The 2016 summer Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place in Rio. The new mascots for the Rio 2016 Olympics were designed by animated studio, Birdo. Birdo is an independent studio based in São Paulo, Brazil. Luciana Eguti and Paulo Muppet are producer and director of the studio and have had works selected for prestigious publications such as Stash, Vimeo Staff Picks and Youtube. They’ve worked on more than 80 projects together, six feature films, 17 short films, music videos and commercials for clients such as FIAT, Google and Unilever.

The Mascots were inspired by Brazil’s animal life, flowers and culture. The characters names will be revealed on December 14th and the naming options have included, Oba and Eba, Tiba Tuque and Esquindim, and Vinicius and Tom. The two characters are intended to represent diversity and the natural environment.