Financial Times

June 1974

In the modern idiom

NEW SHOPS seem to open almost every day but it’s not often that one as special as Co­existence opens. It’s in one of the main shopping streets of Bath, at 10 Argyle Street, to be exact, and it has brought to Bath a whole range of the very best modern designs, that they have never been able to buy locally before.

Mary Wiggin, whose shop it is, chose Bath because she felt it could draw on a large catchment area. Many companies are moving into Bristol. There are lots of very large and very beautiful houses in the area, many of which would be admirable homes for the modern classics that she sells.

She sells only what she thinks is extremely good of its kind, either established modern classics like the chairs of Mies van der Rohe and Breuer or designs that are so superb that she is convinced they will become established classics.

There are beautiful soft leather sofas from Design Workshop, HK Everest, lighting from Flos and Cirra, rugs by Peter Collingwood and some exquisite pots by Elizabeth Fritsch.

It isn’t all desperately solemn – there are also some fabulous knitted chairs by Betty Barnden (see our photograph) and some bamboo cane deck chairs for only £14.50.

Already local architects have shown great interest in the shop and are delighted because they now have a local showroom where many of the things that previously could only be seen in catalogues can now be looked at. Coexistence hopes to provide a full-range of contract services shortly but certainly for the moment it is a beautiful, shop and one that a large range of people in the West Country might be interested in visiting. Bath has never been short of good shops but it is still true that it has never had anything quite like Coexistence before. It’s open from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. from Monday through to Saturday.