The Corner shop lives on a sweet, residential street between Brick Lane and Columbia road in Bethnal Green, East London. Sitting proudly on the corner between cute little London terraces this former dry cleaners has been transformed into a magical experience.
It's a cross between an art piece and my idea of heaven. Everything you find inside -and even outside as the sign welcoming you is also stitched though the shop fittings are original and in situ!- is made of felt.
Soft, bright and pretty much a true representation of the original items. It's pretty accurate.... so accurate then when I later visited a super market my mind was still believing it was looking at items made of felt!
You'll find everything from tins of Pilchards, baked beans, cans of special brew, Tampax, newspapers, packets of fags, bags of crisp, a selection of vegetables, milk and all the rest you'd expect to find in a great British corner shop... even the cheap grey kitty litter!
This amazing project is by the artist Lucy Swallow who in all authenticity sits happily between her creations playing the part of a shop keeper behind a felt til! I think Lucy's secretly enjoying a bit of play time. By the size of her smile it's not so "secretly" as she looks like she is genuinely having fun! I mean who wouldn't be?
It's like a giant play shop... I remember fondly my plastic shopping trolley, bright yellow toy til and the huge amounts of plastic play food. It was after all the 1970's so plastic was the norm but this is so much more!
Though I wish I had the contents of Lucy's shop back then... that would had made me as a little girl the happiest child ever! Like the happiest 8 year old in the whole of History!
The corner shop is open until the end of August and honestly go... you won't regret it and remember everything is for sale though you'll have to wait until the end of the exhibition. I have to say I was very tempted but luckily -or unluckily. Depends how you look at it!- I didn't have my purse on me. But even though I didn't leave with a pack of felt Lucky Strike I left with a huge smile on my face and a feeling of pure child like joy... and that is pretty much priceless!
P.S. You can tell I was excited...look at the amount of exclamation marks I used in this post, but if you can't get there don't worry there is a Corner shop web shop though it really is a sight to be hold!
www.thecornershoponline.com
Thank you Lucy for making such a wonderful and happy piece of art!
I dare you blog reader to go in there and not come out feeling all warm and fuzzy!
