The Thousands

How Typical of Metal is Queenslander Ray Cook, and the 4.5 Billion Store is his showroom. Internet rumour has it that the name ‘How Typical’ came about when a friend muttered the phrase after hearing about the label.

Not knowing Cook (aka ‘Metal’), we’re not sure how characteristic or not his stoneware jewellery pieces and leather-hewn bowties are. Certainly they are unusual, as is his newly opened boutique on Lawson Street, a sparse mix of threads, accessories, and eventually, 1950s-era British and local bicycles fully restored onsite. Simple cotton shifts in Crayola brights from Brisbane designer Alice Nightingale and collared shirts from Gold Coasters House of Humility flesh out the racks.

It really does feel like you’ve stepped into an artisan’s workshop: blank canvas white walls, light fittings ringed with loops of wire, a wall-sized ‘4.5’ in rusty finish, and even Cook himself, crafting his shit right there on the floor.