Designer toys
Encyclopedia
Designer toys is a term used to describe toys and other collectibles that are produced in limited editions (as few as 10 or as many as 2000 pieces) and created by artists and designers. Designer toys are made of variety of materials; ABS plastic and vinyl
are most common, although wood
, metal
, and resin
are occasionally used. The term also encompasses plush
, cloth
and latex
doll
s. Creators of designer toys usually have backgrounds in graphic design
, illustration
or self-described low brow art; some are classically trained in art and design, while others are self-taught. Designer toys first appeared in the 1990s and are still in production today.
series, produced in Hong Kong
by Toy2R
. The standard size of Qee
figures is 2" high, but 8" and 16" figures for their famous uglydolls which are also produced. Qees vary in their design, usually with the same basic body type, but with head sculpts that may be of a bear, a cat, a dog, a monkey, or a rabbit. Variations of the Qee are the Toyer with a head that resembles a cartoon skull; the Knuckle Bear, which was created by Japanese character designer Touma, and resembles a graffiti
-style caricature
of an anthropomorphized
bear; and the Qee Egg, a bird's
egg
with arms and legs. Blank Qees are produced in 2" and 8" sizes; these figures may be of any Qee sculpt, but are packaged unpainted, as do-it-yourself
pieces. Each piece is designed by an artist and carries its own aesthetic
theme. Each 2" figure is packaged with an optional keychain
attachment.
Another example of designer toys is the Dunny series, produced by the American
company Kidrobot
. Dunny figures may be considered the Western counterpart of the Chinese Qee
and the Japanese Be@rbrick
. Dunny are a series of figures that resemble anthropomorphized rabbits in a cartoon style (a design originally illustrated by graffiti, stencil
, and comic
artists) which are produced as 3", 8", and 20" figures. There is a variation of the Dunny figure called a Munny
, which resembles a monkey, and is only sold as an unpainted do-it-yourself piece. Some creators of designer toys are Hong Kong
-based Michael Lau
, credited with the establishment of the Urban Vinyl movement; Devilrobots, a five-person design team from Japan
, known for their television
character named TO-FU Oyako; American concert poster artist Frank Kozik's
Mongers series and Labbit character; and British
illustrator James Jarvis' cast of characters, produced as vinyl figures of varying sizes.
Most vinyl toys are produced in factories in China, though some designers have shifted production to Japan where higher quality materials such as clear vinyl are used. Designer toys are rarely produced in the United States due to environmental restrictions on the production of vinyl, some exceptions are resin and plush toys.
s in particular which are usually made of vinyl
. Although the term is sometimes used interchangeably with the term designer toy, it is more accurately used as a modifier: not all designer toys can be considered urban vinyl, while urban vinyl figures are necessarily designer toys, by virtue of the way in which they are produced. Like designer toys in general, urban vinyl figures feature original designs, small production numbers, and are marketed to collectors, predominantly adults.
The urban vinyl trend was initiated by artist Michael Lau, who first created urban vinyl figures in Hong Kong in the late 1990s. Other creators of urban vinyl figures are Japanese artist and designer Takashi Murakami
whose work has been exhibited in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
, Australia
n designer Nathan Jurevicius
's Scarygirl, based on characters from his comic of the same name, and produced in conjunction with Hong Kong company Flyingcat, and former graffiti artist KAWS
. Los Angeles
based musician and designer Craig Anthony Perkins
created the Broken Heart Robot character
Urban vinyl figures are designed primarily by illustrators, graffiti artists, musicians and DJs
from urban
areas in Asia (especially Japan and Hong Kong), North America
(especially the United States), and Europe
.
An offshoot of hip hop
and youth-oriented popular culture
, urban vinyl often depicts real-life figures from Asian and American culture, particularly artists who perform in a hip-hop or related styles. Two examples are Lau's depiction of the LMF
rappers from Hong Kong, and figures based on the members of the virtual electronic band Gorillaz
, produced by Jamie Hewlett and made by Kidrobot.
Urban vinyl is commonly designated as either Eastern Vinyl, including anything designed and produced in Asia or Australia, or Western Vinyl, encompassing pieces which are designed and produced in North America, South America
, or Europe. Urban vinyl figures have become collectible items. Rare pieces may sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
material and resin casting
. After casting the resin toy receives adjustments in its details, sometimes being superficially cast on some parts. The toy can be finished using automotive paint by aerosol and sometimes receives a varnished layer above the dry painting.
