We’re rocketing towards a world lived within virtual surroundings, with technology rapidly increasing and our real world collapsing even faster. If we’re going to be trapped inside a reality of ones and zeros, we might as well make the best of it. Enter an artist like Arjintai, a Thai 3D artist creating digital jewelry for artificial avatars. He may not be creating metaverse accessories, but his vision is one largely designed for the cloud.
Arjintai, whose analog name is Jinsamat Simaphichet, is a Bangkok creative with a master’s in graphic design who was previously focused on typography. He’s created a few neo-tribal style fonts that would work perfectly for “no entry” signs warning cyberpunks away from UFO crash sites. But he wanted to create more than two-dimensional letter schemes and so he taught himself Blender via YouTube tutorials in order to properly express himself. Its versatility allows him to sculpt shapes exactly how he wishes. Together with Octane and Daz3D, he feels they encourage him to break the rule, calling them his partners in crime. He sculpts everything and doesn’t use any objects created by others.
The characters Arjintai dreams up are surreal, drifting in negative space devoid of familiar pigment, covered in artificial textures and glazes, carved tattoos, and UV face painting. He says that he injects his mood into the avatars but that their main purpose is to present the jewelry designs that are his focus.
Floating like liquids mixed with different densities, the chrome jewelry gleams and shines in an angelic fashion, forming around the characters with a mind of its own. At times it’s a delicate and transparent pastel or a smooth and creamy matte, but it’s generally a mercurial substance. Sometimes it’s less fluid, sharpening into the point of blades intertwined with wiry strings, similar to his typefaces.
Arjintai works mainly in the virtual world, but he occasionally brings his designs into the real world and aims to do more in the future. He’s worked on a couple of digital collaborations with models, wrapping their photographs in his imaginative finery. And he’s been commissioned by jewelry brands to design physical pieces as well. But he’s gearing up to buy a 3D printing machine to give birth to his own creations in the near future. Expect a new evolution with his next generation.
