Covid-19 was a crisis for the arts, leaving artists and arts spaces struggling. Galleries closed as they were not deemed ‘essential’, negatively impacting creative communities.

Creativity has been at the heart of Bombay Sapphire for over 30 years, championing creatives and supporting emerging artists all over the world. Its own distillery in Laverstoke is an architectural masterpiece created by one of the most imaginative architects, Thomas Heatherwick. The entire brand strategy is built around inspiring and enabling creativity in everyone. In the year that turned out to be devastating for the creative community, Bombay Sapphire wanted to show their support and demonstrate their belief that creativity is an essential part of being human, making us feel fulfilled and happy.

Galleries were forced to close. But essential shops remained open. Bombay Sapphire turned The Design Museum into a supermarket, to reopen it despite pandemic restrictions. We collaborated with 10 emerging artists from all over the world to turn essentials – from loo roll to tinned beans – into works of art. The artists were Joey Yu, Charlotte Edey, Kentaro Okawara, Katherine Plumb, Amy Worrall, Holly Warburton, Jess Warby, Michaela Yearwood-Dan and Isadora Lima. Each essential item was a vessel to showcase their own unique styles and mediums, giving them a platform and a space to exhibit again. The essentials were at supermarket prices, making art accessible to all. The artists’ original artworks also adorned the gallery-supermarket walls. Famed artist and designer Camille Walala brought her inimitable visual style to the shop’s spatial design – bringing art and shopping together in a riot of pattern and colour.