Brighton artist knits supermarket (From The Argus)

Brighton artist knits supermarket

7:00am Tuesday 13th September 2011 in News By Neil Vowles

This is a yarn about a special supermarket that will leave you in stitches if you follow our thread.

Brighton-based artist and fashion designer Kate Jenkins has created a supermarket selling Wool's sausages, tomato stitchup and canned laughter.

Miss Jenkins says her supermarket is more inspired by Warhol than Waitrose with a knitted version of his famous Campbell's Soup alongside some of her own favourite brands from her childhood such as Fairy Liquid and Heinz.

The 39-year-old has spent the last nine months creating more than 60 pieces for the exhibition at the Rebecca Hossack Gallery in London.

Even though the exhibition, which runs until September 24, is now complete, Miss Jenkins has no time to just count sheep because she has to create a knitted hotel room next month for her latest project.

The Do Knit Disturb project will give customers the chance to stay in a woolly room in Hotel Pelirocco in Regency Square, Brighton.

Miss Jenkins spends thousands of pounds a year on wool. She mainly uses British lamb's wool and Japanese yarns and on a recent visit to India brought back 10kg of sequins in her luggage.

She said: “I first started doing the art because I wanted to do something to promote the label.

“But it has really taken over my time, it has really taken off and it's been a really interesting couple of years.

“It's good that knitting is getting popular again but I've designed knitwear for the last 17 years, so for me it's never really gone out of fashion.

“It's such a great hobby for anybody because it's so portable.”