The Midbloom Journal
field notes
Real projects, design decisions, and observations from shops and spaces in progress.
Field Notes
ONEOFEACH: From Pop-Up to Permanent Storefront
Tamburai had no shortage of ideas for the ONEOFEACH storefront. Our discovery work turned that wishlist into a clear brief for the shop’s next chapter.
By the time ONEOFEACH decided to stay in its Pacific Place space beyond the original pop-up, founder Tamburai Chirume already had a strong sense of what she wanted the store to become. She wanted it to feel more intimate and intentional, less like one big open room and more like a place where people could browse, sit, talk, learn about the work, attend a workshop, or spend time with an artist’s story.
There were a lot of ideas attached to that vision: more defined seating, a projection wall, workshops, exhibitions, stronger storytelling, and better ways to give certain pieces more presence. The challenge was figuring out how all of those ideas could work together without the space feeling crowded or disconnected.
ONEOFEACH is a mother-and-daughter brand founded by Tamburai and her mother, Pauline Munemo, known as Mama P. The brand began in 2014 using leather offcuts and fabrics Mama P had collected over the years. Because many of those materials were only available in small quantities, certain combinations could only be made once. One of each.
Over time, the name grew into something bigger than the materials themselves. It came to reflect the individuality of the designers, makers, collaborators, and customers connected to the brand.
ONEOFEACH has since built a presence through exhibitions, pop-ups, and collaborations, including showcases at institutions such as the British Museum and George Washington University Textile Museum. More recently, the brand tested physical retail through a series of pop-ups before expanding into the Pacific Place storefront through Seattle Restored.
By the time we started working together, Tamburai had already learned a lot from being in the space. She knew which products stopped people, that the beadwork near the front was getting attention, and that customers were asking questions about the fabrics, the makers, and where the pieces came from.
She had also started to see what the store could become beyond a place to sell products. There was room for workshops, screenings, exhibitions, artist features, and community events. She wanted people to stay longer, learn more about the work, and feel more connected to the brand while they were there.
That gave us a really useful place to begin.
We started with what was already happening
The first part of discovery was really about listening to what Tamburai had already noticed. We talked about what was working, what still felt unfinished, and how customers were actually moving through the store. Where were people stopping? What were they asking about? Which parts of the shop were being used differently than expected?
Because the space had already been operating for a while, we did not have to invent a customer journey from scratch. We had real behavior to work from, which helped us look at the store less like a blank canvas and more like something that already had patterns worth paying attention to.
That was especially useful because ONEOFEACH already had a strong brand story. The discovery work was not about inventing one. It was about understanding how the physical space could make that story easier to experience.
We worked backward from the ideas
Tamburai had a strong wishlist, but some of the most useful conversations were about what was behind each idea.
More seating, for example, was not really about adding more chairs. It was about making people feel comfortable enough to stay. The projection wall was not just a feature; it could support screenings, events, and storytelling. The gallery idea was less about making the space feel formal and more about giving individual pieces enough room and context to feel important. Workshops and exhibitions were part of making the shop feel connected to a larger creative community.
Once we understood what each idea was actually trying to do, the design decisions became much easier to evaluate.
“More seating” can sound like a furniture problem, but if the real goal is “I want people to stay longer,” the solution may have much more to do with layout, zoning, lighting, and how the room feels than with the number of chairs.
That distinction became important as we moved into the next phase.
We talked about how the store should feel
One thing Tamburai kept coming back to was intimacy. The store has a lot of space, which gives ONEOFEACH flexibility, but it can also make everything feel a little exposed when every activity happens in one large room.
She wanted someone to be able to sit down, talk about a piece, attend an event, or learn about an artist without feeling like they were sitting in the middle of the sales floor. The store needed to feel comfortable enough for browsing to turn into conversation, while still feeling premium and contemporary.
It also could not become so polished that it lost the warmth, texture, and personality already present in the brand. That balance became a big part of the direction.
Then we looked at everything the space needed to support
The more we talked, the clearer it became that the storefront had several jobs. It needed to work for everyday retail, but also for workshops, exhibitions, storytelling, screenings, gatherings, and future collaborations.
ONEOFEACH was planning a grand opening and an exhibition with an artist from South Africa, and there were also ideas around beadwork classes and other events connected to the African Academy of Fashion.
The brand story needed more presence too. Tamburai wanted customers to be able to encounter the materials, makers, cultural connections, and social impact without having to ask someone to explain everything first.
The space needed to help tell that story on its own.
By the end of the visit, we had a much clearer sense of what the store needed to do. The next step was figuring out how all of those uses could fit together without competing with one another.
The brief that came out of discovery
What came out of discovery was not a furniture list or a paint palette. It was a direction.
We wanted to create a more intimate, gallery-like retail experience where people could shop, stay, learn, gather, and connect with the ONEOFEACH story.
That meant making the brand story easier to encounter, giving products more context, creating clearer moments to pause, and making room for workshops and events without losing the everyday retail experience.
That gave me something concrete to design around.
From there, I could start testing layout options and asking more specific questions about how the space needed to work. Where should someone go when they walk in? What should they notice first? Where could they pause? How could workshops happen without taking over the whole store? Where should storytelling live? How could checkout feel like part of the experience instead of something tacked onto the end?
That became the next part of the process, and where Part 2 begins.
If your shop feels unfinished, confusing, or not quite as strong as you know it could be, but you are not sure what to tackle first, a Space Audit gives you a clear place to start.
I look at how your space is working now, how customers are moving through it, where the layout, displays, or storytelling may be getting in the way, and which changes are actually worth prioritizing. Then I turn that into a clear plan for what to address first, what can wait, and what your next steps should be.