Impossibly cute and well-crafted character design from new Nexus signing Mr Kat

Our totes adorbs-ometer was going off the scale when we first saw the work of Peru-based image-maker Mr Kat, usually known as Jaime Álvarez Sobreviela. Creating an entire imaginary universe, he populates it with impossibly cute creatures including his namesake Mr Kat, a cosmic panda, some little round pufferfish type things and more abstract anthropomorphises like skulls.

Created using 3D modelling software, each image is exquisitely smooth and polished, making the lines between reality and fantasy feel all the more blurred. “I started Mr Kat to create a personal style while I could keep learning and enjoying what I do,” says Jaime.

“In this imaginary world, urban Mr Kat is an artist interested in the fusion between the ancestral and pop culture. His characters have kawaii faces and refined bodies as if they were sculptures. In parallel, we are presented with the world that surrounds him, such as moons, watermelons or other kats.”

Some of Jaime’s creations have been realised in sculptural form, painstakingly created by local Peruvian craftspeople out of resin or wood.

“Kawai designs have a great power of communication. They are synthesised and universal expressions combined with extreme tenderness that transport kids as much as adults,” Jaime adds. “My designs are especially sensorial, with characters that seem to express the feeling that the viewer wants according to his emotional state.”