Our Pink City palace shop, Jaipur Joy finds a home in Langport.

In April last year I finally fulfilled my goal of finding a home for my affordable fashion brand, Jaipur Joy in the artsy town of Langport. I had been trading on the Friday market in town and had enjoyed a lovely response to what I had created and felt as though I had created a new following locally . In the November of 2024 I found a lovely shop that was within my budget and was becoming available from 1st of March 2025. It just felt right, and so I jumped at the chance to launch my brand in Langport.

The shop build began, firstly with a pencil drawing that I used to plan out the space, and then it was time to get my hands dirty. I had to pull up the carpet and discovered a very lumpy and bumpy concrete floor, so that was my first job. I managed to get a friend to help me do the concrete levelling, which I have never done before, but it was very satisfying to see the finished much smoother result. Then it was time to do the shop fittings and carpentry. 

I thankfully had help with this also and we made the shelving and cabinets together whilst repurposing two screens that I had managed to find on Facebook marketplace. The results were really rewarding as it felt like the shop was starting to take shape. 

I then decided that the shop needed a focal point that was useful for photoshoots and Instagram posts. So I designed an arch inspired by the architecture of Jaipur, known as the Pink City. I started by cutting up large sheets of cardboard into the arch shape I wanted and made it 3D and then added plaster of Paris to create what I hoped would look like an arch moulding against the wall as you came into the shop, so I was the first thing you would see as a customer when you came in. It was a messy job, and took a week to dry but once it was painted it was everything I wanted it to be.

This then gave me the idea, I wanted my shop to feel like you were entering a little corner of Jaipur, here in Langport. So my 'Pink City' inspired shop started coming together. 

I got cracking doing all the painting and decorating inside and out and got lots of comments on the choice of Pink, almost all of which were very positive thankfully, and then it was time to do the floor. 

Once again I got help from a lovely friend so we both learnt together, how to put a vinyl floor down. In all the palaces you walk into across India, and especially Rajasthan, there are these wonderful checkerboard floors in beautiful marble. This was a little out of my budget but I still wanted that fabulous checkerboard look to the shop. It took a day but by the end of it there was a great deal of satisfaction in the finish we achieved.                                        

Finally the shop was ready for the stock to go in and install all the displays and counter top. It was a lovely two days of moving things around and working out what would work where, and seeing how it all flowed. The satisfaction kicked in and we had some bubbly to celebrate the final day before opening.

I opened our Langport store on Bow street in April, 6 weeks after we had started the build and what a thrill to have finally found a home for my lovely brand Jaipur Joy. It truly was a day when I felt the Joy ✨.