Heartfelt29 tribute to DJ Jo’s moggy
Radio host shows off new celeb craze of getting pets remade in felt
Jo was heartbroken when GinGin died – and now she has a felt version
Loose Women star Linda asked for a model of Ernie who died last year
JO Whiley is the latest celebrity to join an eccentric craze of having pets immortalised as felt models.
The Radio 1 DJ, 55, paid £160 each for a replica of her cat GinGin, who died last year, and her puppy Django, who is still “alive and kicking”.
The six-inch life-like models, which take three days each to make, are created using needle felting.
Comic David Walliams, 49, TV psychic Sally Morgan, 69, and Birds of a Feather star Linda Robson, 62, are among other big names to have their pets turned into the mini artworks.
Jo showed off her models on Instagram, telling followers: “Thank you @artbykiki_ for immortalising our beloved pets.”
The little statues – featuring glass eyes and tiny bespoke noses – are created by artist Katy Richardson, 37, at her home in Chelmsford, Essex.
She turned to needlefelting as therapy after surviving a car crash in 2017.
Katy, who works under the name Art By Kiki, said: “Felting is an old-fashioned art form, but it’s starting to become cool.
“All my work comes in through Instagram and it’s all organic. I don’t advertise. It’s just from word-of-mouth.
“Jo asked me out of the blue if I would do the miniatures for her and I’m so pleased she loved them.
“I must have done 70 models in 2020 and it looks like being busier in 2021.”
Loose Women star Linda asked Katy for a model of her bulldog Ernie who died in 2018. And Britain’s Got Talent judge David Walliams has showed off Katy’s versions of border terriers Bert and Ernie on social media.
Katy says customers sometimes ask for their pet’s fur to be included as a keepsake: “Some find comfort in having them memorialised. They’ll send fur from a comb and I’ll put it inside the model.”
Whiley revealed GinGin’s death in October. She posted: “Farewell then GinGin.
“You were a spectacularly supercilious cat.”