“Trick & Treat”
Customised “Trikky” toys by Kidrobot.
Vinyl, Rubber, lead, Epoxy resin, Polymer clay, Brass Vintage clockwork keys and vintage silver trident.
5″ tall each.
For the Bewitching show at Stranger Factory, October.
Creator of the nano-clockwork brain, Ronson Travithik bestows the latest in each series on his pet. Originally a simple wind up hopping tin frog, his pet is now as intelligent as he is and helps run the research and development department at Travithik towers.
Custom Jumping Brain toy.
Polyurethane resin, Epoxy resin, Polymer clay, Lead, Rubber, Brass, Copper. In a vintage blown-glass bubble with turned mahogany base and vintage brass key.
6″ tall.
Made for the “Jumping Brain” show at the relocated Art Toy Gallery in LA in September.
For the first time in my life I have won an award.
(Photo pilferred from Ben Goretsky)….
I had the honour of receiving the “Best Customiser” award at the Designer Toy Awards hosted in San Diego a couple of nights ago.
Run by Clutter Magazine these awards are presented to artists and companies around the world who have excelled in some field within the art/designer-toy industry.
I am cuffed to bits!
And flabergasted..
And jolly happy.
It’s great to feel that all ones hard work is being noticed by ones peers.
And it’s not as if it’s a small pond I swim in any more. There are a lot of very talented artists out there who customised toys as part of their roster. From the short list it really could have been anyones, in fact from the long list it was a tough call.
I have been customising art-toys as part of my artwork since 2004. (And reworking toys into prototypes for new toys for maybe ten years before that.)
So I have been around the block for a while doing this. It’s my life.
And now I will have one of these splendid Pete Fowler designed awards to make me grin every time I look at it, for years to come. To KNOW, people love what I do..
Grin!
The Imaginary Menagerie show opens at Oh No Doom in Chicago tomorrow night.
Here are some of my pieces from the show. Hop over to their website to see all the pieces by all four artists artists and vie to purchase something for yourself..
The Self Made Man
“More organs means more Human”!
The twisted logic of a crazed surgeon bent on the attainment of actual organic life.
He harvests all manner of internal organs from whatever unlucky indigenous lifeforms he can procure.
Assembling and re-combining them in increasingly bizarre and imaginative ways about his inner cavities in the hope that one day he will truly be alive.
Vinyl, Epoxy resin, Polymer clay, Lead, A.B.S, Brass, Copper, Rubber, Glass, Vintage Brass drawing instruments, Steel.
12.5″ tall.
Hugo Neko-Lapin
Hugo was originally fashioned with the countenance of a Cat.
He has never felt it suited him. In fact he has always been happier following the life of a Rabbit.
He eventually discovered a network of secret underground clubs populated by likeminded souls who also felt erroneously equipped. Here he could indulge in his Rabbit fantasies without ridicule.
Sadly he cannot afford to undertake the alteration work himself, so has applied to the City Hall for a grant to cover the engineering.
To prove he is serious in his intent he must live openly as a rabbit for a year.
“Too many ears!” people whisper unsympathetically behind his back.
Collaboration with Amanda Louise Spayd.
Customised Mini Skelve figure from Circus Posterus. Designed by Kathie Olivas and Brandt Peters.
Polyurethane Resin, Epoxy resin, Polymer clay, Rubber, Lead Brass, Vintage clock and watch parts, vintage display dome.
4.5″ (7″ in display dome.)
Colonel Henry Walrus Caruthers with his latest – Specimen the Gullyskumpler.
Although appointed leader of the Herringbone wildlife research expedition the Colonel doesn’t really have a proper grasp on their intent.
Drafted in from the army to provide experience and knowledge in the fields of remote and difficult travel across uncharted terrain.
Adept at handling fire-arms with his prehensile moustache, he unfortunately cannot resist the urge to take occasional pot shots at the wild-life.
Especially sad when it is some of the rarer fauna.
“Well there wont be many chances to bag one of these buggers soon”! is his justification.
Collaboration with Chris Ryniak.
Customised Lefty toy designed by HiCalorie.
Vinyl, Epoxy Resin, Lead, Brass, Walnut wood, Brass, Glass, A.B.S. Found Objects.
Search Engines
These helpful little fellows were designed to help hunt out all those things you have trouble finding.
Set them a item to find in a bustling department store, or a departure platform at a sprawling railway station and they will track them down for you in a mere jiffy.
Customised Android toys created by DYZ Plastic.
Series of 5.
Vinyl, Polymer clay, Lead, Rubber, Vintage Brass clock key.
3″ tall.
Wanderer and dreamer, Mr. H.P.Reilly answered the unknowable call of the sea and set forth on an endless adventure.
He feels the distant pull of some ancient unnamed island.
He drifts in unimaginable vistas of time and fathom dark expanses of primordial oceans.
He dreams of loathsome protoplasmic abhorrences which gibber and twitch in his fevered somnambulistic imaginings.
He dislikes seafood and trigonometry.
Customised Kluth the R’Lyeh Student. Designed and made by Sergey Safonov.
