Launched in Čopova street on Thursday, the Brands of Friends shop offers a range creative design items by Desnahemisfera, Wood Stock, Tok tok, Trash Design, Flying Pussy, Musguard and Lumu, to name but a few.

The shared value of the merchandise on sale is excellent design, quality craftsmanship, a good story and the Made in Slovenia label, the project's initiators say.

The shop is a product of the joint effort by the Desnahemisfera design studio (which translates as right hemisphere) and Wood Stock, the Konjice-based firm manufacturing wooden-frame sun glasses.

Both companies offer a great range of products, so creating a sales channel was a key reason for opening the shop, Dejan Kos from Desnahemisfera told the STA.

"Most of all we'd like to offer an opportunity to other Slovenian products that we believe have market potential and a great story, because we find it absurd that a Chinese visitor coming here should buy a souvenir made in China."

Brands of Friends is a long-term project with the hope being that this is just the first in a series of shops supporting local micro industries globally.

"If we'd open a shop in London, we'd train people there to manufacture wooden glasses so we'd always be able to keep the Made Here label," Kos said.

The project also seeks to create an environment to breed new ideas. In separate rooms the shop features a designer studio and a workshop, so it will be possible to test fresh ideas in the market directly.