Tamagotchi re-designs, video game visuals and lucky charms: Welcome to the overstimulating 3D world of Iosif Abaab

Iosif Abaab is inspired by all things colourful, shiny, plastic and artificial. Not really a proponent of the rather stale ‘less is more’ theory, the 3D designer spends hours decking out his weird and wonderful creations, “obsessively adding more and more details”, he shares, “I like creating overstimulating visuals.”

A lot of the hyperreal glossy things that Iosif designs are “cute objects that I’d like to have in real life”, he says, a digital creation to add to his real and rendered collection of “toys and lucky charms – weird, cute, playful objects that make me feel happy”, he says. Like his series of renders reimagining the classic 90s Tamagotchi (everyone’s favourite portable digital pet), for example, or a Berry Boom alarm clock that suddenly inflates when it’s time to get up. Playful and otherworldly inventions like these have landed the designer collaborations with brands like Lazy Oaf, where Iosif had lots of fun fabricating type out of a bit of bubblegum stuck to the bottom of someone’s shoe to announce the London-based brand’s recent sale.

The designer uncovered his intuitive creative process during his studies at Design Academy Eindhoven where he once tried to make a video game for a studio project. “It was quite a big challenge, but also fun and I learned a lot in a short timespan”, he says. “After that, I began creating short 3D animations.” A few years down the line, the designer is now collaborating with studios and clients to create CGI animations while creating all his personal wacky digital inventions, spinning a completely ordinary object into something that looks too good to be true.