World Amigurumi Exhibition

This last Christmas, I tried my hand at amigurumi. It actually was a lot easier than I thought it would be, and I had fun making these little owls for my nieces. I think they turned out really cute.

For those of you who don't know what amigurumi is, here is a definition from Wikipedia:

"Amigurumi (lit. crocheted or knitted stuffed toy) is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small stuffed animals and anthropomorphic creatures. The word is derived from a combination of the Japanese words ami, meaning crocheted or knitted, and nuigurumi, meaning stuffed doll. Amigurumi are typically animals, but can include artistic renderings or inanimate objects endowed with anthropomorphic features, as is typical in Japanese culture."

So I was excited when my friend from our ward, Stephanie Kennelly, invited me to go see the World Amigurumi Exhibition with her last Wednesday. She picked me up and drove us over to the exhibit at the Resobox Gallery. The gallery is a Japanese cultural center and offers changing exhibits, along with classes in various Japanese arts such as drawing, dancing, painting, karate, and language. It also has a small cafe that serves only Japanese dishes and beverages. It's located in Long Island City on 27th St, just half a block away from the Queensboro Plaza subway stop. I was glad she had a car, because it was so cold outside. However, it was a pain to find parking. We drove up and down the nearby streets for quite awhile looking for a space; the only spots that were open where either blocked by icy snowdrifts or located in front of a fire hydrant or driveway. Eventually, Stephanie dropped me off to run inside while she kept trying to find a spot.

The gallery is a small little building, sandwiched in between larger buildings down a narrow street. The window was full of little Amigurumi creations, and I was excited to get inside -- both to get out of the cold and to get a closer look at them.

For being such a small little place, it was quite an impressive display. Once through the door, I was greeted by a menagerie of colorful creatures. The were 4,000 amigurumi toys, handmade by over 140 artists, from over 32 countries. There were items from Japan, Spain, Greece, Israel, Germany, New Zealand, Vietnam, Argentina, and Armenia among others. It was really cool. 

The toys were everywhere -- hanging from the ceilings, walls, and in the window, sitting on the windowsill and floor. It was overwhelming and I didn't even know where to start looking!

Most of the items were crocheted, but I did find a few that were knitted. There were all sorts of creatures, from dolls, hedgehogs, and squids to bunnies, seahorses, and frogs.  There were also a lot of food items such as cupcakes, sushi, chicken legs, and various fruits. The talent in each of the pieces was amazing.

After looking around a bit, I stepped outside to see if Stephanie had found a spot, and she had, just down the street. She joined me and we went back inside. I got to hold her sweet little two month old daughter for a little bit while we looked around and took some pictures.

I loved this dog sitting on the floor. It was made from the chunkiest yarn I've ever seen, and I loved how big it was. 

Some of the toys were so small -- the size of a fingertip. I was in awe at the details included in the tiniest ones. 

There was at least one toy in every size imaginable. Some items were made entirely of yarn with yarn and string embellishments for facial features. Other items had buttons and beads for eyes and as decorations. 

There were so many that I liked, and I took a lot of pictures. Here are a few of my favorites.

      

There were a couple of horses that were made from beautifully crocheted granny squares. I thought that I got a better picture of one of them, other than the one below, but I guess I didn't. You can see it sitting backwards on the far right in the picture below.

Most of the toys were just a single piece with multiple limbs and embellishments, but a few consisted of multiple pieces together as a set like this reindeer and cart.

All the items were for sale, and had a tag with the price and name of the creator. I wished that the tags would have contained the names of countries where the item was made. It would have been cool to know where each item came from. I really wanted to buy one to use as an ornament for our Christmas tree but I didn't. Kris (my mother-in-law) gave me some cute little skeins of red, green, and white sparkly yarn for my birthday. This exhibit inspired me to make more amigurumi, so I'm going to use that yarn to make some amigurumi Christmas ornaments for our tree. 

We had a really fun time looking at all the toys and were in awe at the talent and creativity involved. I'm happy that Stephanie invited me, otherwise I might have never known about this unique exhibit.