How adorable is he? He's a Crobot - literally, a crocheted robot - and until today, I didn't even know of his existence. I was hanging out in the shop at the Wellcome Collection, after having seen the Souzou: Outsider Art from Japan show - which, by the way, is great:
Shota Katsube, 300 objects made from twist ties. They're all little multi-coloured warrior figures. I'm wondering if I can train up Sholto to make something similar.
Ryosuke Otsuji, Okinawan lion. He's one of a pair, and I want them both. I love their fluffy spiky tails, and their toe nails, and their little tongues.
But this is about the shop. And the shop at the Wellcome Collection is amazing. I wanted to buy practically every book in there, from Origami Dinosaurs to back issues of Raw Vision, a magazine entirely devoted to the Outsider Art genre. But there were two in particular that have gone onto the wish list. Crobots, as I mentioned:
I'm sure that I could learn to crochet. My Great Grandmother tried to teach me when I was about six, so it can't be that hard, right? They're just so sweet, and Sholto would love them. But my husband just laughed. He says that he reckons that he'd be much better at crocheting than me (admittedly my sewing is rather too dependent on a staple gun, "Mummy, why are my cushions prickly?" And Christopher pointed out that the cushions looked a bit like stuffed dream catchers, due to the pom poms I edged them with. I might not be the best seamstress ever.) So Andrew's going to learn to crochet. Apparently.
The other book is one that I have no doubt that everybody else in the world already knows about, but I was pregnant when the Yayoi Kusama show took place at the Tate, and my last pregnancy was so awful and so uncomfortable and Esmeralda was so huge that I could barely move for the last three months. And when I did move, my severe iron deficiency meant that I fainted. So I've only just discovered that Yayoi Kusama illustrated Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. And the illustrations are so wonderful that I have decided to buy copies not only for Sholto and Esmeralda, but also for my Goddaughters, and I might even buy a stack to give away to every child whose party Sholto gets invited to over the next few months. (And if that doesn't ensure that he's the most popular little boy in Notting Hill, nothing will.)
Souzou: Outsider Art from Japan is at the Wellcome Collection until the 30th June
