At Cabeza Patata a love of crafts has been with us from the outset and is part of everything we do. Even in our digital work, the beauty of imperfections is always present and comes from our understanding of traditional techniques and materials. We're always pushing these to the limit and here you can see a collection of some of our favourite projects, Crafted by Cabeza Patata.
Manuela la Muñeca came to life as part of our permanent exhibition in the Espai Patata, Barcelona. Born from a desire to bring some magic and joy to this display, Manuela stands at 3.2m height and it's impossible for any child (or adult) to pass by the gallery without stopping to say hello.
Inspired by traditional methods of puppetry and woodcraft, this marionette is our stylised take. We used a series of wooden spheres to keep a consistency through the design and were minimal with material and colours so that, although our puppet is more modern than her counterparts, the aesthetic is still inkeeping with the original beauty.
We wanted to make sure that, as well as being an art piece, our marionnete is functional and robust. Although all simple and made of raw materials, details like her earrings and buttons give her an added personality.
When working with paper, or immitating the craft, it is important to think about the order of elements, and layering is essential. There are many details in the overlapping and with this project we found that it's the imperfection that gives the pieces realness and a unique beauty.
One advantage of the project of creating a handmade project in the digital sphere is the possibility of introducing interactivity. By moving the cursor over the image, anyone can experience the 'real life' movement of the paper scene and see the overlapping layers and shadows from different angles.
We love mixing techniques and exploring how new technologies and styles can be applied to traditional methods. Having never seen a character-shaped hand woven tapestry, we decided it had to be done.
Often the most exciting part of creating a physical character is to bring them to life through animation. This puppet was created with a metal armature so that we can manipulate the figure to animate it.
We first fill our Stop Motion characters with details in the clothing, bringing as much personality as possible, before beginning to make it move.
All the items are handmade, including miniature pockets and buttons, and accessories like a mini notebook and bag. All this helps bring our character to life and connect more with the audience.
Finally, animation is created frame by frame, and the character comes alive!
Seeing the joy these physical characters bring to different audiences, we wanted to create something that would reach more people with that same spark of excitement. It was during the pandemic that we decided to create a series of AR filters, accessible and free to use for all, and the result was something beautiful.
They consisted of placing a character somewhere in your scene, choosing an animation we provided for it, and adjusting as the user wished things like colour, scale, positioning.
There were so many creative and fun ideas from people all over the world, we have more of our favourites here.
Shared moments like this, seeing people interact with our creations, is what motivates our work. We are always trying new techniques and pushing new ideas in the worlds of digital and physical art, and that sweet spot somewhere in between.