Polyurethane Resin, Lead, A.B.S, Gold, vintage display dome.
4″ tall (6″ tall in dome).
For the “Imaginary Menagerie” show at Oh No Doom Chicago. Opens 9th July.
GregoryLumpling
General manager of the gentlemen’s socks and smalls department in one of Retropoli’s thriving department stores.
As a boy he dreamed of being a world class yachtsman but somehow ended up in underwear..
Customised Buffmonster toy designed by Buffmonster and produced by Mindstyle.
Vinyl, Polymer clay, Brass, A.B.S, Lead, Steel, Rubber, Glass.
4″ tall.
For the Imaginary Menagerie show at Oh No Doom. July 9th.
Well see MY name in lights..
Who would have thought customising toys would get one’s moniker up in light in Times Square and Las Vagas..
Odd (but good) world…
NEW YORK, June 2, 2011 /PRNewswire/ — Brooklyn Workshop, the creators of Skatecycle—the world’s first “hubless” self-propelled skateboard, have inspired 13 notable artists to create custom Skatecycles for sale, from which all proceeds will go to Global Giving in support of the Japanese earthquake relief effort. The one-of-a-kind Skatecycles will be sold exclusively on Gilt Groupe’s Gilt MAN on Thursday, June 23, 2011.
A preview event of the customized Skatecycles will be held on Thursday, June 16, 2011 at Toy Tokyo Underground art studio, The Levarek Gallery. Thirteen specialty Skatecycles will be on display for buyers to get a sneak peek before they are available for purchase on Gilt MAN.
Alon Karpman, founder of Brooklyn Workshop, designed the award-winning Skatecycle, and after years of development, launched it in 2010. Constructed with a solid aluminum frame and two polyurethane wheels, the Skatecycle is a self-propelled hubless skateboard that combines the snake-like movement of a caster board with the carving action of a snowboard. The Skatecycle’s 9″ donut-hole wheels enable rides with power, quickness, and a small (2′) turning radius.
For this project, a mixed group of today’s top creative vinyl artists have each customized a Skatecycle using their own signature graphics and artistic interpretation. Vinyl artists are known for blending sculpture and popular art, which can be seen in the exclusive Japan Relief Skatecycle collection. The artists involved in the project are: Frank Kozik, Doktor A (Bruce Whistlescraft), Jon Burgerman, Travis Cain, Owen Dewitt, Matt JOnes (A.K.A. Lunartik), Jeremy Madl (A.K.A. MAD), Touma, Dave Bondi, Derek Welch, Motomichi, PON and Tokyo Plastic.
“Brooklyn Workshop is honored to collaborate with such an extensive group of progressive talent. In recent years, it seems that the lines have been getting blurred between high art and what’s accessible and available through merchandising. The Japanese culture has embraced this concept the earliest. Vinyl toys, at one time might have been looked down upon in the art world, but have now become a highly collectable, valuable, and legitimate medium for artistic expression. This is largely due to many of the artists who are contributing to this event. I wanted to pay homage to the Japanese culture for their support of the vinyl art community, by having the artists create pieces that benefit the relief effort after Japan’s recent tragedy,” noted Alon, founder of Brooklyn Workshop.
“I’ve always been a fan of street art, pop art, and especially anime. Having the Skatecycle customized by some of my favorite artists, is really a dream come true. I hope that this will inspire others to personalize their Skatecycles,” continues Alon.
The Skatecycle sale will start at 12 pm EDT on Thursday, June 23, 2011 at www.Gilt.com. All proceeds of the custom Skatecycles will be donated to Global Giving to benefit earthquake and Pacific tsunami relief efforts in Japan.
About Brooklyn Workshop, Inc.
Founded by former lawyer Alon Karpman, Brooklyn Workshop specializes in innovative, urban riding machines. The Skatecycle—released in 2010—is Brooklyn Workshop’s first product. The Skatecycle is foldable, and weighs just 7.3 lbs. Priced at $149.95; the Skatecycle is available at www.brooklynworkshop.com.
VIDEO: http://www.youtube.com/user/BrooklynWorkshop#p/a/u/0/g2hpp55eIMY
About Gilt MAN
Gilt MAN (www.Gilt.com), launched in October 2009, was the first in the flash-sales space to offer a dedicated entry point for male shoppers—curating a broad range of daily sales from apparel and lifestyle items to gadgets and sporting gear—and is the first to offer a dedicated voice, Gilt MANual: The Daily Guide to Permanent Style, a trusted resource for advice and information on how guys can incorporate clothes, accessories, and gear into their daily life with confidence and style.
About Global Giving
Global Giving is an online platform that connects donors to the causes and countries they care about. Since the 9.0 magnitude earthquake and ensuing tsunami hit Japan in March 2011, Global Giving has been working with local Japanese and international organizations to support emergency disaster relief and aid, and they will continue to support longer-term relief and rebuilding efforts.
SOURCE Brooklyn Workshop, Inc.
RELATED LINKS
http://www.brooklynworkshop.com
