Our studio has pet chinchillas! They are cute, fluffy brothers named Koko and Toto.
Toto is slightly larger than Koko and is usually found running around causing mischief or sleeping. Koko is quiet, doesn’t like to run too much but likes to be playful when he is awake.
As Lunar New Year is just around the corner, Koko, being his demure playful self, puts on bunny ears to celebrate the oncoming Lunar New Year of the Rabbit.
If you would like to keep up with Koko and Toto, be sure to subscribe to our facebook page. This Lunar New Year wallpaper is available for you to download for free 🙂 Just click below:
For those celebrating the Lunar New Year, everyone at the studio wishes you a very Happy New Year. May the New Year bring you good health, prosperity and peace.
be sweet. be blessed.
Every gal usually has a few girlfriends whom they would consider lifelong buddies. Anne is a lifelong buddy – I met Anne while schlepping through my Masters program at Harvard. She thought I was a bubble-head at first impression to later becoming one of my most dear of friends.
The idea of creating owl characters have been on my mind for some time due to Anne’s love for the nocturnal nature of owls. I admired Anne’s perseverance and integrity in her life and career despite being visually impaired. It was Anne who taught me to appreciate dogs as service animals and to be able to stomach super spicy food. Often, for academic purposes, I would find Anne owling late into the night.
Over the weekend, I was further inspired by my cousin AE to create owl characters. AE, whom I watched grow into a fine, young lady from a mere babe. *tear ^___^ Sentimentality aside, AE gave me the idea to create a pair of owlettes with certain characteristics of AE and her beau AC.
And voila~ the owlettes I created are in the Iro no Zuku family. Loosely translated from Japanese as Owls of Color. So far, there are two of them – Komezuku (rice owl) and Hanazuku (flower owl). As a an aside, zuku is the scientific Japanese word for owls with ears. The more commonly known word for owl in Japanese is furoku, however this term refers mainly to owls without ears.
Komezuku loves eating rice and occasionally needs glasses to count his rice grains for safekeeping. Hanazuku loves collecting fresh flowers and making cute accessories for her feathers and Komezuku's tummy.
Komezuku wears his rice bowl upside down when he sometimes runs out of rice. Hanazuku is about to wake up and start collecting flowers~
The vectors of these characters will be up soon on our Etsy shop. The print is also up on our deviantART site. In the meantime, I may create some owling friends as well. Enjoy!
be sweet. be blessed.
Any designer who is a designer knows about Sanrio, the creator of the ultimate emblem of kawaii – Hello Kitty. Their company motto “Small Gift, Big Smile” continues to charm many fans around the world. This year marks Sanrio’s 50th Anniversary and, in collaboration with Target, launched the Small Gift Mobile Pop-Up Shop Tour across the United States.
Sanrio inventory truck parked at 36th Street & Broadway
The Pop-Up Shop made its last stop in New York City on Thursday & Friday. Even the sub-zero like weather did not deter the huge mass of kitty fans gathering to pay homage to Hello Kitty (including this designer).
Sanrio fans waiting for the Pop-Up Shop to open
One key element which sets Sanrio as a company apart from others is the personable nature of their staff and genuine joy they exude in serving their customers.
Another key factor which continues to ensure Sanrio’s success even after fifty years is their ability to capture the hearts of children. This is followed by the launch of practical products which keep young customers company as they grow up.
The crowd of adult customers in front of the Pop-Up Shop
Nowadays, there is a Sanrio product for everything imaginable, ranging from toilet paper to electric toasters and Hello Kitty roombas. To make Sanrio products exclusive, most of them are limited edition. Therefore, if you missed your chance at getting your hands on that Hello Kitty Antiprima purse, chances are you will not find it again.
Limited edition Cube Plushies only available for sale at the Pop-Up Shop
Amongst collaborations with famous and popular brand name labels, Hello Kitty herself has also attained a celebrity-like status. On facebook alone, her fan page has over 3 million followers. One security guard responsible for manning the line at the pop-up shop said, “A few days ago, I was guarding Angelina Jolie and today I’m guarding Hello Kitty!”
Everyone's kawaii celebrity Hello Kitty emerges to greet her fans.
The question therefore is, have you had your “small gift, big smile” today?
For more photos from the NYC Pop-Up Shop event, please visit our facebook page.
Last week, I was inspired by gingerbread men to create these two characters.
What happened was my husband bought an adorable gingerbreadman cookie from Panera Bread during lunch. He then said, “You can’t catch me, I’m the gingerbread man!” in the voice of Shrek’s Gingy. It was hilarious and adorable. So, I decided to create this pair of GingerB & GingerG characters to capture the feeling I had at that moment <3
In the context of GingerB & GingerG, I also created the beginnings of a small world for them to live in – a peppermint lollipop wonderland 🙂
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Sweet? This vector set is available for purchase on our etsy shop here.
Enjoy and Happy Holidays 2010 from our studio <3
be sweet. be blessed.
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