In 2007 the organizers of the annual design fair in Frankfurt, Germany invited the studio to organize a special event based on the event theme: Private Identity. 2x4’s response was to create a t-shirt shop within the confines of the exhibition hall catering to a small but growing German demographic, the so-called Generation Praktikum: 20-something workers, shut out from the traditional job market, jumping from internship to internship, denied one of the essential aspects of identity, the job. The Generation Praktikum shop offered a helping hand in this frustrated quest for identity, a specially designed collection of shirts, each in an edition of one.
The focus of the project was choice. As the consumer browsed the shop they were in effect mentally trying on possible identities, but they were also buying into the project.
The shop itself was consumed by shopping. There was no back-stock to replace the shirts that were bought. GP staffers filled the gaps where the shirts once hung with an image of the consumer and their shirt, transforming the shop into a display or gallery. Products were replaced with people.
