BackYard

BackYard traces its origins to 2015, when a group of Czech designers, colleagues, and friends converted a garden space into a combined jewelry studio and showroom -- an informal meeting point where new work could be made, shown, and sold outside the conventional gallery system. At the end of 2018, the collective moved out of that garden and into its current home at U Obecního dvora 2, a small paved square in Prague's Staré Město (Old Town), formally announcing itself to the city's design scene. Today BackYard operates as a shared retail and studio space representing roughly fifteen Czech designers, spanning jewelry -- including Kateřina Matěchová, Nastassia Aleinikava, Kristýna Malovaná, Alžběta Dvořáková, and Veronika Watzková -- and slow-fashion labels such as Kristýna K, Restore, Mayda, and Krakora. The space combines a sales showroom with working jewelry studios and a room used for collection presentations, lectures, and designer talks. Rather than employing dedicated retail staff, BackYard is staffed on a rotation: six days a week, one of the resident designers themselves serves customers, walks them through the collections, and explains materials, production, and care.