The process of making resin toys is more labor intensive and time consuming than industrialized vinyl toy production, which in most of cases are made identical and in large quantities. But resin casting allows artists to produce toys in small numbers. Most vinyl factories will only produce toys in large series. Resin toys have become a way for less established artists to produce a toy without the large financial investment required to produce a vinyl toy. Unlike most vinyl toys, resin toys are usually sculpted, cast, and painted by a single artist. In 2009 mphlabs produced a series of resin figures by American east coast artists Lou Pimentel and Brent Nolasco.
Designer plush, a subcategory of designer toys, are soft, stuffed dolls created in limited quantities by artists and designers. Common designs include anthropomorphized
animals or fantastic
human likenesses, although designer plush dolls often feature entirely unique character designs. Designer plush dolls are usually given names and persona
s, with their distinctive personalities described on their tags or in booklets included in their packaging.
One producer of designer plush is Friends With You
, a commercial art and design collective based in Miami, Florida
. Their work is characterized by a cute yet bizarre aesthetic, and exhibits a hand-made quality, even in pieces that are machine-made. In addition to their plush dolls, Friends With You also create modular
wood toys, and motion graphics for companies such as Sony
, MTV
, Nike
, and Columbia Records
.
Another type of designer plush are Uglydolls
, created by independent toy designers David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim under the label Pretty Ugly. Their first products were 12" plush dolls based on drawings by David Horvath’s, and handmade by Sun-Min Kim. Pretty Ugly has also produced 7" versions of their character designs, called Little Uglys, 24" versions called Giant Uglys, 4" miniatures intended for use as keychains, and in a departure from the plush medium, 7" Vinyl Uglys. With Ugly Dolls being featured in motion pictures like Zuthera and in major specialty stores the brand has gone from exclusive to Mass appeal in mainstream.
Another designer plush line are Shawnimals, originating in Chicago, Illinois, with designs such as "Pocket Ninja", "Splug", and "Son of Moustachio". All of these characters exist in a land called "Shawnimaland". Shawnimals released series 1 of "Micro Plush" blind box toys in December 2007 based on their Ninjatown line of characters. The majority of the characters involved all revolve around the Wee Ninja character, and are licensed to the Squibbles + Rotofugi partnership. Series 2 is scheduled for release near or on the same day as its Ninjatown Nintendo DS game.
Other examples of designer plush include Hellhounds, created by Japanese character designer Touma and produced by Play Imaginative; the Gloomy Bear collection by Japanese graphic designer Mori Chack
; Stuffed Animal World and the Amalgamated Menagerie by Tyler Poncho Toys; the Furilla series by American artist Toren Orzeck; the Grunions by American production company Goblinko, the Doudoupop brand by French
designer Jamous; the Swedish Spök-spök brand by designer Daniel Svanberg, presently consisting of four characters named Spök-spök, Spökelina, Toofhairy, and the ever angry Baron von Kon, living in an ideal world that's a hybrid of fond childhood memories and traditional Swedish iconography; and Circus Punks, knockdown dolls (simple dolls with round, sand-filled bases used in carnival games) which are screen-printed and sewn by hand, each featuring a design by a different artist. While in Asia, Thunderpanda or Eric Wirjanata released a series of limited edition of Lemi the Space Wanderer plush.
Art Toy Flash Drives
proved that there was a market for Urban Vinyl products with a purpose. Like other platform art toys, there have been mimobot designs by a wide variety of artists, including Mori Chack
, Sket One
, Devilrobots and Jon Burgerman
. The appeal of designer consumer electronics in flash memory form tends to be the addition of a digital canvas, allowing affiliated artists to create much more in-depth characters, complete with animations, music, etc.
Designer consumer electronics are not limited to mimobots; in 2007, Medicom brought out a Be@rbrick
USB flash drive
, and Marka27 debuted their Mini Gods urban vinyl toy speakers.
Vinyl
A vinyl compound is any organic compound that contains a vinyl group ,which are derivatives of ethene, CH2=CH2, with one hydrogen atom replaced with some other group...
are most common, although wood
Wood
Wood is a hard, fibrous tissue found in many trees. It has been used for hundreds of thousands of years for both fuel and as a construction material. It is an organic material, a natural composite of cellulose fibers embedded in a matrix of lignin which resists compression...
