Hello, My name's Karen.
My username, Momiji has two meanings - Firstly, it's the Japanese word for a certain type of autumn leaf.
Secondly, it's the name of a character from the anime, 'Fruits Basket'; Momiji Sohma, a troubled lad who has a penchant for wearing a girl's school uniform, he also had the tendency to turn into a rabbit when embraced by a member of the opposite sex.
Although I don't collect urban vinyl toys per se, I do have a strong interest in the design of independent characters across animation, comic-art, advertising, graffiti and,... toy-making.
I do have my own toy collection of 5~cm high Japanese produced (Chinese manufactured!?) figurines/mascots including Peko Chan, Anpan Man, Kusuri Kaeru, Astroboy etc. This is more of a vintage/nostalgic collection rather than an urban vinyl collection. I collected most of these whilst living in Japan 2005-2006.
My favourite artists/art groups/companies are Yoshimoto Nara, Jeremyville, Smitten by Stephanie, Isobel Knowles, Paul Robertson, Pictoplasma, Friends with You, Shawnimal, Junko Mizuno, Takashi Murakami, Jon Burgerman, Yupyland, Peskimo, Tado, Tokidoki, Letoy, Stick-A-Thing, FormatBrain, Charuca, oh, so many more!
These days I am also interested in other character-based projects and exhibitions - I follow the activities of Pictoplasma online, and recently have been interested in this exhibition here: http://www.vinylabuse.com/limitededition/about.htm, which cleverly ties character design and urban vinyl together for a good cause (endangered animals). Recently I put on a character design exhibition in Perth, Candy Cult, at the Breadbox Gallery. The website is here: www.candycult.net
Anyway, it's cool to see this site here, based in Perth.
I don't meet many people in this city who have similar interests to myself, so yeh, nice to meet you.
Karen.
Hi Karen, Glad to meet you
Hi Karen,
Glad to meet you mate. I'm here in Perth, Tracerstar is in the UK, and theroute is just about to head over to Japan (the lucky sod) to live with his better half the fabulous Mu.
Hee Hee, Momiji is cute, typical of Japanese animation. You must have had a wonderful time there. the country and people are amazing. i fell in love with the country earlier this year, and especially with Yamashiroya in Ueno (7 stories of toys toys toys)....
As you know perth is very lacking in the toy/design stakes, so awesome to see Candycult emerge. I am sure it is going to be a huge success, and we wish you all the best with it. There are a few cool things here, such as the Nexus Toy fair, which runs every 3 months. Now, this has predominantly been over-run by Star Wars collectors and toys (not that I am complaining, I am about to build a Stromtrooper outfit), buuuut, we are slowly starting to see Vinyl Toys and such appear. I missed the last one, and apparently there's another dude selling his stuff, so, the next meeting will be awesome and I will probablty buy more than I sell =) . Definitely checkit...
See if you can weasil your way into getting Cluttermagazine to sell you an international subscription. it is by far one of the best mags around for Vinyl Toys and design, and as you know, there are tonnes of sites from which to gain inspiration.
As i mentioned to you before, keep in mind that I have an idea, and CandyCult would be the perfect base for this. Would be awesome to see it come to life =)
Anyhow, thanks for dropping by, we hope you can join us often, and definitely jkeep us informed so we can write about CandyCult or your own personal stuff.
Cya!
_root.ofall.evil