WHEN the Life of Julie Cope reaches the end of its three-month run at Firstsite, it is estimated 45,000 people will have come to witness it.

With less than two weeks remaining it has already topped 39,000 visitors - averaging at about 2,500 each week - making it the gallery's most popular exhibition, ever.

The sheer numbers were neither expected or typical, but the almost cult status of this Essex-centric exhibition came as no surprise to Firstsite boss Sally Shaw.

Sally said: "I think Grayson knew it would resonate with people.

"He's interested in the idea of popular culture and is the kind of artist who likes to take that concept apart and put it back together again within his shows.

"He's also very curious about people so his work emerges from stories which is possibly one of the reasons people have reacted how they have.

"The exhibition has just got people talking about such personal things in a really incredible way.

"Apparently we've had quite a lot of people cry during it and responding very emotionally which goes to show just how attached people are."

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The impact of Grayson's work has ricocheted nationwide, winning the Chelmsford artist huge acclaim.

Sally can recall it being the subject of commuter's conversations at least once a week on her train journeys between East London and Colchester, which even for her is both rare and extreme.

Choosing Firstsite as the exhibition's launchpad has also helped to entice new visitors to the controversial gallery and win over former critics.

She said: "What we know for sure is there’s been a lot of new people in and also the crowds of people are a lot more diverse so that's rapidly changing our audience.

"With our existing audiences, we’ve had to work really hard to get people to trust the gallery again.

"It had a difficult time for quite a long time and this show has really helped us to say, 'Look, we will show all sorts of art here'.

"I’m sad to see every show go because they take a long time to produce but this one in particular, the last day will be a sad one."

Once the vibrant tapestries and earphones playing Grayson's voice are stripped from the gallery walls, it will be the end of an era too for FAT Architects' former director Charles Holland.

Together he and Grayson formed a creative powerhouse, commissioned by Living Architecture to build the wayside chapel home in Wrabness, which became FAT's last project before the company disbanded.

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A House for Essex in all its glory. Picture: Jack Hobhouse

"It was a very nice project to finish on because it was such a full-on expression of art, ornament and storytelling working together in architecture," Charles said, before revealing he is also an Essex boy born in Great Leighs, a village halfway between Chelmsford and Braintree.

"FAT was really interested in how architecture can tell a story and also being from Essex it became a very personal project to make a house about somewhere I grew up so that added quite a poignant dimension to it.

"We describe the house sometimes as a mausoleum. It's a monument to a person and their life but also like an epitaph for our practice."

Tonight Charles will take guests on a metaphorical roadtrip during his Firstsite talk and offer an alternative perspective on areas such as Mistley and Manningtree, landscapes which "aren't picture perfect but have moments of great beauty".

Focusing on the design influences and choices, he will chart how Julie Cope's eventful life from Canvey Island to Colchester translated to architectural moments.

He said: "If you look at it in the context of the other houses Living Architecture commissioned, it's so utterly different I think everyone had to readjust their goggles.

"Ultimately it has a certain internal logic of its own. But I think Living Architecture expected it to be pretty full on.

"I don’t think you hire Grayson Perry and FAT and expect a low key minimalist design."

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Charles Holland and the artist known as Grayson. Picture: Jack Hobhouse

Probably not. But it was not just the theatrical, folkish design which threw a curve ball for FAT.

In creating the home, the idea for which came before the character, it was essential to achieve the right balance so it was representative of Julie while pushing the boundaries for what is achievable in architecture.

It was a project with an "incredibly rich set of reference points to begin with", Charles explained, but liaising with both a fictional and real client was a new experience.

He said: "In a way we wanted something which was resonant of someone’s life but not super contemporary as that would be wrong based on her character, and that also wasn't a stage show.

"We didn’t want it to have the world’s slickest kitchen so we went with a handmade quite simple and rugged kitchen, but also with some elegance and design refinements which feels like a sort of twist on a country kitchen.

"But how do you choose the interior for a house which doesn't actually belong to someone? How we did it was to imagine what this person might have been interested in and then use our imaginations.

"Julie was absent but it was as though she was in the conversation like, 'What kind of loo would Julie have?'"

Charles Holland: A House For Essex and Other Stories starts at 7pm and costs £8. To book, click here.

The Life of Julie Cope will run until February 18.