Pixel Artworks brings 'The Butterfly Trail' to Asia with Bangkok debut at Happitat

Pixel Artworks, a global experience design studio, has brought its interactive experience ‘The Butterfly Trail’ to Asia for the first time, launching at Happitat Bangkok as part of the new lifestyle destination’s opening.

Presented on Happitat’s Grand Stairs, described as one of Southeast Asia’s largest indoor digital screens, the mixed-reality experience allows visitors to interact with digital butterflies using their smartphones, without downloading an app or using additional hardware.

The experience takes visitors into the botanical workshop and glasshouse of fictional explorer Professor Peter Pelgrin, where they can transform digital chrysalises into butterflies and release them into the environment. The butterflies can appear to land in visitors’ palms, with the animation responding to their movements and scaling as they interact.

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For its Bangkok debut, Pixel Artworks has adapted the experience to reflect Happitat’s physical environment. The digital butterflies have been remodelled based on species found in Happitat’s own butterfly garden, including the Lime Swallowtail and Plain Tiger.

The updated augmented reality experience was developed with specialist studio Vamplify using Camera Kit, Snap’s augmented reality platform.

“The Butterfly Trail was designed to inspire people of all ages and nationalities as it’s based on the wonder of nature. It’s amazing to see it evolve and connect with audiences in different places as it takes flight in Asia,” said Riaz Farooq, senior creative director at Pixel Artworks.

“For Bangkok, we wanted to do more than simply adapt it to a different venue. We’ve rooted the experience in Happitat’s own story and environment by recreating species found in its butterfly garden and renewing the way visitors interact with them. The result feels very much at home in Happitat while still keeping that sense of wonder and discovery that made The Butterfly Trail so successful in the first place.”

Orada Kerdhong, president of Axtra Happitat, said the butterfly was particularly relevant to the destination’s positioning around nature and happiness.

“When we first experienced The Butterfly Trail, we were immediately struck by its beauty and the sense of wonder it created. But what made the experience even more special was learning the story behind it and discovering how naturally it connected with the philosophy behind Happitat. It felt almost magical — as if the butterfly had found its way to the right place,” Kerdhong said.

“Through our collaboration with Pixel Artworks, this beautiful connection has become part of the Happitat experience, bringing together nature, imagination and technology in a way that we hope will inspire people to pause, explore and experience a moment of wonder for themselves.”

The Bangkok launch builds on the performance of The Butterfly Trail since its debut at Outernet London in September 2023. Pixel Artworks said the experience released more than 1.36 million digital butterflies and saw 3.94 million vials of nectar collected through its accompanying AR game during its first year, across 378,000 game sessions.

Visitors also shared more than 320,000 videos and photos, while the experience generated more than 28 million views across Instagram and TikTok combined, according to Pixel Artworks.

The Butterfly Trail has subsequently appeared at venues across the UK and Greece. It is free to experience at Happitat Bangkok and is licensed for 18 months.

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