, metal
Metal
A metal , is an element, compound, or alloy that is a good conductor of both electricity and heat. Metals are usually malleable and shiny, that is they reflect most of incident light...
, and resin
Resin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
are occasionally used. The term also encompasses plush
Plush
Plush is a textile having a cut nap or pile the same as fustian or velvet.Originally the pile of plush consisted of mohair or worsted yarn, but now silk by itself or with a cotton backing is used for plush, the distinction from velvet being found in the longer and less dense pile of plush...
, cloth
Textile
A textile or cloth is a flexible woven material consisting of a network of natural or artificial fibres often referred to as thread or yarn. Yarn is produced by spinning raw fibres of wool, flax, cotton, or other material to produce long strands...
and latex
Latex
Latex is the stable dispersion of polymer microparticles in an aqueous medium. Latexes may be natural or synthetic.Latex as found in nature is a milky fluid found in 10% of all flowering plants . It is a complex emulsion consisting of proteins, alkaloids, starches, sugars, oils, tannins, resins,...
doll
Doll
A doll is a model of a human being, often used as a toy for children. Dolls have traditionally been used in magic and religious rituals throughout the world, and traditional dolls made of materials like clay and wood are found in the Americas, Asia, Africa and Europe. The earliest documented dolls...
s. Creators of designer toys usually have backgrounds in graphic design
Graphic design
Graphic design is a creative process – most often involving a client and a designer and usually completed in conjunction with producers of form – undertaken in order to convey a specific message to a targeted audience...
, illustration
Illustration
An illustration is a displayed visualization form presented as a drawing, painting, photograph or other work of art that is created to elucidate or dictate sensual information by providing a visual representation graphically.- Early history :The earliest forms of illustration were prehistoric...
or self-described low brow art; some are classically trained in art and design, while others are self-taught. Designer toys first appeared in the 1990s and are still in production today.
Overview
A typical example of designer toys are the QeeQEE
Qee are a collection of designer toys created by Hong Kong-based company Toy2R, which was founded by Raymond Choy in 1995.Qee figures vary in their design. The original Qee has a body that resembles an extremely simplified human form, somewhat similar in appearance to Playmobil or LEGO figures,...
series, produced in Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
by Toy2R
Toy2R
Toy2R is a designer toy company based in Hong Kong that was founded by Raymond Choy in 1995.-History:Choy spent 10 years as an employee of an American footwear company. During his tenure there, he developed skills in general business operation, especially quality control...
. The standard size of Qee
QEE
Qee are a collection of designer toys created by Hong Kong-based company Toy2R, which was founded by Raymond Choy in 1995.Qee figures vary in their design. The original Qee has a body that resembles an extremely simplified human form, somewhat similar in appearance to Playmobil or LEGO figures,...
figures is 2" high, but 8" and 16" figures for their famous uglydolls which are also produced. Qees vary in their design, usually with the same basic body type, but with head sculpts that may be of a bear, a cat, a dog, a monkey, or a rabbit. Variations of the Qee are the Toyer with a head that resembles a cartoon skull; the Knuckle Bear, which was created by Japanese character designer Touma, and resembles a graffiti
Graffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
-style caricature
Caricature
A caricature is a portrait that exaggerates or distorts the essence of a person or thing to create an easily identifiable visual likeness. In literature, a caricature is a description of a person using exaggeration of some characteristics and oversimplification of others.Caricatures can be...
of an anthropomorphized
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
bear; and the Qee Egg, a bird's
Bird
Birds are feathered, winged, bipedal, endothermic , egg-laying, vertebrate animals. Around 10,000 living species and 188 families makes them the most speciose class of tetrapod vertebrates. They inhabit ecosystems across the globe, from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Extant birds range in size from...
egg
Egg (biology)
An egg is an organic vessel in which an embryo first begins to develop. In most birds, reptiles, insects, molluscs, fish, and monotremes, an egg is the zygote, resulting from fertilization of the ovum, which is expelled from the body and permitted to develop outside the body until the developing...
with arms and legs. Blank Qees are produced in 2" and 8" sizes; these figures may be of any Qee sculpt, but are packaged unpainted, as do-it-yourself
Do it yourself
Do it yourself is a term used to describe building, modifying, or repairing of something without the aid of experts or professionals...
