Craftedbykaiyo is an online shop that creates wearable anime-inspired items including jewelry, hats and wallets. Being the main artist working with the owner, I have created many designs according to the vision of the shop.

 

The most notable product line I have worked on was enamel pendants. I was tasked with capturing the essence of each anime character and translating it into a craftable design. There are some limitations with the medium as each part of the design would need to be large enough to enclose the enamel. I worked around this and added little touches of details without involving too many small parts that would not be feasible to manufacture. For example, in Muichiro's design, there were many details - the background, the frame resembling his sword hilt, the mist and the leaves. They were carefully balanced and arranged to contain all the symbols in workable sizes.

 

The other challenge I encountered was ensuring that the design is iconic and immediately recognisable as the character it represents, while keeping it subtle enough such that customers would be comfortable wearing them in casual contexts. I incorporated the symbols and colours of the characters that bring out their uniqueness. In Obanai's design, the snake is the most obvious symbol, and the subtle elements such as the black, white and blue colour scheme in the background brings up the feeling of the character as those are the colours of his clothes. The design is instantly meaningful to people who know the character, but does not feel gaudy because it does not stick out to people who do not know.

 

On this page, you can view some of the designs I provided and the end products.