A total stitch-up! Artist stocks entire corner shop with goods hand-made from FELT

• Lucy Sparrow, 28, form London funded project through Kickstarter
• Aimed to raise £2,000 – but ended up with more than £10,500
• The Cornershop is open throughout August and everything is on sale

A brand new grocery store complete with everyday goods such as fruit, milk and biscuits has just opened in London.

So far, so run-of-the-mill, right? But everything is not as it might at first appear: those purchasing perishables for dinner will be disappointed – as everything’s made from felt.

The Cornershop, in Bethnal Green, east London, is the brainchild of large-scale artist Lucy Sparrow.

The pop-up shop features everything from huggable ready meals and squeezable confectionery to stitched felt newspapers, ice lollies and oven chips – and even a felt pricing gun.

The 28-year-old from London painstakingly stitched together an incredible 3,944 items over a seven-month period – requiring more than a quarter of a million stitches. 

Lucy said: ‘I’ve always made big things. I like coming up with huge projects where the result is bigger than me and it takes over my life. 

‘I’m very obsessive and I want that to come across in the work and get people thinking ‘Who would be crazy enough to do this?’

‘I like getting up at the crack of dawn and beavering away at something, knowing that so many other people are still asleep.

‘The felt shop was born out of a desire to make an exhibition that was so all-encompassing that when everyone came in they were just blown away by the extent of the work, the labour involved.’

Bath-born Lucy took to crowdfunding site Kickstarter with the aim of raising £2,000 to create her corner shop – but ended up generating more than £10,500. 

She also managed to secure funding from the Arts Council – and a sponsorship deal with sweets manufacturer Swizzels. 

‘The beauty of this project is that all the products are very affordable pieces of art that anyone can own and that was the intention all along’

The sewing enthusiast only began work on the shop in January 2014, and admits to occasionally feeling overwhelmed by the volume of produce she was committed to making.

She added: ‘It was incredibly daunting. I remember planning out the making schedule at the beginning of February and it didn’t allow for a rest until the October 1. 

‘There were so many nights where I would wake up in a cold sweat feeling guilty and panicked that I hadn’t made enough that day.

‘I fell asleep with pieces of half-stitched felt food a lot of the time. But I never felt like giving up, amazingly. However, there were periods of extreme fatigue where I just felt like I could sleep for weeks. 

‘I think I have multivitamins and takeaways to thank for getting everything completed.’

The shop will be open throughout the month of August, with prices varying from £3 for a felt cigarette lighter to £840 for the store’s till – the most expensive item on display. 

Visitors to the exhibition will be able to reserve items using an order sheet and can then come and collect them or have them mailed out at the end of the month when the shop closes.

And Lucy admits to mixed emotions when it comes to selling off her vast stockpile of felt goods. 

‘I think it will be hard to let go of all the things I’ve made, but in a way I need them to go, I’ve got no space in my house. 

‘They’ve become a big part of my life over the last eight months. It’s been really overwhelming, but I want them to go out into the world. I want people to have them and enjoy them as much as I have.

‘The beauty of this project is that all the products are very affordable pieces of art that anyone can own and that was the intention all along. 

‘I still feel incredibly honoured that people want to have something I’ve made on display in their home.’

For more information visit thecornershoponline.com