pair of camouflage-patterned Japanese headphones.
The name Cuan Hanley is familiar to most fashion watchers. Some four years ago, after several years working with Paul Smith in England and Japan, the Grafton Academy-trained designer returned to Dublin and started creating cutting edge, made-to-measure suits under his own label. He has always had retail on his mind and spent the last couple of years putting together the Pudding Lane shop, which opened in December. Location was hugely important to him, but interestingly, placing it within a prime shopping area wasn't his first priority. "I wanted a building that was in some way unique. To me, the environment in which a product is placed is as important as the product itself; they have to work well together." He plumped for a corner site in an Anthony Reddy-designed building and then worked with his architect sister, Orna Hanley, to ensure it turned out to his exact specifications. Fans of Eames, le Corbusier and Lloyd Wright, the Hanleys created a monument to organic building materials, full of polished concrete and glass, with only some one-off O'Driscoll Furniture-designed pieces in the way of fittings. Any colour, decoration and texture comes from the merchandise on the shelves.
The emphasis is primarily on menswear: Hanley-designed off-the-peg suits, the pared-back Swedish label, Filippa K; a jeans range called Red Ear, and a work-wear-style range called R. Newbold, both by Paul Smith. For women, there is Filippa K and young Irish designer Marc O'Neill's international range. But what really sets Hanley's shop apart from other clothing outlets is the carefully chosen bits and pieces dotted around the store.
There are tweed and velvet bags by Irish designer Niamh Wood; a pile of books of photographs taken by a Japanese schoolgirl of her pet rabbit; candy-coloured suede organisers by Osprey; soft waffle-textured wool cushions and throws by Wallace & Sewell; those exclusive Japanese headphones; and tiny flick-books which show a jerky sequence of Charles Eames putting together one of his infamous chairs. This is a lifestyle store, a concept which has taken over those shopping meccas, London, Paris and New York.
Stores such as Colette in Paris, The Cross in London and the new DKNY flagship on Manhattan's Madison Avenue all selling a similar mix of accessories, homeware and - well - things, alongside high fashion. Yet Hanley is quick to point out that the impulse behind his purchasing is not a didactic one: "It's not about `this is what you must have' . . . I see my role more like that of a film or book critic. If you tend to like the same films as a critic does, you will trust their judgment in future because you know they think in the same way you do. If people understand what I'm trying to do, I hope they'll start to trust my judgment on what I like. It's all about building a rapport with your client base."
It's a point that's echoed by Joan Woods who recently opened Platform Eile, her second shop, following the success of her seven-year-old venture Platform. "I buy something for the shop because I love it, because it's beautiful, or it's touchy-feely or it's an amazing colour. Over the years you get to know your customers so well, you start buying with them in mind." For her, Platform Eile is something new - Platform has plenty of fans who go there looking for something a bit different, knowing that there will be a size that fits whether you're more a Giacommetti or a Rubens, in a colour and style that won't be repeated up and down the high street. "The new shop is different; it's `eile'," Woods explains. "It will have different ranges and different customers, not so much clubby as funky. Next season's ranges are just so colourful and eclectic." Part of that difference, that eile-ness, is also in the goods that dot the store alongside the clothes and which Woods darts around pulling out and offering for inspection. There are casually crumpled ceramics by Jan Stanley, rich suede lampshades, inlaid chopsticks in aquamarine raffia holders, furry Gladstone bags with old-fashioned floral lining and delicate beaded coasters by Bombay Duck of London.
LIKE Hanley's store, the setting is hugely important. Woods was initially unsure about not being on a main shopping street but was won over by the stone arches of the South William Street site, which was formerly a wholesalers. All the old metal plating came out, leaving the old stone, which Woods, taking a deep breath, painted silver. The other walls are white or a very pale lilac while the wood is bleached, giving the impression of limitless space - there's even a small patio outside where Woods plans to serve coffee to fatigued boyfriends and husbands in the summer. She created the simple mosaic set into the floor by bashing up tiles herself and schlepped over to Paris to hunt down the old chandelier, mirrors and chaise longue in flea markets.
Both Hanley and Woods claim that the personality of their stores is due to the possibilities of independent retailing. "I can buy with people in mind and give them a ring when something I know will suit them comes in," Woods points out. "Stock can change quickly, and the prices can stay reasonable for a quality piece that's a bit different. As an independent retailer, I can buy less safely too - I make mistakes but I can also buy madder things." She also enjoys being able to take one-off pieces if a good young designer comes in to show off some work.
"There's definitely room for both ends of the spectrum," Hanley speculates. "There's the mass-produced, everything-under-one-roof way of shopping, which is fine but I think that we're increasingly going to see a swing towards independent retailers who can react to smaller seachanges quickly. The consumer can now sit in their living room and order products globally. That means that a good retailer is going to have to be more proactive about sourcing their products. You have to be aware that retail is an organic thing - if you stand still you're dead."
Cuan Hanley, 1 Pudding Row, Temple Bar, Dublin 2 (01- 6711406). Platform Eile, 50 South William Street, Dublin 2 (01-6777063)
