Knit Bricks

By: jennifer



You know those magic objects that get fused in your memory and you wonder if you ever truly saw them? So it is for me and these lovely knit bricks. And the only proof I have of their existence is the photo I took of them on my phone.

I was walking down the street in Norwich (an old English market town whose biggest claim to fame is a pub for every day of the week and a church for every Sunday. It has more medieval churches than any town in the UK—not because the folks were all that pious but it was a way of people proving their wealth) and there on a crumbling brick wall were these l bricks with knit (or correct me if I’m wrong, those more crafty than I) crocheted covers. I mean what, why, how? Was it some Situationist fantasy, some May 68 thing? A tiny intervention in the urban world? An experiment to see if anyone would take them?

Put simply, they seduced me. I shot a picture and walked on, feeling foolish after standing there for 15 minutes gaping. No one else seemed to take any notice of me or the bricks though. They all scurried past mesmerized by their end of workday hurry home to cats and kids and dinner and telly. But I couldn’t forget the bricks. Tantalized, I had to go back to see them. Only two hours later they were gone. I’d wanted to hold them, touch one, maybe, maybe, even kidnap it. And go knocking on doors looking for their creator. Had I not taken a picture of them, I might have doubted they’d ever been there in the first place. Now I am just left desperate to find out who made them, who takes the trouble to take a brick from a collapsing wall, make a cover for it and replace it?

The only thing I’ve seen close to it is Janet Morgan’s piece at the Crafts Council in London for a show called Knit 2 together. Her piece, a TV on a stand with a plant –all knit—approaches that same beautiful banality made splendid. Only she lives in Canada. My mystery remains. Though no doubt it makes the bricks all the more unforgettable.

See Also

Review: Alabama Studio Style
Flora Alchemy
Sculptural Crochet Primer