Popping Down is the New Pop-Up! Check out this New Pop-Up Restaurant in Finland

Here at Barber we’ve worked on a lot of interior retail design projects for coffee shops and restaurants and some very innovative pop-up retail units like the shop we designed for Diesel in Carnaby Street which was made out of cardboard. This proved very popular with shoppers and helped raise brand awareness for the store.

But… we’ve never thought of popping down until we saw pictures of the world’s first ‘pop-down’ pop-up restaurant in Finland. Due to open next week this breathtaking interior will become home to a branch of popular restaurant chain Muru located 80 metres below the ground in a mine in Tytyri, Lohja.

The ‘Muru Pops Down in Tytyri’ project is part of Helsinki’s ‘World Design Capital’ – a year-long event celebrating design with exhibitions and projects including the transformation of several retail and industrial spaces.

Voted Finland’s best restaurant, this particular branch of Muru will be open for just over 2 weeks, offering ‘down to earth’ food in Muru’s signature style, designed in the spirit of a ‘mining canteen’ for €115 a head. During their experience, diners will have the opportunity to travel deeper underground to depths of up to 350 metres, in one of KONE’s test laboratory lifts.

As previously mentioned on the blog, pop-up retail is on the rise in the UK – along with various schemes to invigorate town centres and ease the development of new retail spaces. By developing pop-up retail outlets alongside their traditional stores, brands such as Diesel and Muru help to strengthen their retail brand whilst also creating a reputation for innovation and adventure with their positive exploration of new retail interior ideas.