pieces. Each piece is designed by an artist and carries its own aesthetic
Aesthetics
Aesthetics is a branch of philosophy dealing with the nature of beauty, art, and taste, and with the creation and appreciation of beauty. It is more scientifically defined as the study of sensory or sensori-emotional values, sometimes called judgments of sentiment and taste...
theme. Each 2" figure is packaged with an optional keychain
Keychain
A keychain or key chain is a small chain, usually made from metal or plastic, that connects a small item to a keyring. The length of a keychain allows an item to be used more easily than if connected directly to a keyring...
attachment.
Another example of designer toys is the Dunny series, produced by the American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
company Kidrobot
Kidrobot
Kidrobot is a producer and retailer of designer toys founded in 2002 by Paul Budnitz, specializing in artist-created toys and imports from Japan, Hong Kong, and Europe. Kidrobot also makes Kidrobot Mascots, which are figures of their main logo. These figures are usually nicknamed KR and the number...
. Dunny figures may be considered the Western counterpart of the Chinese Qee
QEE
Qee are a collection of designer toys created by Hong Kong-based company Toy2R, which was founded by Raymond Choy in 1995.Qee figures vary in their design. The original Qee has a body that resembles an extremely simplified human form, somewhat similar in appearance to Playmobil or LEGO figures,...
and the Japanese Be@rbrick
Be@rbrick
Bearbrick is a collectible toy designed and produced by the Japanese company MediCom Toy Incorporated. The name is derived from the fact that the figure is a cartoon-style representation of a bear, and that it is a variation of MediCom's Kubrick design...
. Dunny are a series of figures that resemble anthropomorphized rabbits in a cartoon style (a design originally illustrated by graffiti, stencil
Stencil
A stencil is a thin sheet of material, such as paper, plastic, or metal, with letters or a design cut from it, used to produce the letters or design on an underlying surface by applying pigment through the cut-out holes in the material. The key advantage of a stencil is that it can be reused to...
, and comic
Comics
Comics denotes a hybrid medium having verbal side of its vocabulary tightly tied to its visual side in order to convey narrative or information only, the latter in case of non-fiction comics, seeking synergy by using both visual and verbal side in...
artists) which are produced as 3", 8", and 20" figures. There is a variation of the Dunny figure called a Munny
Munny
A Munny doll is a toy from the American company Kidrobot.- Action Figure :A Munny doll is made out of vinyl and has movable joints.A Munny doll is a blank figure the owner can decorate using pens, pencils, markers, paint, and other supplies...
, which resembles a monkey, and is only sold as an unpainted do-it-yourself piece. Some creators of designer toys are Hong Kong
Hong Kong
Hong Kong is one of two Special Administrative Regions of the People's Republic of China , the other being Macau. A city-state situated on China's south coast and enclosed by the Pearl River Delta and South China Sea, it is renowned for its expansive skyline and deep natural harbour...
-based Michael Lau
Michael Lau
Michael Lau is an artist from Hong Kong who is known for his illustration and designer toy figures. Lau is widely credited as the founder of the urban vinyl style within the designer toy movement. His work has had a significant effect on toy manufacturers, as well as street culture, including...
, credited with the establishment of the Urban Vinyl movement; Devilrobots, a five-person design team from Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, known for their television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
character named TO-FU Oyako; American concert poster artist Frank Kozik's
Frank Kozik
Frank Kozik is an American graphic artist who has worked with Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Stone Temple Pilots, the Red Hot Chili Peppers, Melvins, The Offspring and Butthole Surfers. Kozik runs Man's Ruin Records, a media outlet and record label, and has published several books including Man's Ruin:...
Mongers series and Labbit character; and British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
illustrator James Jarvis' cast of characters, produced as vinyl figures of varying sizes.
Most vinyl toys are produced in factories in China, though some designers have shifted production to Japan where higher quality materials such as clear vinyl are used. Designer toys are rarely produced in the United States due to environmental restrictions on the production of vinyl, some exceptions are resin and plush toys.
