Pop-up shop Maison Royale is offering visitors to Darlington's Cornmill shopping centre a taste of unique North-East design

High Streets everywhere are becoming more and more "samey", any individuality squeezed out by the big, bad boys of retail. So it's nice when something, literally, "pops up" that offers something a little bit different.

Maison Royale, in Darlington's Cornmill Centre, is such a place, offering beautiful painted furniture, design-led gifts and items for the home that scream individuality. But if you want to shop there, you need to hurry: the pop-up outlet is only there until June 16.

It?s all the idea of 44-year-old Angela Kingsley, who lives in the town. "I wanted to bring together products from local businesses which I hand-picked and that you couldn't find on the high street," she says. "Darlington, with its many independents, used to be a great shopping destination, but the high street is becoming awash with big chains and is fast losing its individuality."

Angela wanted to bring something different back to the town and, in particular, to showcase local talent and local products. "This is such a wonderful opportunity for my business and those of the other artists, designers and makers," she says.

Most designers don?t have their own shopfronts due to the large costs involved in setting up and running a shop on the high street, and usually sell online through websites, social media, fairs and events. "This shop offers each business a chance to reach a large and more local audience and to also promote their products and their brand," she says.

Angela has always had a keen interest in design. In 2012, she set up Maison Royale – an online homeware and lifestyle store – to showcase British-made and Fairtrade home accessories and unique and meaningful gifts. "We have such talented designers, artists and makers in this country and I was very keen to showcase this," she says. "On the Maison Royale website we are proud to support all sorts of designers – from the long established brands with their proud heritage of British design, manufacture and quality to the new and exciting upcoming designers with their innovative, design-led ideas."

When attending fairs and exhibitions and travelling, Angela is always on the look-out for new and exciting products to sell online. "I choose things that I love and would want in my own home," she says. "My ethos when buying products is that they need to have superb quality, timeless individuality and most of all, great design. As many stores are flooded with cheap foreign imports, I was particularly keen to showcase the very best of British design and, in particular, to give young and upcoming designers a platform to showcase and sell their products."

Angela herself fell into design after she had finished a teaching degree and wanted to spend more quality time with her then 13-year-old daughter. "We started to create things together," she says. "I made fabric hearts, and fairies and button pictures and my daughter made jewellery, Scrabble rings and Scrabble signs. It was such a lovely and relaxing way to spend time together, time that I had missed whilst studying. We went to local fairs and events to sell the products we'd made and they were very popular.

"I had worked as a retail manager in my twenties and had used this experience to teach primary school children about business and enterprise. They set up some very successful businesses making things from fudge to soap. Although I absolutely adored teaching primary school children, I never really lost my passion for retail."

After meeting new and upcoming designers at local trade fairs, Angela decided to bring their talents together under one roof and Maison Royale was born."

The online business grew quickly and in December 2012, Angela left her full-time job to concentrate on building the business and brand. She has a stall on Darlington's Sunday People's Market – held in the town centre on the first Sunday of each month – and attends lots of fairs and events in the region

There are over 20 local designers, artists and makers involved in the pop-up shop and a selection of products which includes hand-made candles, ceramics and bags to cushions, dog treats and organic skincare. Each is clearly labelled with a bit of background about the designer.

"Some are people I have met personally and whose products and creations I have admired (and bought!); others I have connected with online through the North East Women's site - The Inspire Network.

"The pop-up shop is a great way to test if this business model is viable in Darlington," says Angela. "I would love to consider opening a permanent shop in the town, but it would depend on the overheads. I will certainly look at opening more pop-ups. In the past two weeks we have had many compliments, with people saying Darlington needs a shop like this."

Maison Royale - Furniture, Home Accessories and Gifts

W: maison-royale.co.uk