Pop-up or guerrilla shops have been lurking in the shadows of the world’s cities for the past few years. Rei Kawakubo of fashion label Comme des Garçons is often credited with launching the concept five years ago, when she set up a temporary retail outlet in a disused, dilapidated building in an unlikely neighbourhood of Berlin. The space was cleaned up – just enough – and equipped with rails of clothes, some design objects and a cash register. It was an instant success. Customers who found it felt they were in on something edgy, secret and slightly illicit: something that was hardly a business at all.

Since then, Comme des Garçons has created a handful of 12-month shops in cities such as Beirut, The Hague and Vilnius, while other big fashion brands including Uniqlo and Target have followed suit. And, perhaps not surprisingly, the idea is now trickling through to other realms. Designers and design stores in particular are embracing this raw, low-tech approach as an antidote to homogenised, glossy stores and as a way to create a sense of discovery and urgency among buyers.