Weird and wonderful chairs and other furniture can now be yours following the opening of a new shop in Nicosia. ELENI ANTONIOU is impressed
HIDDEN in the back streets of old Nicosia is Top of the Pop. This small shop, with its large windows has been the subject of a lot of talk in Nicosia recently and as I approached, it became obvious why. Pop Art furniture in all its magnificence and all the colours of the rainbow, was staring back at me.
Inside it truly is an Aladdin’s cave. The walls are decorated with abstract art pieces, small fish tanks shaped like bubbles protrude from the walls and lamps hang from the ceiling with wings and fuchsia feathers. Glancing at the floor, it is painted black and white, resembling a life-size chessboard. Furthermore, the graffiti on a pillar in the middle of the shop, which was painted by a personal friend of the owner’s, makes you think you’ve certainly walked into another dimension.
Top of the Pop offers everything from a lipstick-red love seat shaped like Marilyn Monroe’s lips to an armchair made of a steel rod frame and an inflatable rubber tube. Originating in the 1950s and 1960s, pop art furniture has the everlasting power to startle. It is an ongoing and important art movement, and Antonis Yiaffas, owner of Top of the Pop, says the furniture is inspired by the 1970s as well.
As I walked around the shop, my eyes were glued to one of the most infamous chairs of all time: the Globe chair, best known these days as ‘the moment of truth chair’ in reality TV shows such as Big Brother and Fame Story. Think of the contestants entering a small room dominated by a huge chair where they sit only to be enveloped in its false sense of security as they talk to the camera about the other contestants. That’s a Globe chair. Without further ado, I asked if I could try it. “The Globe chair was the main reason I started this shop,” Antonis said. “I had seen it in a store in England and I promised myself I would own one.”
One of the fathers of Pop Art is Arman (Armand Fernandez), whose art can be found in a number of Parisian galleries. He has smashed, sliced and burnt objects which have been collected as sculptural objects. He has been quoted as saying: “I didn’t discover the principle of accumulation; it discovered me. It has always been obvious that society feeds its sense of security with a pack-rat instinct demonstrated in its window displays, assembly lines, and garbage piles. As a witness of my society, I have always been very much involved in the … cycle of production, consumption, and destruction. And for a long time, I have been anguished by the fact that one of its most conspicuous material results is the flooding of our world with junk and rejected objects.”
What you discover at Top of the Pop is not junk or rejected objects, but a wide range of home accessories that anyone would gladly welcome into their home, even if it is a green, hairy, monster-like, eye-catching dustbin. Antonis assured me that it comes in any colour. The little monster together with the pink, fibreglass, illuminated table, was, once again, reminiscent of childhood tales and it is clearly understandable why this place could be mistaken for a playground. So, it came as no surprise when Antonis said, “I have had an offer by a TV channel, that is looking to do a children’s TV show in the shop.”
Most of the furniture Antonis has personally picked out in England, Germany and Thailand. “I visit these countries often because I am always in search of new things,” Antonis said. There are also some pieces in the shop that are unique, made by amateur artists in Cyprus. “I like the idea that my shop is open to new artists that are in my line of style,” Antonis said, “and it seems to be working because famous Cypriot bar owners have bought a few pieces.”
From tulip and panton chairs to cushions made out of original 60s and 70s materials, almost everything Top of the Pop has to offer is inspired by our daily routine. An ordinary object is enhanced, transforming it into a piece of furniture. A hammer is placed upside down with a lampshade on top to create an abatjour, an oversized martini glass becomes a chair! And there is more to come. Antonis explained: “I will gradually begin bringing all different kinds of extreme items because I do believe that Pop Art has a lot to offer Cyprus homes.”
Top of the Pop:
