Youtube Works Awards

At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, the YouTube Works Awards needed to celebrate its honorees in a different way, without stages, without gatherings, without the collective energy of an in-person event. The Mangata agency found a path in simplicity: a custom popcorn bucket, sent as a gift to transform each guest’s living room into a small celebration space.

The brief was open-ended, a blank canvas in the shape of a bucket. I interpreted this freedom as an invitation to speak about YouTube itself: its ability to act as a portal, to dissolve boundaries, and to transport viewers to other worlds. Amid isolation, this idea carried special weight. If we couldn’t move, we could still travel.

The illustration emerged from that place: fantasy, enchantment, and the belief that even within a small object, an entire universe can exist.