Quatchi, Miga And Sumi

The first step was a call for designers. A total of 177 professionals from around the world (including Canada, Australia, Austria, Brazil, France, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States) expressed their interest in submitting a proposal, including credentials and a portfolio of previous work. Five were invited to Vancouver to meet the VANOC team to present their creative abilities and credentials. Eventually, one designer’s concepts were selected – to become the Vancouver 2010 mascots. ... A fourth character was selected as a ‘mascot sidekick.’ “We never intended to have a sidekick,” said Gardiner, “but Mukmuk was so cute and such a perfect friend to the other characters that we had to keep him!” So history was made – the Vancouver Games is the first to have an official mascot sidekick. Now the Vancouver 2010 team is preparing for perhaps the most exciting part of the mascot process – sharing them with the world. “I’m very pleased with the mascots, and I do love them, but it’s a lot like being a parent and watching your kids go off to school . . . you hope desperately that everyone else will love them, too,” said Leo Obstbaum, VANOC’s director of design. The mascots have now been revealed to the public and the world. A special theatrical event was held for 800 schoolchildren in the nearby city of Surrey, British Columbia, and a global audience of thousands have met the mascots ‘virtually’ through the Vancouver 2010 website, vancouver2010.com. ... http://www.vancouver2010.com/en/OrganizingCommittee/MediaCentre/FeatureStories/2007/11/27/76537_0711271407-872 [Proofreader’s note: this article was edited for spelling and typos on November 28, 2007]

Note: http://www.vancouver201...