At first glance, it appears that this shop owner is surrounded by nothing more than your average corner store basics like potato chips, candy, and beer. However, upon closer inspection, viewers will discover that the entire collection of goods is actually made out of felt. Created by artist Lucy Sparrow, The Cornershop is a London pop-up store that mimics an actual corner store in squishy felt form.
Sparrow raised 10,744 (roughly $18,000) via a Kickstarter campaign to fund the project in order to transform a deserted store space into this lively market located in Bethnal Green. The artist spent seven months hand-stitching together more than 4,000 items to create the site-specific exhibition. She created frozen goods, stitched-felt newspapers, magazines, canned goods, toiletries, cereal boxes, cigarettes, pregnancy tests, and even a felt pricing gun and a full-sized cash register. As visitors enter the space, they will find themselves immediately consumed by the soft, plush art all around.
Every single product is available for purchase through The Cornershop website, but will remain in The Cornershop through August, during which time Sparrow will host a number of sewing workshops meant to bring the community together.
