Vinay Hathi made his partner a handbag out of leftover carpet.
It was big enough to fit her inside.
It looked like a Sainsbury’s bag for life.
He modelled it on a Hermès Birkin. He wants £740,000 for it.
That sequence of facts is entirely real.
The 50-year-old artist from Morden, Surrey, created the oversized supermarket bag as a joke after his partner showed him how much Birkin bags sell for.
New ones start at around £10,000. On the resale market, they can clear £2 million.
Hathi decided the logical response was to build one from carpet and Sainsbury’s branding.
“I was inspired by my partner showing me these expensive handbags that cost a small fortune,” he told Creatorzine.
“So I decided I would make her one as a joke, big enough to put her in and carry her about.”
From joke to gallery piece to £740,000 price tag
The bag was originally built for an exhibition and later shown at Espacio Gallery as part of Degrees of Freedom: The Playful Turn.
It was most recently on display at Free The Gallery in Crystal Palace, London, with the exhibition closing on 12 April.
Hathi says he wants to sell it so he can fund more work. The Sainsbury’s bag is part of a series of oversized creations featuring British high street brands.
Sports Direct and Primark have both received the same treatment.
The price tag is bold. Whether anyone pays it depends on the kind of question that keeps the art market interesting.
He carried it across London on the Tube
Getting the bag to its first gallery required Hathi and his partner to take it on the Central Line from Ilford to Bethnal Green.
Two self-described introverts hauling a giant Sainsbury’s bag through rush-hour London.
“We had loads of strange looks on the tube and every now and then someone asking what the bag was all about,” Hathi said.
“As introverts we were both out of our comfort zone. I remember panic sweating the whole way.”
The reception at the other end was warmer.
“People like to pick it up and pose with it for photos,” he said.
Why it matters
Art that plays with branding and consumer culture isn’t new, but the specific combination of a Sainsbury’s bag for life and a Birkin price tag hits a nerve that’s very 2025.
Luxury fatigue and high street nostalgia are running in parallel online, and Hathi’s work sits squarely at the intersection.
Creators working in physical art, satire or brand commentary can look at this and see a model for getting attention without needing a massive following or a gallery agent.
He made something funny, carried it on public transport and let the internet do the rest.
The oversized branded bag format clearly has legs. Hathi says he wants to keep making them.
Which British high street name gets the Birkin treatment next is anyone’s guess, though an Aldi version feels inevitable.
No buyers have come forward publicly for the £740,000 bag. Hathi doesn’t seem to be in a rush.
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