God’s Own Junkyard Is London’s Neon ‘Wonderland’
By Shannon Lane @shannonroselane
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Videographer / director: Adam Gray
Producer: Shannon Lane, Michael Muncer
Editor: Jack Stevens
God’s Own Junkyard in Walthamstow is the brainchild of British artist Chris Bracey, nicknamed the ‘Neon Man’.
Originally influenced by his light collecting father, Chris spent 37 years sourcing, creating and revamping neon from all around the world - with his collection including everything from sex shop signs to TV props.
Following Chris’ death in November 2014, the neon nirvana is now solely owned by his son Marcus who is continuing the trade with a passion.
Marcus, aged 43, said: “It started back in the 50s, my grandfather was a coal miner from Wales and he worked in the dark and then he came up to the light.
“He came up to East London where he worked for a lighting company.
"He worked for funfairs and carnivals all up and down the country and he started to collect and up-cycle. He wouldn’t throw anything away, hence why we’ve got so much of a mish-mash mini Vegas going on.”
Members of the public can now visit God’s Own Junkyard to admire the collection free of charge, and have a coffee or cake in the on-site cafe.
The light artist said: "This is our museum of what we do every day, with over 1,400 pieces hanging up in their glory
"We’ve got plenty of famous celebrity customers that come in and see us. We've got Kate Moss, Jude Law, (Turner Prize winning artist) Martin Creed, as well as other artists”
Marcus makes all his neon in-house in the God’s Own Junkyard workshop, but displaying his artwork comes at a price; with an electricity bill of over £700 a week.
He said: “Every day we have to turn all of the switches on. It takes about five minutes because if you fire it all up in one go, it just blows and trips!”