Urban vinyl
Urban vinyl is a type of designer toy, featuring action figureAction figure
An action figure is a posable character figurine, made of plastic or other materials, and often based upon characters from a film, comic book, video game, or television program. These action figures are usually marketed towards boys and male collectors...
s in particular which are usually made of vinyl
Vinyl
A vinyl compound is any organic compound that contains a vinyl group ,which are derivatives of ethene, CH2=CH2, with one hydrogen atom replaced with some other group...
. Although the term is sometimes used interchangeably with the term designer toy, it is more accurately used as a modifier: not all designer toys can be considered urban vinyl, while urban vinyl figures are necessarily designer toys, by virtue of the way in which they are produced. Like designer toys in general, urban vinyl figures feature original designs, small production numbers, and are marketed to collectors, predominantly adults.
The urban vinyl trend was initiated by artist Michael Lau, who first created urban vinyl figures in Hong Kong in the late 1990s. Other creators of urban vinyl figures are Japanese artist and designer Takashi Murakami
Takashi Murakami
is an internationally prolific contemporary Japanese artist. He works in fine arts media—such as painting and sculpture—as well as what is conventionally considered commercial media —fashion, merchandise, and animation— and is known for blurring the line between high and low art...
whose work has been exhibited in the Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo
The is a contemporary art museum in Tokyo, Japan. The museum is located in Kiba Park. It was opened in 1995.- Prominent exhibits :*Marilyn Monroe by Andy Warhol *Girl with Hair Ribbon by Roy Lichtenstein -External links:* website...
, and the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, Massachusetts, is one of the largest museums in the United States, attracting over one million visitors a year. It contains over 450,000 works of art, making it one of the most comprehensive collections in the Americas...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n designer Nathan Jurevicius
Nathan Jurevicius
Nathan Jurevicius is an Australian artist working in a variety of media including illustration, designer toys, online games and animation. He is best known for his Scarygirl http://www.Scarygirl.com brand.-Work:...
's Scarygirl, based on characters from his comic of the same name, and produced in conjunction with Hong Kong company Flyingcat, and former graffiti artist KAWS
KAWS (artist)
Brian Donnelly , professionally known as KAWS, is a New York-based artist and designer of limited edition toys and clothing. He currently lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.-Biography:...
. Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
based musician and designer Craig Anthony Perkins
Craig Anthony Perkins
Craig Anthony Perkins is a musician, composer, record label owner and producer, photographer, filmmaker, author and designer from Los Angeles who is most known for his designer toy figure the Broken Heart Robot and his music project jido-genshi.Perkins is an autodidact who is self taught in music,...
created the Broken Heart Robot character
Urban vinyl figures are designed primarily by illustrators, graffiti artists, musicians and DJs
Disc jockey
A disc jockey, also known as DJ, is a person who selects and plays recorded music for an audience. Originally, "disc" referred to phonograph records, not the later Compact Discs. Today, the term includes all forms of music playback, no matter the medium.There are several types of disc jockeys...
from urban
Urban culture
Urban culture is the culture of towns and cities. In the United States, Urban culture may also sometimes be used as a euphemistic reference to contemporary African American culture.- African American culture :...
areas in Asia (especially Japan and Hong Kong), North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
(especially the United States), and Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
.
An offshoot of hip hop
Hip hop
Hip hop is a form of musical expression and artistic culture that originated in African-American and Latino communities during the 1970s in New York City, specifically the Bronx. DJ Afrika Bambaataa outlined the four pillars of hip hop culture: MCing, DJing, breaking and graffiti writing...
and youth-oriented popular culture
Popular culture
Popular culture is the totality of ideas, perspectives, attitudes, memes, images and other phenomena that are deemed preferred per an informal consensus within the mainstream of a given culture, especially Western culture of the early to mid 20th century and the emerging global mainstream of the...
, urban vinyl often depicts real-life figures from Asian and American culture, particularly artists who perform in a hip-hop or related styles. Two examples are Lau's depiction of the LMF
LMF
LMF may stand for:* Lillebrors Motståndsfront, a Swedish protest group for integrity* Lexical Markup Framework, an ISO standard* Lazy Mutha Fucka, a Cantonese hip-hop band from Hong Kong* Lamb-Mössbauer factor, in solid-state spectroscopy...
rappers from Hong Kong, and figures based on the members of the virtual electronic band Gorillaz
Gorillaz
Gorillaz is an English musical project created in 1998 by Damon Albarn and Jamie Hewlett. This project consists of Gorillaz music itself and an extensive fictional universe depicting a "virtual band" of cartoon characters...
