The Japanese word for ‘cute” is kawaii (not to be confused with the local food franchise selling wraps and smoothies).
Commercial illustrator Emma Cook says she’s “very good at designing cute things”. When she’s not making designs that mix anime with a dash of cotton candy, 26-year-old Cook creates limited-edition lightboxes in her Woodstock studio.
“I’m not sure why I made a lightbox. I just liked the idea of slotting different colours of Perspex together. The first ones I made weren’t perfect. The Perspex wasn’t completely flat — it was different thicknesses and the glue was blotchy. I wasn’t very happy.
I had to learn to be pickier about my supplier. And I had to work out how to layer the colours so when the light shines through you don’t see the glue marks.
“When the opportunity for a show came up at Salon 91 last year, I wanted to do something with type. I looked at the song lyrics from Cole Porter’s Kiss Me, Kate. I made the typeface myself. I like working with typefaces. It ended up looking like a vintage sign. I’d like to do a companion piece for winter: Baby, it’s cold outside.
“I’m not very good with drawing sketches by hand. I shuffle things around on my computer in Adobe Illustrator. Once I have a design, I drop in the colours — I have a swatch of the different Perspex shades — to see what works. Then I take a disc to the laser cutters, who are in the same complex as me.
Bolder shapes tend to work better; you can’t cut some of the elements too narrow. I work with standard 500mm x 700mm pieces for each panel. On this lightbox I used three panels — clear, white and red.
“I get help with the glueing, but I construct each lightbox myself — that’s part of the fun. The fittings can be difficult. I had to get my dad to custom-make brackets to hold the back together exactly the way I wanted it. I even do the wiring on my own. I electrocuted myself the other day.
“When I showed It’s too darn hot in December, two arty hipster dudes were standing in front of the lightbox critiquing it — they had no idea I was behind them. ‘It’s not really art,’ they said. I don’t think it’s art at all.”
You can view Emma Cook’s portfolio at www.makenice.co.za