British artist David Shrigley brings deadpan humour and vivid colour to The Yard, Cubitts’ new 13,000 sq ft events and manufacturing space

David Shrigley is known for his witty illustrations of bizarre and often mundane elements of everyday life. His pieces — from bright blue toothless sharks to chubby green housecats — appear as prints in cafes, offices and homes across the country, while his originals line the walls of celebrated Scottish hotels like Cromlix (Andy and Kim Murray are self-confessed fans).

Now, the artist unveils ‘It Was Me That Was Crowing at Dawn’, a huge cockerel mural on the outside of The Yard, the new 13,000 sq ft headquarters for London-based spectacles brand, Cubitts.

Rendered in vivid reds, blues and pinks, this is Shrigley’s largest piece to date, bringing unmistakable surrealism to the once-unremarkable exterior.

Some might say that plastering the outside of a business HQ in his deadpan hand-rendered artwork is a controversial move, but to Cubitts, the collaboration is felicitous. “Part public artwork, part absurd confession, it captures the spirit of the new space: a working manufactory with room for craft, culture, hospitality — and the unexpected,” says Cubitts founder Tom Broughton.

Cubitts has collaborated with Shrigley before: the Cubitts x David Shrigley OBE Cloth, a pink microfibre cleaning cloth, features a Mick Jagger-like character who says, ‘I loved you from the first moment I saw you’. All proceeds still go to Shrigley’s chosen charity, The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association.

Of his new sky-high mural, David Shrigley says, “Tom Broughton is a good pal of mine and I’m a big fan of Cubitts spectacles. So I was delighted to provide a mural for The Yard and thought this would be a good fit for the wall.”

Visit the David Shrigley website | Follow David Shrigley on Instagram

Visit the Cubitts website | Follow Cubitts on Instagram

View more work by David Shrigley in Cromlix Hotel.

Kim Murray on designing the elegant Dahlia Suite at Cromlix Hotel