The SHUGONEKO project by Fabián M Hofmann & Neko:
Please let me introduce us here: I am an architect and designer, an artist and artisan. Over all the past professional years I have specialised in a renaissance-like combination of professions, that I call my calling, tied together and fuelled by my abundant passion and never ending curiosity.
2020 truly was the year of endings, very personal and
grave, the global health crisis but barely registering, adding just a little more background noise to my personal life soundtrack. Nevertheless, endings are not entirely something sad and challenging only, endings also make room for the new, offering space – head space– for fresh beginnings. I started to reconsider the known, began to re-evaluate my thought-to-be cozy, but stagnant comfort zones and by answering the question ‘do I want to go on like this’ with no, I was able to unlock a dormant and long hidden source of creativity and power once again. By adressing and admitting my creative needs, by facing the dark places of my inner landscapes, I was able to finally move on, move to another country even. Over the last five years Sitges as a place to live and thrive has become more and more important to me, so in September 2020 I took that final leap and moved here permanently. And although I was absolutely sure, that I didn’t want to be a cat-daddy again, yet a tiny and frail street kitty found me and gave me joy and responsibility. This little cat is my personal guardian cat, my shugo neko, watching over me. He is growing fast, getting stronger and weirder every day, mirroring my progress. When I needed protection, I was asked to protect, when I needed love, I needed to start loving again. I see him as my spiritual guard, he protects me somehow, his positive energy, his abundant energy, is a permanent inspiration and challenge and this is why I now translate all of this into my SHUGONEKO™ project. Other than the lovely but somehow ubiquitous winking cats, which commonly are to invite prosperity and health, I envision my little art pieces more as a manifestation of a good house spirit, a totem, a talisman, a feline fabric charm. The handmade, doll-like sculptures stand about 60-66cm tall. I use heavy vintage fabric, japanese linen, turkish embroidery, crochet, bobbin lace, some of them with modern patterns etc. The face details and the heart opening are individual, sewn with my sewing machine, but not with a computer stitching machine. All of the fabric SHUGONEKO™ Figurines have a heart. I christened them corazon del mar, heart of the sea. I found the little felt balls on the beach always quite enchanting, even years ago, I always brought some as toys for my previous two cat brothers. The little prickly balls are formed out of pulverized posidonia rizoma, natural manifestations of the relentless power of the sea. The kinetic energy of the waves breaks down the fibrous posidonia roots and once the fibers are only severaly milimeters long, they eventually coalesce anew and form spheroids on the seabed, yet again with the relentless power of the waves, to finally build up little lenticular or spherical shapes, ranging from only several milimeters up to 5 cm densly pressed speres. I like the idea of these little entities containing a lot of energy, preserving the power and force of the sea. By making the posidonia balls the heart of my spirit figurines, I load or transform that natural energy into my figurines. I am not a supersticious or religious person per se, but I do believe in spirituality. In these difficult times my spirit cats could serve as a reminder, that you are not alone. They offer some kind of support and for those, who believe in positive thoughts and energy, I think they can have a positive influence their, in peoples lifes in general. For now this is an art page, a collection of art pieces, no shop (yet)
