A tiny printmaking

Handmade Rubber Stamp by Hana Rakui

Hana Rakui製作的每一個印章,彷彿都是故事的片段——懶洋洋的黃昏躺在書堆裡百無聊懶;盪著鞦韆把滿腔的苦悶吶喊而出;秋季的夜晚獨自推著壞掉的腳踏車回家,回頭望才發現朗月一直陪伴著自己;夏日裡與狗散步至山上;驚嚇的貓;驅著熊貓車的女孩⋯⋯Hana Rakui稱印章為「小小的版畫」,版畫裡是教人遐想翩飛的畫面。

生於1985年的Hana Rakui,於2007年時開始製入印章,她的畫風可愛,卻不大甜美,而且充滿幽默感。樸素、夢幻,看似矛盾的兩個詞,然而卻是Hana Rakui的作品兼具的特質。她常以日常生活的情景入畫,並滲入淡淡的超現實元素,像是郵箱裡隨風飛舞的信,又或是化為迷你小人躺在書上的女孩等。她其中一個極受觀迎的數字系列,以馬戲團作為主角,成員的一舉一動描畫出一個個數字。

Hana Rakui對印章的材質也極為講究,手把採用的是用來製作家具及地板等堅硬的橡木,使印章也如家具般,長久耐用。

Every rubber stamp crafted by Hana Rakui seems to be featuring an excerpt from a certain story — lying on a pile of books in a lazy late afternoon, riding a swing while screaming to vent out the inner frustration, pushing a broken bike home and suddenly turn to see a beautiful autumn full moon, taking a stroll with a dog uphill, a frightened cat, a girl driving in a panda car, so on and so forth. Rakui sees her rubber stamps as a mini version of printmaking, on which she illustrates all her wildest thoughts.

Born in 1985, Hana Rakui started making rubber stamp in 2007. Her style is cute but not overly girly; austere and fantasy are probably the two contradicting adjectives that suit best to describe the humorous works of Rakui. By blending a small dose of surrealism into chapters of her everyday life, she portrays letters dancing in a letterbox or a miniature girl lying on a book. One of her most popular series features acrobats using their bodies to make the shape of numbers.

Rakul is also serious about materials. For the handles of the stamps, she particularly uses hard oak wood, which is the same material for furniture making and flooring, so that the stamps can last and endure in the same manner.

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