A Cardiff barber’s new crafting project has become an Instagram sensation. We meet Danny Waddle to explore what is the story behind his hand-painted bears.
On a quiet afternoon, the smell of aftershave and fresh paint mixes in a small barbershop in Cardiff city center. Customers in barber’s chairs chat about their latest hairstyles, whilst just a few steps away, others gather around work tables, dripping liquid paint onto bear sculptures.
The art studio, named CDFbears, was launched just three weeks ago and has received massive views on Instagram, with some of the videos getting close to 100,000 views. People who find their way to this little barbershop on the first floor of Church Street are not just getting a haircut, but many are coming for the personalised painted bears.
The barber shop owner Danny Waddle said: “It started because I was making them for myself—just as ornaments for my barbershop, I thought they were really creative. But there are a lot of customers interested in them. With the influence of fashion culture, things like Bearbrick and KAWS bear are worth a lot of money, so I thought, why not create a space where people can make their own bears at an affordable price?”
After graduating from Cardiff School of Art and Design, Danny did not initially choose to be an artist, but opened his own barber shop:“Art was always my favorite subject, but I’ve also always liked hair and different hairstyles. Cutting hair is quite creative too, so I figured I could combine the two.”
However, customers who came in for haircuts in the previous months showed remarkable interest in the paint bear decorations, which he had just made at random. So Danny set up a small painting studio in the barbershop and began offering guided sessions by appointment. He shared videos of the production process online, which show the smooth, fascinating process of those paint drops on the bear sculpture.
To ensure customers get the best experience, he starts each session with a demonstration. “I do a demonstration at the beginning, showing everyone the step-by-step process, I use,” Danny said. “After that, I tell them they can follow my guidance or do their own thing.”
These bear sculptures are put on shelves in the studio to dry after being painted by the customers. Once the bears were dry, Danny would remove the bear and spray it with gloss paint to make it shiny. And then these artworks would be waiting to be taken home by their owners.
Danny think the success of CDFbears is not just about bears:“Maybe because it’s a break from the digital world. A lot of people who don’t usually think of themselves as creative really enjoy it gives them the experience of making something artistic. It’s a way to disconnect and do something different.”
Keris Louise Hopkins is a first-time customer for paint bear, she said: “Crafts are definitely still important for experiences, enjoyment, a distraction to society norms.”
While the process of making a paint bear might look effortless on Instagram, Danny emphasizes that there’s an art to it. “It’s exciting because you never know exactly what you’re going to get,” Danny said: “As you pour the paint, it flows in its own way, so even if ten people do it, each design will be completely different. It’s visually interesting and fun to watch the patterns form.”
With the popularity of CDFbears, Danny must balance his time between running the barbershop and the studio, welcoming customers, giving a good demonstration of the production class, and then going back to cutting hair.
Looking further ahead, Danny dreams of taking CDFbears beyond Cardiff: “I would love for it to keep growing and eventually expand. I think opening in different cities, like Bristol, would be a great next step. I’m surprised they don’t have something like this yet!”
“I would get another barber to take care of the shop here, and I want to train someone to run the new studio,” Danny said. “I have already started training someone now, so eventually, I would open the next location and find someone to run it alongside me.”