Last week, Megaroo and myself attended the opening night of Gallery Hanahou’s annual (and most anticipated in my opinion) Plush show. For the past 3 years, the gallery has put together an amazing showcase of plushies from various artists. Although I’m not always familiar with all of the participating plush makers, it’s always a pleasure to be introduced to a new artist.

This year, the plush show’s theme was Medium and Small. Plush makers were to create plushies that were the perfect size for hugging, or the perfect size for stuffing in your pocket. The results were nothing short of awesome! You can hit the jump to check out some of my very favorites!

Photo taken by Megaroo

APAK was in the show this year, and I almost missed these adorable plushies if it weren’t for my insistency to see their piece. They’re so tiny, but once they were pointed out to me I couldn’t stop looking at them. Although I believe the pieces were very affordable, 3 of the 4 were already sold out and the one that was still available was on sale for $100. As you can imagine, I was heartbroken. I’m not sure what material these cutie pies are made of, but they measured about 3 inches and I couldn’t help but be impressed with the facial features.

Artist NINON was responsible for the wolfy plushie above. Every time I walked by him, I knew I wanted him and I almost gave up my bit of savings to purchase him. I have a thing for plushies, and one-of-a-kind plushies are even more enticing, so to have a unique plushie like Harry Wolfblodt in my collection, well $90 wasn’t feeling too evil. Luckily I have great self control and I keep remembering that I like to eat when I’m hungry, so I had to pass up on him too. I especially like the “YEAH” word bubble. Yeah! is definitely a big word in my vocabulary and I love using it, I just had an instant emotional connection.

I have a weird relationship with my attraction to Hello, Brute‘s plushie. I’ll explain. Early summer 2009, I kept seeing the pieces that Hello, Brute was releasing in his shop and I didn’t quite find a connection to the pieces. That was until late August when I visited Double Punch in San Francisco and got to see not only some of his Kristoffer figures, but some sketches too. I’ve developed a love for his stuff, and the fact is that I simply can’t afford it. I wonder if this is going to become my new mantra, “I can’t afford it.” Anyway, when I saw the plushie, my need to own something Brute was the main driving force, but it helps that he was the perfect size for hugging. He only retailed for $35.

These birds by Keighty Crochet were just completely stunning. I think around the time Nathan Jurevecius released his owl toys, I developed a very soft spot for birds. Not enough to go bird watching, but I did purchase Leontine Greenberg’s piece because of her owl. Anyway, seeing Keighty’s birds really sparked something in me. I thought they were crafted so well, and I really appreciated the added touches of hats and booties, etc. She had several different species of birds too. Each bird retailed for $60. My only issue with this plushie was that I couldn’t really imagine hugging them… they’re more of the shelf variety plushie. I did imagine filming a v-blog and having one of these birdies resting behind me just to see how people would react.

Finally, Anna Chambers‘ poop plushies. Believe me when I say that no other poop gets as much love from me as Anna’s poop. >__< I just like saying that. Anna’s pocket poops retailed for a very affordable $25, but I wish it were just a bit bigger. I mean, if I’m buying poop I want to go all out with it. haha! I love the expression that the poop has and I can’t help but giggle like a French 4yo little girl when I see it. One is still available if you’re interested. Currently, I only own one of her red apples, the sad one of course– I needed to take a picture of me biting into it.

Megaroo has a thing for gnomes, for gosh sakes, he aim even has the word in it. Therefore, it seemed very fitting that she would totally fall in love with Anna Hrachovec‘s tiny gnome plushies. They literally measured less than 2″ in height. There were several pieces by her that were this small, including: pandas, lions, burgers, tvs and trees. These sold for $18 each, and we ended up getting one for each of us. I love him and his pudgy bottom, chubby belly and hairy beard. If you’re interested in any of the many amazing pieces, just got to Gallery Hanahou’s shop.