The Fiu mania does not stop: here are some of the creations inspired by the bird of seven colors

He never leaves the reeds and cattails of the swamps banks of rivers or shallow water lakes. Its size of almost 10 centimeters may make it go unnoticed among these aquatic plants, but if you stop for a few minutes and listen carefully, you will probably hear its song: “Damn, damn, damn!” »

We are talking about seven colors he bird with a round silhouette, plumage in intense colors which served as inspiration to create Fiu the mascot of Santiago 2023 .

In just a few weeks, the charming bird has established itself as the star of the Pan American Games. Everywhere Fiu’s body appeared, it was filled with children and adults eager for a photo with him. At the same time, all items related to her figure were sold out in official stores. Among the various items sold, there was one that was most sought after by fans: the stuffed animal.

The fever did not only concern Chileans. As reported at Santiago 2023, a Brazilian athlete spent over half a million pesos on stuffed animals and pins. There is also the Mexican cyclist Yuli Delgado, who during a competition wore a Fiu design on her nails.

As the love for this wetland species has not stopped, many people have wanted to create their own version of it in memes and in different types of objects, such as amigurumis, key chains and even the classics Pomaire clay pigs. But it wasn’t just seen in objects, it was also depicted in tattoos, candy and even coffee.

During the two weeks of the Pan American Games, Jonathan Fuentes served as head of statistics for the basketball competition. “I worked in South American competitions, but it wasn’t the same feeling as if I was competing in the Pan American Games,” he says.

In the final days of the sporting event, he began to wonder how he could leave a memory of what he had experienced that wasn’t merchandising. After thinking about it for a bit, he decided to wear seven colors on his skin forever. This would add to the large number of tattoos he already has.

In addition to the bird visible on the tattoo, Jonathan wanted to add a detail: it appeared to be playing basketball. “It’s the sport I’ve been playing since I was a kid,” he says.

Fanny Barraza , tattoo artist at Nébula Tattoo Studio, took on the task of drawing the seven colors in ink. “The process was a lot of fun and also challenging, because of all the details that go into it,” he says.

The artist says he adapted the image to his own style, which could be described as polychrome. After a three-hour session, the 12-centimeter tattoo was ready on Jonathan’s left leg.

“Fiu brought joy to Chile. It’s iconic because it’s something you’ll wear on your skin for the rest of your life. said Fanny.

It should be remembered that in addition to Jonathan, there is another Chilean who wears the mascot on his skin. This is José Hernández, who was a member of the rescue team during the sailing competition at the Pan American Games and who got the tattoo to win 25 pins from the countries that participated in the competition.

Roberto Marquina, barista at Quínoa Restaurante, is an expert in latte art: carefully created patterns on the surface of the coffee. He usually makes them different types of flowers, hearts or animals, but he never thought he would draw a little seven-color. That is, until last week.

“A frequent customer came in and said ‘Roberto, I have a challenge for you, let’s draw Fiu in the cafe.’ And I accepted” , remember. He quickly looked on his cell phone for a photo to guide him a little. “I prepared the coffee and detailed it. It came out on the first try. »

The barista says that once the coffee is ready, he tries to make a sort of circle with the milk jug. Using a bamboo tool he creates the details of the drawing.

While the image of his creation was shared on several social media accounts, including Quínoa Restaurante, Roberto says that in recent days, several people have come to order his Fiu coffee.

Even the mayor of Independencia, Gonzalo Durán, visited the store to get his own Sietecolores coffee and was delighted with the result. “Who else wants a CaFiu?” the mayor wrote in a message on his social networks.

Mauricio Marín, a publicist by profession, has been working for five years in the world of cake pops, small cakes held on sticks. “It’s designed to be eaten in one bite. They look like coyac, but they are made of sponge cake and dipped in chocolate,” explains the creator of Yay! Pops .

The fun part about these candies is that they can be personalized with any existing theme or character. For this reason, when Mauricio saw the fever felt in Chile for this colorful bird, he decided to recreate it in these bites.

To prepare an order normally the Yay! Pops usually takes about half an hour. However, they had to spend a little over two hours on Fiu’s cake pops, even though there were two copies.

“There’s a lot of detail and it’s also a cake pop that we’ve never done before. When we make this type of figures, we first draw them to visualize them. Although it seems simple, it actually requires a lot of detail,” says Mauricio.

It should be noted that the purpose of creating the seiscolores cake pops was not to sell them, but rather to create content on social media. The founder of Yay! Pops mentions that even though they’ve been asked a lot about themselves, it’s still “between the jokes.”

Long before the wetland bird was so famous in the country, the artist Andrea Rivera he had succeeded in embroidering it in his textile illustration works.

His embroideries are made in different formats: frames, medals and even on tree leaves. In each of them he illustrated with threads of seven colors.

“I always tried to include it in the collections of native birds that I put together,” says Andrea. Remember that before, it wasn’t a very well-known species, so when he posted it on his social media, people thought “it was made up.”

The artist has seen how much has changed since the sporting event began and that now when the wetland bird appears in his embroideries, they take very little time to sell. In fact, she is embroidering one of her works. “They ask me a lot, posing on the reeds or in their nest with their babies.” account.

For those who may be feeling Fiu’s absence these days, there is some good news: he will return when the Parapan American Games begin this Friday, November 17. Additionally, starting in Santiago 2023, they announced the launch of the limited version of the seven-color plush, this time dressed in a Christmas outfit.