Setting Up Shop — Inside Spazio Leone, the London Showroom Rekindling the Legacy of Cult Design Masters

In a split image, the left of the frame features a young man in a blue jumper as he stands in a naturally lit gallery. On the right, a wooden bookcase, an iron sofa and a lamp stand in the same art space.

In a world of copy-pasted high streets punctuated by identical stores, independently-owned businesses stand out for their inimitable contributions to the communities they serve. Setting Up Shop is the Livingetc column that takes you inside the lives and professional ventures of shopkeepers who went the extra mile to run the stores of their dreams.

It isn't a coincidence if Spazio Leone — the design showroom stemming from founder Gennaro Leone's love of vintage Italian furniture and forward-thinking artistry — finds its home in the creative melting pot that is Hackney Downs Studios. Located between Dalston and Clapton in the heart of East London, the space benefits from the eclectic range of independent retail, hospitality, publishing, and art realities rising within the lively premises of the workspace provider. The influence of such dynamic setting is tangible in Spazio Leone's collection which, rooted in an appreciation for design cult masters and featuring anything from mid-century modern and Bauhaus masterpieces to eccentric sculptural rarities, continually transforms to reflect the pulse of contemporary culture.