, produced by Jamie Hewlett and made by Kidrobot.
Urban vinyl is commonly designated as either Eastern Vinyl, including anything designed and produced in Asia or Australia, or Western Vinyl, encompassing pieces which are designed and produced in North America, South America
South America
South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...
, or Europe. Urban vinyl figures have become collectible items. Rare pieces may sell for hundreds or even thousands of dollars.
Resin toys
Some artists create their toys using synthetic resinResin
Resin in the most specific use of the term is a hydrocarbon secretion of many plants, particularly coniferous trees. Resins are valued for their chemical properties and associated uses, such as the production of varnishes, adhesives, and food glazing agents; as an important source of raw materials...
material and resin casting
Resin casting
Resin casting is a method of plastic casting where a mold is filled with a liquid synthetic resin, which then hardens. It is primarily used for small scale production like industrial prototypes and dentistry...
. After casting the resin toy receives adjustments in its details, sometimes being superficially cast on some parts. The toy can be finished using automotive paint by aerosol and sometimes receives a varnished layer above the dry painting.
The process of making resin toys is more labor intensive and time consuming than industrialized vinyl toy production, which in most of cases are made identical and in large quantities. But resin casting allows artists to produce toys in small numbers. Most vinyl factories will only produce toys in large series. Resin toys have become a way for less established artists to produce a toy without the large financial investment required to produce a vinyl toy. Unlike most vinyl toys, resin toys are usually sculpted, cast, and painted by a single artist. In 2009 mphlabs produced a series of resin figures by American east coast artists Lou Pimentel and Brent Nolasco.
Designer plush
Anthropomorphism
Anthropomorphism is any attribution of human characteristics to animals, non-living things, phenomena, material states, objects or abstract concepts, such as organizations, governments, spirits or deities. The term was coined in the mid 1700s...
animals or fantastic
Fantasy
Fantasy is a genre of fiction that commonly uses magic and other supernatural phenomena as a primary element of plot, theme, or setting. Many works within the genre take place in imaginary worlds where magic is common...
human likenesses, although designer plush dolls often feature entirely unique character designs. Designer plush dolls are usually given names and persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
s, with their distinctive personalities described on their tags or in booklets included in their packaging.
One producer of designer plush is Friends With You
Friends With You
FriendsWithYou is a commercial art collective based in Miami, Florida, founded by Sam Borkson and Arturo Sandoval in 2002, that creates designer toys, particularly plush and wood toys, as well as art installations, playgrounds, published works, performance art, animation and multimedia...
, a commercial art and design collective based in Miami, Florida
Florida
Florida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
. Their work is characterized by a cute yet bizarre aesthetic, and exhibits a hand-made quality, even in pieces that are machine-made. In addition to their plush dolls, Friends With You also create modular
Module
Module or modular may refer to the concept of modularity. It may also refer to:-Computing and engineering:* Modular design, the engineering discipline of designing complex devices using separately designed sub-components...
wood toys, and motion graphics for companies such as Sony
Sony
, commonly referred to as Sony, is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation headquartered in Minato, Tokyo, Japan and the world's fifth largest media conglomerate measured by revenues....
, MTV
MTV
MTV, formerly an initialism of Music Television, is an American network based in New York City that launched on August 1, 1981. The original purpose of the channel was to play music videos guided by on-air hosts known as VJs....
, Nike
Nike, Inc.
Nike, Inc. is a major publicly traded sportswear and equipment supplier based in the United States. The company is headquartered near Beaverton, Oregon, which is part of the Portland metropolitan area...
, and Columbia Records
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label, owned by Japan's Sony Music Entertainment, operating under the Columbia Music Group with Aware Records. It was founded in 1888, evolving from an earlier enterprise, the American Graphophone Company — successor to the Volta Graphophone Company...
.
Another type of designer plush are Uglydolls
Uglydolls
Uglydoll is a brand which began as a collection of best selling toys created by creators David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim. The Uglydoll line was first launched in January 2001, and are distinguished by an aesthetic that balances traditional cuteness with perceived ugliness...
