THE Forum’s Andy Knight wants to give you a lesson in street knowledge.

Today sees the launch of Forum Space, the brainchild of Knight and business partner Des Mills, a pop-up gallery and extension of The Forum streetwear store in the Brunel Centre.

Supported by influential brands Stüssy, The Hundreds, Puma and OBEY, the gallery aims to celebrate the many facets of street culture and shine a light on independent UK street artists.

Store owners, turned pop-up gallery curators, Knight and Mills, who have run The Forum store for 12 years, spoke of their initial vision behind the gallery.

“Our customers don’t always know the background of the brands they are buying,” explained Knight.

“Hopefully the gallery will give them an insight into the depth of what our store and the brands are about. It will be a showcase of who and what inspires us.”

Open daily for the next six weeks, the Forum Space will be run by friend and in-house barber Josh Thom, who will also be offering a daily barbering service.

Like the store, the gallery shares the same ethos and desire to support independent UK artists and will be featuring work by the likes of Eine, Sickboy, Epok and Sepr.

Describing the gallery’s inspiration, Knight added: “Over the last 12 years the store has been constantly evolving, but we’ve always supported UK artists and brands. With the gallery it made sense to represent and showcase the UK independent street artists that we love.”

The launch night will also see two special guest pieces from Banksy and a whole feature wall from Shepard Fairey, the founder of popular label OBEY. Gallery guests can also purchase selected pieces from the featured artists.

Beyond showcasing independent artists, Knight hopes to help change the perception of streetwear culture, which he feels does not always get a fair representation in the media.

He added: “The gallery will draw away from the graffiti image which can get so much bad press and instead encourage people to recognise it for what it is and in its real form, as street art.”

Over 18s can head down to the Forum Space tonight for the launch party from 7pm. There will be free drinks and music provided by DJs such as Ross and Baila from Breakin Bread. - KATHERINE MORRIS