The “Ferrari” of all giant panda costumes will join 2,500 bear sculptures on the Avenue of Stars in Tsim Sha Tsui on Saturday, interacting with visitors and helping to promote the real deal at Ocean Park.
The outfit even managed to catch some experts by surprise when it made its debut alongside the sculptures at Hong Kong airport on Monday.
Its maker, Japan-based art studio Zeppet said the cost of making the suit amounted to the price of the “cheapest model of a Ferrari”. The outfit also involved a 10-person team to get it built.
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“Its ballpark estimate could buy an affordable Ferrari,” workshop founder and CEO Junya Okabe said in an interview on Wednesday.
The studio’s website lists the costume’s price at US$180,000, or about HK$1.4 million.
Okabe said such costumes typically took three months to make and required thorough research into the similarities between how pandas and humans move, as well as their body structures. He added that the suit had undergone various design iterations.
“The very first version looks more similar to an adult panda ... But it looks not so lovely, even a bit scary,” he said.
The designer said creating the fur was the most difficult part of the process.
“It seems very simple when you see pandas in black and white, but in fact, there are many different colours mixed into this white colour,” he said.
“It has a different colour percentage distribution in different parts, and this percentage is the most difficult to calculate.”
The studio turned to an American manufacturer that has produced costumes for children’s television show Sesame Street to jointly develop the fur.
The costume even used yak hair, Zeppet said, but stressed no animals had been killed in the sourcing of the materials.
For the suit’s paw pads, nose, lips and areas around the eyes, the makers opted for a special silicone to provide a highly realistic texture.
The costume’s eyes and mouth moved mechanically and were controlled by a remote, the studio said.
But anyone wearing the suit will need to be 155cm (five feet) to 165cm tall, and be experienced in mascot acting to handle the heat inside.
Okabe said that the more delicate and complex the eye and mouth movements performed were, the more likely the suit was to malfunction, adding the team often had to balance between the outfit’s durability and flexibility.
The costume is part of the “Panda Go! Fest HK” exhibition organised by design studio AllRightsReserved.
The event will exhibit the 2,500 panda sculptures in various locations, such as Lantau Island’s Ngong Ping 360 on December 14 and 15, Ocean Park on December 21 and 22, as well as Sun Yat Sen Memorial Park in Sai Ying Pun on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.
Asked for its thoughts on the lifelike outfit, Ocean Park said: “We are always supportive of this kind of promotion around the city.”
Zeppet was founded in 1984 and has 16 years of experience in making panda models, including collaborations with biscuit maker Oreo and Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
Okabe said he had been fond of the animals since he was young. After seeing how polar bears were mistreated, he was inspired to work on creating realistic depictions of animals without resorting to mistreatment, he added.
His first animal model project had been creating polar bears, with the related profits being donated to the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), he said.
Okabe had also created replicas of popular anime characters Ultraman Zero and Ultraman Belial.
“[The panda costume] is a very successful example of combining art and business,” he said. “Bringing the panda [suit] I made to China feels like a dream come true.”
After the collaboration with AllRightsReserved, Zeppet will take part in another panda-themed project featuring Canadian pop singer Drake, Okabe said.
More from South China Morning Post:
- Hong Kong pandas An An and Ke Ke meet the press ahead of Sunday’s public unveiling
- Hong Kong’s panda twin cubs will be given ‘caring training’ at 2 to 3 years old
- Hong Kong studio to draw on panda economy with new character IP
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