We have to admit that creatures with multiple limbs are astonishing. Insects are odd, cephalopods are weird… but at the same time they nourish our imagination and inspire us.
For a long time we had an idea to create a design based on the Arachne myth, a very talented weaver who challenged Athena. This excessive pride resulted in her being transformed into a spider.
We find others tales, like the Japanese tale of Jorōgumo – the spider who shapeshifts into a beautiful woman and kill men -, but all of them seems a little cliché. The folk tales and myths related to this “spider women”, most of them portrayed her as cruel and carnivore.
We tried a different direction, and started to search in the African mythology. In the first book we opened, we discover the perfect reference for this “creature”. Anansi (or Anase), was depicted sometimes like a spider with human heads; others like a human being with spider attributes or a spider simply dressed with human clothing.
He was a trickster spider who used always his intellect to outwit creatures much stronger than himself.