Mind games: step inside Paradox Museum

MW: It’s a museum that combines the worlds of science, art and human perception. We’ve got 50 fully interactive exhibits [in different] rooms and environments and everything is designed to be played with, touched, explored, to have fun with and to learn about the prisms through which we view things. With the UK in particular, when we think about museums, we have a perception of them being quite a stuffy form of education, but this is much more in the vein of having fun within a space. The idea is to learn and have fun at the same time, because people learn in different ways. We want to push this idea forward of fusing together education and entertainment – and really challenge people’s senses and question realities to ultimately create memories for visitors.

The business has only been operating for about three or four years, and the growth has been rapid. That’s pretty much entirely down to the popularity of it. From the moment the first site opened, we could see that the demand was there for something of this nature, and we’ve been able to grow across the world. Paradox Museum currently has 10 global locations in Berlin, Miami, Las Vegas, Shanghai… This [Knightsbridge] is going to be our flagship venue. It’s a large space and our design team has done an incredible job in creating these really interesting environments that sort of flow from one to the other.

We are off Brompton Road, directly opposite Harrods. I think Knightsbridge is quite closely aligned with our values and the location is perfect for us. You’ve got some really high-quality brands and retail outlets, the architecture is wonderful and you’ve got some amazing hotels right around the corner, plus you’re a stone’s throw away – not just from Harrods, but also Hyde Park and Buckingham Palace and a number of big stations. We want to make sure that people recognise that we’re a permanent structure and that we have gone to a lot of effort to really consider all of the exhibits and how it all works. What we’re bringing is a family experience, so hopefully it will add strong value to the area and bring in extra business. At this point we’re really excited to open and to see people’s reactions to it and we’re looking forward to being a part of the local Knightsbridge community.

Our prime audience is going to be families and young adults. Within the space you can take some pretty amazing photos, so that’s going to really appeal to the Instagram and TikTok audience. And I’ve got to be honest, when I first looked at the concept, I thought that it was going to be almost exclusively for that market. But I’ve been to some other Paradox sites and I’ve seen people of all ages engage and have fun. We have seen plenty of retirees moving around the site in Paris, for example, just having the most amazing time because it’s something completely different. It’s an environment that is accessible to everybody.

Everything within the museum has been designed specifically for London. We have a whole area that’s dedicated to the style of the tube network and we’ve got a lot of spaces inspired by cultural and artistic figures from our UK history. We’ve also got a fantastic array of new exhibits, such as a zero-gravity room, which is going to really blow people’s minds. A number of exhibits that have been in other locations have got a specific London twist. So even if a visitor has been to one of our other sites, it’s going to be a completely unique experience coming to London.

I’m more looking forward to seeing people’s reactions to it. I think people are going to have so much fun and find really novel ways of interacting with this stuff. But of note is a walk-in kaleidoscope and our tube-inspired Paradox Tunnel, which is unlike anything I’ve seen before. But some of the smaller exhibits are also really exciting. We have a thing called a zoetrope, which uses special lighting to create movement that isn’t actually happening. Your brain sort of fills in blanks that aren’t there – I love the way that that works and how it tricks your mind.

Discover Paradox Museum London from 17 July 2024. Tickets from £16.50; 90 Brompton Road  SW3 1JJ