About Lucy
Lucy Sparrow is one of the most exciting and original artists working in the UK today. Her practice is quirky yet subversive, luring the audience in with her soft, tactile, colourful felt creations before hitting them hard with her comment on subjects including the demise of the traditional high street and the fragmentation of community.
She took the art world by storm in summer of 2014 with the opening of her fully-stocked felt Cornershop installation in London’s East End. With queues around the block and wall to wall media coverage, it was both a commercial and critical success. Warmongery, a controversial sell-out installation exploring the issues around gun control and mental health followed in May 2015. In October 2015, Madame Roxy’s Erotic Emporium opened its doors in the back streets of London’s Soho. Showcasing Lucy’s commitment to her artistic vision, she recreated an entire sex shop in glorious technicolour, including a fully working, animated felt peep show. In 2016, the BBC commissioned Lucy to recreate the Crown Jewels in felt, to celebrate HRH The Queen’s 90th birthday.
In May 2017, Lucy undertook her first solo show in the US. Opening The Convenience Store, a New York bodega stocked with over 9,000 felted artworks. Scheduled to run for a month, the store was an instant hit, selling out in just over two weeks. The bodega dominated the NYC art scene, appearing everywhere from the New York Times to the massive TV screens on Times Square. Returning to the US in August 2018, Lucy opened Sparrow Mart, a fully felted supermarket in Downtown Los Angeles. Complete with 31,000 hand painted works. Another instant hit, it generated global press attention and a round the block queue.
December 2018 saw Lucy’s work unveiled in the windows of the Hermes flagship store on Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills. As well as dominating the headlines at Miami Art Week with her installation piece, Triple Art Bypass. This saw Lucy perform ‘live’ surgery to huge crowds at the Context Art Fair.
In 2019, Lucy created the cover artwork for the Spring issue of Juxtapose magazine, and opened her debut museum exhibition ‘Lucy Sparrow’s Felt Imaginarium’ at M Woods in Beijing, China. Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe, the Rockefeller Centre in NYC played host to Lucy’s Delicatessen on 6th. A fully stocked felt deli and immersive art experience.
In 2021, Lucy returned home for her first UK exhibition in over five years. Opening the Bourdon Street Chemist in the heart of Mayfair, London. This incredibly successful installation gained blanket media coverage, saw fans queueing around the block and became the must-see British exhibition post-Covid.
In April 2021, Lucy was selected as guest artist for series two of Grayson Perry’s Art Club. Her work was then exhibited in the accompanying exhibition at Bristol Museum & Art Gallery between December 2021 and May 2022.
January 2022 saw Lucy return to the US to unveil her most ambitious installation yet. She unveiled Tampa Fresh Foods, a 3,000 sq. ft hypermarket filled with over 50,000 felt groceries, a Cuban sandwich bar and humidor, that went viral on TikTok. Creating hour long queues and global recognition.
In June 2022, the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall unveiled Lucy’s fully felted 6 metre long installation titled ‘The Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Lunch’. Created to celebrate Queen Elizabeth’s 70th year on the British throne. In July, the work was installed in Buckingham Palace as part of the summer exhibition.
For Frieze Week 2022, Lucy installed a felt covered ice cream van in Regent’s Park. Selling Mr Frieze ice pops, Mr Whippy 99s and a full selection of childhood favourite ice lollies.
In November 2022, Lucy opened Felt ‘R’ Us, a pop-up Christmas shop an exhibition housing pieces from her most loved installations.
Throughout 2023, Lucy toured her Feltz Bagels installation, an artistic homage to New York’s legendary culinary delicacy and the neighbourhood bagel joints of the Lower East Side that made them famous. The installation was shown inThe Hamptons, New York City, and for Art Week in Miami.
In September 2024, Lucy was unveiled as the global artist for Diptyque’s holiday campaign. As well as collaborating on a series of iconic festive candles and an Advent Calendar styled after her first sewing box. She has also created two bespoke hand-made installations in the brand’s new flagship ‘Maison Diptyque’ stores in Paris and London. Lucy’s work was featured on over 400 store windows globally.
For Miami Art Week 2024, Lucy presented ‘Blessed be the Fruit’ a bespoke Farmer’s Market complete with a series of still life paintings at the Scope Art Fair.
In August 2025, Lucy unveiled The Bourdon Street Chippy, an interactive, hand-stitched homage to the great British fish and chip shop. Returning to the Lyndsey Ingram gallery, the exhibit featured over 65,000 individually hand-crafted felt works including walls filled with felted menus, shop signs and even a gallery of sewn portraits of the chippy’s famous former patrons. Welcoming over 20,000 visitors, the chippy attracted worldwide media attention.
Lucy lives in a felt cave in an undisclosed location, with her companion Sebastian.