
Big Hug Studios is a collaboration between Jeff Excell and Christopher David Ryan (CDR)
Jeff is a full time entrepreneur/business owner who spends his free time helping bring the art of CDR on the blockchain
CDR
Our mission is to put beautiful, joyful real things out into the blockchain. We want to explore ideas and find out how exactly design principles can play out in the form of NFTs.
Big Hugs has been in the works for 10 years. First inspired by a scribble on a bathroom wall. CDR folded the idea of two objects embracing into his design world. After years of iterations on the Hugging theme, the creation of central characters has only happened in the last 4-5 years. They came as a natural progression from a solitary pair of characters to a world in which many inhabited.
The make-believe world of young children who through these characters are working through how to interact in and with the real world. They can be made up, or represented as stuffed characters, either way, we imagine Big Hugs as a modern homage to Winnie the Pooh. These characters live in a modern Hundred Acre Woods where they interact with nature, and dig through their emotions poking and prodding to see which ones work. Because we do this as kids, we need time on our own to figure out how to interact with each other. There are no villains in this world as no one is in a hurry, no one is ashamed to be wrong, and learning still means playing.
To us, learning still must mean playing. This art is a form of playing, which is a form of learning. Something we are very proud of, whether or not anyone else is. As we can only learn in an environment where we can make mistakes.
One would probably point out to us, that this is the wrong place to release art. Into the harsh criticisms of Twitter, into the bleak tunnel of self doubt and hand wringing that is CT. But for those of us who are here, and who want to be able to learn, have fun, be joyful, and celebrate instead of tear down. This is for those people.