Happy

Printed in Issue 21

If a fruit is not adequately ripe, cooking it down will release more starch than sugar. This would yield a cloudy jelly, rather than a clear one. But that doesn’t mean that crystal-clear jellies are impossible to obtain, it just means that you might have to fix your appetite on feasts for the eyes instead. Taiwan-based artist, Happy, behind the accounts @peiyuuue and @dogmilktea, creates jellies that satisfy our heart’s sweet tooth—not for eating, but for visually savoring. She also uses different types of resin to create charms for jewelry, tiny characters, mirrors, containers, night-lights. Happy is unsurprisingly a cook as well: “Cooking is my other hobby,” she says, “I love all sweets… cake, puddings, candy, chocolate… many many!!! I love butter and cream. When I was a kid, I liked gummy bears the most, and my favorite drink is milk tea.” Happy’s culinary inclinations are echoed in her diverse selection of materials and themes—wax and clay lend themselves readily to her vision, fleshing out an oeuvre that feels confectionary as much as it is visually stunning. Puffy friends in foamy clay, keychains with a lozenge luster. She also explores these sweet characters in two-dimension, through soft watercolor illustrations. Happy’s work is an accessible sojourn into a tranquil world of digital primary colors soaking into pastels, creating a plane of existence that feels easily blissful, the same way a warm evening breeze might be cause for a slow smile to spread steadily across your face. – Rebecca Storm