, created by independent toy designers David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim under the label Pretty Ugly. Their first products were 12" plush dolls based on drawings by David Horvath’s, and handmade by Sun-Min Kim. Pretty Ugly has also produced 7" versions of their character designs, called Little Uglys, 24" versions called Giant Uglys, 4" miniatures intended for use as keychains, and in a departure from the plush medium, 7" Vinyl Uglys. With Ugly Dolls being featured in motion pictures like Zuthera and in major specialty stores the brand has gone from exclusive to Mass appeal in mainstream.
Another designer plush line are Shawnimals, originating in Chicago, Illinois, with designs such as "Pocket Ninja", "Splug", and "Son of Moustachio". All of these characters exist in a land called "Shawnimaland". Shawnimals released series 1 of "Micro Plush" blind box toys in December 2007 based on their Ninjatown line of characters. The majority of the characters involved all revolve around the Wee Ninja character, and are licensed to the Squibbles + Rotofugi partnership. Series 2 is scheduled for release near or on the same day as its Ninjatown Nintendo DS game.
Other examples of designer plush include Hellhounds, created by Japanese character designer Touma and produced by Play Imaginative; the Gloomy Bear collection by Japanese graphic designer Mori Chack
Mori Chack
Mori Chack is the artist name of a Japanese graphic designer, who was born in Sakai, Osaka, Japan. He is famous for his Chax product line, and especially the character Gloomy Bear, a 2 m tall, violent, pink bear that eats humans...
; Stuffed Animal World and the Amalgamated Menagerie by Tyler Poncho Toys; the Furilla series by American artist Toren Orzeck; the Grunions by American production company Goblinko, the Doudoupop brand by French
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
designer Jamous; the Swedish Spök-spök brand by designer Daniel Svanberg, presently consisting of four characters named Spök-spök, Spökelina, Toofhairy, and the ever angry Baron von Kon, living in an ideal world that's a hybrid of fond childhood memories and traditional Swedish iconography; and Circus Punks, knockdown dolls (simple dolls with round, sand-filled bases used in carnival games) which are screen-printed and sewn by hand, each featuring a design by a different artist. While in Asia, Thunderpanda or Eric Wirjanata released a series of limited edition of Lemi the Space Wanderer plush.
Designer consumer electronics
A recent addition to the world of vinyl toys, designer consumer electronics is a subcategory started by mimoco, whose mimobotMimobot
MIMOBOT flash drives are a line of collectible designer toy USB flash drives launched in 2005 by Mimoco, Inc., headed by Evan Blaustein. Designed by contemporary character artists, preloaded with original media content like music, video, animations, or games, and produced in limited runs of usually...
Art Toy Flash Drives
USB flash drive
A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...
proved that there was a market for Urban Vinyl products with a purpose. Like other platform art toys, there have been mimobot designs by a wide variety of artists, including Mori Chack
Mori Chack
Mori Chack is the artist name of a Japanese graphic designer, who was born in Sakai, Osaka, Japan. He is famous for his Chax product line, and especially the character Gloomy Bear, a 2 m tall, violent, pink bear that eats humans...
, Sket One
Sket One
Sket One grew up in New Haven, Connecticut where he started his art in 1986 as hip-hop swept the country.- Art and Career :Sket One created and ran Unitee in the 1990s – a shirt design company while looking for full-time work as a designer. He eventually landed his current position as Creative...
, Devilrobots and Jon Burgerman
Jon Burgerman
Jon Burgerman is an English artist and illustrator.-Life and work:Jon Burgerman was born August 8, 1979, in Nottingham, UK. He studied art foundation in Bournville, Birmingham, England, and then Fine Art at Nottingham Trent University....
. The appeal of designer consumer electronics in flash memory form tends to be the addition of a digital canvas, allowing affiliated artists to create much more in-depth characters, complete with animations, music, etc.
Designer consumer electronics are not limited to mimobots; in 2007, Medicom brought out a Be@rbrick
Be@rbrick
Bearbrick is a collectible toy designed and produced by the Japanese company MediCom Toy Incorporated. The name is derived from the fact that the figure is a cartoon-style representation of a bear, and that it is a variation of MediCom's Kubrick design...
USB flash drive
USB flash drive
A flash drive is a data storage device that consists of flash memory with an integrated Universal Serial Bus interface. flash drives are typically removable and rewritable, and physically much smaller than a floppy disk. Most weigh less than 30 g...
, and Marka27 debuted their Mini Gods urban vinyl toy speakers.