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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Lifestyle
Isabelle Aron

‘I have to have one of those’: plushie super-fans explain the appeal

Chloe Day, 25, lying surrounded by her collection of 235 Jellycats.
Chloe Day, 25, with her collection of 235 Jellycats. Photograph: Fabio De Paola/The Observer

It started with a boiled egg. Last year, Chloe Day, 25, kept seeing it all over social media. She was intrigued. It wasn’t the kind of egg you’d have for breakfast. There was a smiley face on the bright yellow yolk and little legs descending from the egg white. At 14cm tall, it was adorable – the egg part soft and fluffy and the legs made out of brown corduroy.

What Day was seeing, on social media and in shops, was an “amuseable” boiled egg by Jellycat, a brand that specialises in cute soft toys with smiley faces. “I remember it so clearly,” she says. “It kept cropping up. I thought: I have to have one of those.” Eventually, she bought one.

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