Diana Farah Dubai

Japanese artist Montomi Shigemochi creates clay figurines recreating characters from popular animations such as Pokémon and Studio Ghibli’s My Neighbor Totoro.

Shigemochi’s Twitter page has garnered over 30 thousand followers, while the Instagram page has over 2000 followers.

Speaking to Arab News Japan, the artist said, “everything in everyday life is a source of inspiration” when it comes to creating the miniature figures.

“For example, the lovely gestures of lovebirds living together, the shape of the marshmallow that I ate for a snack, the look of the dog I saw during the walk,” Shigemochi explained.

The Japanese modeling artist said stone powder clay worked best for the small statues.

“After making the shape, it is cut with a design knife and then sanded to create smooth texture,” Shigemochi said. “The individuality of my work is to make it round and smooth to the touch. I want them to feel healing.”

The sculptor told Arab News Japan Pokémon Pikachu and Moomin, “My Neighbor Totoro” Totoro, Disney’s Bay Max were the most entertaining characters to recreate.

Shigemochi said customers always send messages expressing their joy over the figurines, saying that they resembled previous pets they had.