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As I’m sure many of you have heard, there’s a new exiting exhibition in London all about the concept of cuteness, which is accompanied by an ARTBOX Cafe pop-up! The team at ARTBOX Covent Garden were very eager to give the whole experience a visit, so we all trudged along to Somerset House in the rain to explore what awaited us!
The exhibition itself was brilliant. It explores every aspect of ‘cute’ imaginable: its origins in 1990’s Japan through the term ‘kawaii,’ where it was a means to express “disaffection with traditional societal values,” through to the popularisation and evolution of Hello Kitty, and its even deeper connections to capitalism, girlhood, and the grotesque. As a deep dive into the concept of cuteness, it did a fantastic job unpacking its many facades!
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At the beginning, we explored the depiction of ‘kawaii’-ness throughout all types of media. A particularly fun and notable section was the Kewpie doll exhibition, where we learned that Kewpie debuted as characters in Rose O’Neill’s comic strips in 1909, then were developed into dolls in 1912, first out of bisque (porcelain.)
As the character grew in popularity, the celluloid Kewpie was created, which was durable enough to be handed out as carnival prizes! This initial popularisation of the cherubic cupid figure as a character definitely helped develop many of the ‘cute’ characters and toys we see today. Chibis, Nendoroids, Sonny Angels and even Bratz Babyz fall into this cloud of cute, bumbling cherub-like figures that are adored worldwide. |
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After reading up on the prevalence of Shojo Manga and Kurumi-chan, the precursor to Hello Kitty, we had a glimpse of what early ‘cute’ culture was like in the U.K! Mirroring the cuteness boom in Japan, after the Tokyo stock market crash of 1987, the U.K had its own post-punk cute movement on the rise. Scottish bands began to produce “sweet, wholesome, and charmingly romantic music that drew on a nostalgic yearning for childhood and more innocent times.” The exhibition names ‘Orange Juice’ and ‘The Pastels’ as some of these bands, alongside ‘Altered Images,’ whose front singer Clare Grogan dressed uniquely in frills and ribbons. ‘Altered Images’ are described as having an “irrepressibly faux-nait coquetteishness,” the latter of which stuck out to me.
Coquette fashion has recently exploded on TikTok, and current day fashion is embracing and reimagining the exact motifs that Clare Grogan wore: covering things in lace, frills and adding a ribbon or a bow into everyday life. Additionally, Sandy Liang is a currently popular designer who explores this coquette subculture, by implementing bows, billowing fabric and dreamy dress shapes into her collections! |
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Following these initial displays was the glorious Hello Kitty section! As you know, Hello Kitty is the face of Sanrio, and a recent fan favourite character! The exhibition celebrates her 50th anniversary by displaying some famous and recognisable Hello Kitty memorabilia (some of which we have at ARTBOX), featuring a glowing Hello Kitty archway into plush-covered walls, and a cute Hello Kitty disco room!
We see lots of different kinds of ephemera of many different Sanrio characters today: washcloths, chopsticks, USB ports and other tech accessories, so it was fun to see the early iterations of such products! Pictured we have a Hello Kitty rice cooker, polaroid camera, clocks, and even spam! One of my favourite items on display was the letter Hello Kitty wrote herself as a reply to a letter she received from a fan, who can be seen pictured with Hello Kitty in Sanrio Puroland, Japan! She has cute handwriting, right?
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The exhibition continues on and explores various other parts of cuteness, through topics like capitalism, digitalisation, and femininity, through a variety of mediums, like canvas artwork, metal and plush sculpture, and music! A couple of the rooms, including the Hello Kitty disco room, have a QR code where you can access the curated playlist that plays in the room itself, meaning you get to take home a little bit of exhibition with you.
The team had fun exploring Hannah Diamond’s dreamy sleepover room about girlhood, interacting with the magical-girl transformation exhibit called ‘Glimmer,’ and taking a peek at the games arcade! There are lots of things to interact with and explore, which makes you experience the very ideas written about in the exhibit - that ‘cuteism’ has evolved and become both personal and social as it is “intrinsically playful.” If you decide to go and visit, see if you can spot any ARTBOX products on display in this section!
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Last but not least, we got to visit our very own cafe pop-up across the hall from the exhibition! For the readers who don’t know, ARTBOX already has a lovely location in Brighton where we do a speciality themed cafe. The theme rotates, and currently we have Hello Kitty and friends inspired food, which is both delicious and created to include edible faces of the lovely Sanrio characters.
There are similarly cute looking foods and drinks at the pop-up cafe in London, so we secured some drinks to try. I had the Cinnamoroll white hot chocolate, and the rest of the team had a Pompompurin turmeric latte, a My Melody strawberry split smoothie and a Hello Kitty strawb-apple refresher, all delivered in the sweetest cups! |
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The exhibition and cafe will be open until the 14th of April at Somerset House, and I would highly recommend visiting if you love cute things, just like us. Click here to book your tickets for the exhibition, and if you’re only looking to visit the cafe, you’re in luck! The cafe doesn’t need to be pre-booked, but usually has a very long queue to get in, with waiting times up to 2 hours.
