“Felt” corner shop: launches tonight

Artist Lucy Sparrow dropped us a line this week as she’s planning to turn an abandoned store in Bethnal Green into a pop-up filled with hand-made felt corner shop products. And aren’t they lovely?

She launches the project tonight at Collective 159, the new “creative marketplace” on Camden High Street, where it runs initially until February 6th.

“Each item – from the bean cans, to the cigarette packets, the chewing gum and the porn mags – will be made entirely out of felt,” she says. “Each is meticulously hand-sewn, stuffed and priced by yours truly. During the month-long installation of the actual Cornershop itself in Bethnal Green [date TBA] I hope it’ll be visited by both local passers-by and art audiences. Once inside, they can view the products, handle – and even buy them.”

Why is she doing it? “To raise awareness of the Great British High Street,” she says. “Audiences will be led to question their consumption behaviours through the tactile experience that the work presents.”

Whether that sounds pretentious to you or not, you can always simply appreciate the work itself. And the installation will be accompanied by a series of workshops that Lucy hopes will engage individuals and “connect communities”.

She has applied for money from the Arts Council, but has also created a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds (currently doing pretty well by the looks of it, see link below).

So while the Cornershop itself is still a way off, in the mean time head to the launch party in Camden tonight where Lucy promises “free drinks, food, music and a little station where people can come and pledge in return for cuddly cans of beans and soup”.

And in this weather, there’s something especially comforting about a can of Campbell’s. Right?