A commercial gallery, a non-profit curatorial platform and an artist-run space are moving in together in Fitzrovia — not quite because they can’t afford the rent alone, but that’s certainly part of the thinking.
NORITO, Teaspoon Projects and s t a r c h are joining forces to launch Flatmates 37, a new collective art space at 37 Foley Street that uses shared tenancy as a model for surviving — and hopefully thriving — within London’s increasingly difficult cultural economy.
Taking its name from the shared living arrangements familiar to generations of Londoners, Flatmates 37 applies much the same logic to running an art space: split the overheads, share resources and create something together that might be harder to sustain alone.
But the idea goes further than simply dividing the bills. Each organisation arrives with a different structure and set of pressures.
NORITO is a young commercial gallery established in London in 2024 with a particular focus on the long-term development and institutional visibility of East and Southeast Asian artists. Teaspoon Projects, founded by curator Gigi Surel in 2025, is a non-profit curatorial platform supporting emerging artists through exhibitions, publications and public programmes. Singapore-founded s t a r c h, meanwhile, is an artist-run non-profit space focused on critical and experimental practice.
Put them together and Flatmates 37 becomes an experiment in whether commercial viability, non-profit curating and grassroots artist production can not only share an address, but actively support one another.
It’s a model born partly from necessity. London’s independent galleries, artist-run spaces and curatorial initiatives face very different challenges, but expensive property, rising operating costs and diminishing public support increasingly connect them. Flatmates 37 proposes cohabitation as one possible response: rather than each organisation trying to maintain its own infrastructure, they share it.
And, like any good flatshare, everyone brings something different to the house.
Teaspoon Projects will anchor the space’s curatorial direction, developing collaborative exhibitions, public events and projects alongside the individual programmes of the three organisations.
The first collective exhibition, SOFT SERVE, opens on 25th September and runs until 14th November. The programme is intended to blur some of the conventional boundaries between commercial galleries, non-profit organisations and artist-led spaces while testing whether shared resources can offer a more resilient model for maintaining physical cultural spaces in London.
Whether London’s art world is ready to embrace the flatshare remains to be seen. But with the economics of maintaining an independent space in the capital becoming increasingly unforgiving, sharing the rent — and a little more besides — suddenly seems like a pretty sensible idea.
Flatmates 37 launches with a private view on 24th September 2026, 6PM–8PM, at 37 Foley Street, Fitzrovia, London. SOFT SERVE runs 25th September–14th November 2026.