Keeping that in mind for your visit, I hope you have a great cute-filled day out! If you’re not able to experience the exhibition or cafe, the Tofu Cute and ARTBOX websites are always full of cute things for you to get your hands on so you don’t miss out! |
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As I’m sure many of you have heard, there’s a new exiting exhibition in London all about the concept of cuteness, which is accompanied by an ARTBOX Cafe pop-up! The team at ARTBOX Covent Garden were very eager to give the whole experience a visit, so we all trudged along to Somerset House in the rain to explore what awaited us!
The exhibition itself was brilliant. It explores every aspect of ‘cute’ imaginable: its origins in 1990’s Japan through the term ‘kawaii,’ where it was a means to express “disaffection with traditional societal values,” through to the popularisation and evolution of Hello Kitty, and its even deeper connections to capitalism, girlhood, and the grotesque. As a deep dive into the concept of cuteness, it did a fantastic job unpacking its many facades!
|
|
|
At the beginning, we explored the depiction of ‘kawaii’-ness throughout all types of media. A particularly fun and notable section was the Kewpie doll exhibition, where we learned that Kewpie debuted as characters in Rose O’Neill’s comic strips in 1909, then were developed into dolls in 1912, first out of bisque (porcelain.)
As the character grew in popularity, the celluloid Kewpie was created, which was durable enough to be handed out as carnival prizes! This initial popularisation of the cherubic cupid figure as a character definitely helped develop many of the ‘cute’ characters and toys we see today. Chibis, Nendoroids, Sonny Angels and even Bratz Babyz fall into this cloud of cute, bumbling cherub-like figures that are adored worldwide. |
After reading up on the prevalence of Shojo Manga and Kurumi-chan, the precursor to Hello Kitty, we had a glimpse of what early ‘cute’ culture was like in the U.K! Mirroring the cuteness boom in Japan, after the Tokyo stock market crash of 1987, the U.K had its own post-punk cute movement on the rise. Scottish bands began to produce “sweet, wholesome, and charmingly romantic music that drew on a nostalgic yearning for childhood and more innocent times.” The exhibition names ‘Orange Juice’ and ‘The Pastels’ as some of these bands, alongside ‘Altered Images,’ whose front singer Clare Grogan dressed uniquely in frills and ribbons. ‘Altered Images’ are described as having an “irrepressibly faux-nait coquetteishness,” the latter of which stuck out to me.
Coquette fashion has recently exploded on TikTok, and current day fashion is embracing and reimagining the exact motifs that Clare Grogan wore: covering things in lace, frills and adding a ribbon or a bow into everyday life. Additionally, Sandy Liang is a currently popular designer who explores this coquette subculture, by implementing bows, billowing fabric and dreamy dress shapes into her collections! |
|
| |
Following these initial displays was the glorious Hello Kitty section! As you know, Hello Kitty is the face of Sanrio, and a recent fan favourite character! The exhibition celebrates her 50th anniversary by displaying some famous and recognisable Hello Kitty memorabilia (some of which we have at ARTBOX), featuring a glowing Hello Kitty archway into plush-covered walls, and a cute Hello Kitty disco room!
We see lots of different kinds of ephemera of many different Sanrio characters today: washcloths, chopsticks, USB ports and other tech accessories, so it was fun to see the early iterations of such products! Pictured we have a Hello Kitty rice cooker, polaroid camera, clocks, and even spam! One of my favourite items on display was the letter Hello Kitty wrote herself as a reply to a letter she received from a fan, who can be seen pictured with Hello Kitty in Sanrio Puroland, Japan! She has cute handwriting, right?
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The exhibition continues on and explores various other parts of cuteness, through topics like capitalism, digitalisation, and femininity, through a variety of mediums, like canvas artwork, metal and plush sculpture, and music! A couple of the rooms, including the Hello Kitty disco room, have a QR code where you can access the curated playlist that plays in the room itself, meaning you get to take home a little bit of exhibition with you.
The team had fun exploring Hannah Diamond’s dreamy sleepover room about girlhood, interacting with the magical-girl transformation exhibit called ‘Glimmer,’ and taking a peek at the games arcade! There are lots of things to interact with and explore, which makes you experience the very ideas written about in the exhibit - that ‘cuteism’ has evolved and become both personal and social as it is “intrinsically playful.” If you decide to go and visit, see if you can spot any ARTBOX products on display in this section!
|
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Last but not least, we got to visit our very own cafe pop-up across the hall from the exhibition! For the readers who don’t know, ARTBOX already has a lovely location in Brighton where we do a speciality themed cafe. The theme rotates, and currently we have Hello Kitty and friends inspired food, which is both delicious and created to include edible faces of the lovely Sanrio characters.
There are similarly cute looking foods and drinks at the pop-up cafe in London, so we secured some drinks to try. I had the Cinnamoroll white hot chocolate, and the rest of the team had a Pompompurin turmeric latte, a My Melody strawberry split smoothie and a Hello Kitty strawb-apple refresher, all delivered in the sweetest cups! |
The exhibition and cafe will be open until the 14th of April at Somerset House, and I would highly recommend visiting if you love cute things, just like us. Click here to book your tickets for the exhibition, and if you’re only looking to visit the cafe, you’re in luck! The cafe doesn’t need to be pre-booked, but usually has a very long queue to get in, with waiting times up to 2 hours.
Keeping that in mind for your visit, I hope you have a great cute-filled day out! If you’re not able to experience the exhibition or cafe, the Tofu Cute and ARTBOX websites are always full of cute things for you to get your hands on so you don’t miss out! |
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