THE Lotte Inch Gallery had an all too brief fling at Number 3, High Petergate, York, in 2013, but now it is returning in a new location.

First time around, it was one of those Pop-Up galleries that popped up, made its mark with its choice of art and gifts and its theatrical design, but popped off all too quickly, just before Christmas, on account of the owner having other plans for the premises.

Lotte's new home is not a Pop-Up venture, instead being housed in what used to be C E Seymour tailor's shop in Bootham until the business closed in May after 65 years.

The shop has been acquired by Lotte's family, serendipitously being next door to her mother Janette Ray's bookshop for rare architecture, design, garden and fine art publications.

Lotte had found running her first Lotte Inch gallery "hard work and quite lonely, so I didn't immediately want to do it again but after two years in my job at Leeds University, doing marketing and events at the Stanley and Audrey Burton Gallery, I decided I did want to do something of my own again," says Lotte, now 31.

"Deciding to leave my job happened to coincide with the Bootham property becoming available, which was all very timely."

She set to work on turning two floors into a gallery in August, and she had learned from her first experience in High Ousegate.

"This time I wanted to have a gallery assistant and, because it's my space, I can now plan much further ahead, which will keep it exciting. It's more permanent and I'll have a website at lotteinch.co.uk that will keep me busy too and will be fully operational in the New Year, with details of what I have for sale here and details of current and forthcoming shows."

York Press:

The new Lotte Inch Gallery, in Bootham, York

The new Lotte Inch Gallery opened with a well-attended launch last Thursday night, introducing the debut exhibition, Profile, An Exploration of Line, Form & Colour, which presents the work of Sir Terry Frost, Anthony Frost, Sandra Blow, Breon O'Casey, Stella Morris, David Roberts and Rick Henham.

"We're also featuring a young graduate as my objective with each show will be to have someone up-and-coming alongside established artists," says Lotte. "This time it's Shefford Smith, from Nottingham, whose work I found at the Manchester Contemporary Buy Art Fair in the old Granada Studios.

"Working with a rotary pen, his ink on paper works are very linear and very abstract, meticulous and almost architectural. He'd done two years of an architectural course, then quit, and you can see that influence in his art."

Lotte's gallery will be "an inclusive and welcoming place" with work from Yorkshire and national artists and designers. "We'll have a continually changing programme of exhibitions, which means there should always be something for all interests and all budgets," she says.

"I really do want Lotte Inch Gallery to be somewhere that everyone feels that they can visit. I'm resolute in the fact that I want this gallery to be a place that challenges the idea that 'Art' is only for a certain audience type.

"I also want it to be a place that resists the idea of the 'white cube' gallery space, while introducing people to works which might normally be found in such spaces."

The gallery makes striking use of the contrast between white walls and dark beams. "This is anything but a 'white cube' modern gallery; it's almost anti-white cube! It's a building where none of the walls are flat, the beams were already black, so I've gone for a monochrome look...and I'm even thinking of having an exhibition next year called Shades Of Black And White," says Lotte, who promises a "really varied" exhibition programme.

More immediately she can reveal that the next show will be Made To Measure, making reference to the shop's many years of providing a tailoring service. On show will be work by artists Kate Haywood, Jill Gibson, Graham Hardy, Zosia Olenska and Hayley Mills-Styles.

In addition, the gallery will always have a selection of jewellery, cards, gifts for the home and arty wrapping paper, along with gift vouchers. "The stock will change with every exhibition, like having beautiful scissors and craft items for Made To Measure," says Lotte.

Meanwhile, she is working in tandem with Rebecca Carr, of the Kiosk: Project Space, in Fossgate, to establish the York Art Galleries Group and to produce a map of York galleries and art spaces in the New Year.

She is also running the Lotte Inch art finding and consultancy service for homeowners, interior designers and businesses within a 50-mile radius of York city centre, with more information available at info@lotteinch.co.uk

Summing up her gallery venture, Lotte says: "This is a new space for York, which will grow and respond to the city and to the audiences that visit and will, I hope, be a place that people come back to time and again to discover new and unique fine art, prints, ceramics and much more."

Opening hours are Tuesday to Saturday, 10am to 6pm; Sundays in December, 11am to 4pm; Thursdays, in the lead-up to Christmas, late-night shopping to 8pm.