A German Artist Transforms Coffee Stains Into Cute Little Monsters That Are Stealing Our Hearts

The artist from Hamburg, Stefan Kuhnigk, combines 3 things many people love the most — creativity, quirkiness, and coffee. His work started with a small office incident, and the artist decided to keep on breathing life into coffee stains. His coffee monsters have their own unique characters and backstories, and might even remind us of some people in our lives.

We at Bright Side are fascinated with people who manage to find inspiration in ordinary things and turn objects that may seem meaningless into true works of art.

1. In 2011, Stefan Kuhnigk, a designer and copywriter from Germany, found inspiration in a simple coffee stain.

2. He spilled some coffee on a piece of paper while he was at an office meeting and turned it into a drawing.

3. Now, Kuhnigk carefully chooses the best coffee he’s going to spill to make his coffee monsters.

4. He says that although you can work with any type of coffee, some of them may leave too dark of a stain, so it’s impossible to draw on them.

5. It takes anywhere from 4 to 6 hours for the coffee stain to dry before the artist can begin working with it.

6. Kuhnigk has already created more than 600 unique coffee monsters.

7. The artist spills coffee randomly which is why all his monsters are unique.

8. Kuhnigk shares that he enjoys this project because of “the determination or coincidence of the coffee hitting paper.”

9. He also has always enjoyed doodling and likes the romance of it, and it may have influenced his work.

10. The artist believes that his work may appeal to many people because almost everyone has spilled coffee in their life.

11. Kuhnigk shares that his drawings are also very easy to understand which might make them even more likable.

12. Although Kuhnigk usually draws each monster for no more than 30 minutes, it takes him a few days to “brew” the idea for the character.

13. Each coffee monster has its own unique story and inspiration behind its character.

14. The artist has more than 20,000 fans following him on Instagram.

15. Kuhnigk also runs a YouTube channel where he shares how some of our favorite monsters were created.

16. The artist published a book called The Coffeemonsters Book that contains stories and pictures of coffee monsters.

Have you ever found inspiration in ordinary things? Do you agree that Kuhnigk’s works are a perfect example of how art and creativity are all around us?