The Artist Behind Juraku: Abigail Tan

Almost every drawing you associate with Juraku came from the same person, and I have never met her.

It Started With Stickers

Years ago I wanted some stickers for our Instagram. Nothing ambitious. Just something with a bit of personality that felt like us.

I found a few artists online and tried several of them. Most of what came back was fine. Competent, but it could have been for any restaurant.

Then Abigail's arrived, and they were exactly what I had been trying to describe and failing to.

So I went back and asked for more. Then more again.

What She Has Made for Us

That first set of Instagram stickers turned into most of what Juraku looks like now:

• The digital stickers on Instagram
• The physical stickers around the restaurant
• The manga on the Shake Shake Fries bag
• The Matcha Sake Bomb instructions, which explain the ritual better than I ever have out loud
• Digital sticker packs for WhatsApp and LINE (the LINE set lives on our sticker page)
• And now the illustrations on this website

Some of that is art on a wall. Some of it is the thing that actually teaches a first-time guest how to drop a sake bomb without wearing it. Both matter.

Never Met, Still Family

Here is the part I find funny.

We have worked together for years. She has drawn our food, our mascot, our staff, our regulars. Her artwork is on our bags, our walls, our phones and now our homepage.

And we have never been in the same room. She lives on the other side of the world. Everything we have made together has been made across a lot of time zones and a lot of messages.

I still think of her as part of the Juraku family. Some of the people who shape a restaurant never work a shift in it.

Where to Find Her

She takes commissions, and she works in a wide range of styles. These days a lot of children's book illustration, with the same warmth and attention to detail we have always liked in her work for us.

• Instagram: @biillustrationnn
• Prints and goods: Redbubble · TeePublic

If you have liked anything you have seen on a Juraku bag, a Juraku wall, or this page, go and tell her. Better yet, go and hire her.

More of the people we work with.