Author Archives | jeremy
jeremy - who has written 1280 posts on ToyCyte: Toy Culture Collected.
Jeremy Brautman collects toys and is the Editor-n-Chief of this here site. He currently aspires to be a contestant on the Sci-Fi Channel's Estate of Panic. As a lifelong neurotic, he thinks he will, literally, have the edge.
ZJ Design Unveils Nike Founder Qees
We’ve seen Qees take the form of humans like Frank Kozik, MCA, Voltaire and even Raymond Choy himself. Now, with the friendly support of Toy2R, designer Dragon Wang (ZJ DESIGN) has unveiled two 8-inch custom-made Qees: “Mark & Tinker in Beijing.” Mark and Tinker, need no introduction to Nike fans. For the rest of us: [...]
Continue reading...Jesse Hernandez Honored for Pitbull Rescue in Sports Illustrated
Thursday, January 1, 2009
There were a lot of disgusting headlines in 2008, and one of the many gripping stories of “Bad Newz” was the case of former Atlanta Falcon, Michael Vick’s, animal cruelty. Vick, who had been operating a dog-fighting ring, is now serving almost a 2-year prison sentence for his crimes. As for the dogs, 22 [...]
Continue reading...Donate Bone Marrow, Get a Drawing by Amanda Visell
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The original drawing by Amanda Visell is the secondary reason for doing this. The primary reason is helping out Amanda’s friend Justin who has relapsed with Leukemia. The last time around they fought it with chemotherapy. This time he is in desperate need of a bone marrow transplant and none of his family members are [...]
Continue reading...2009 Papercraft Calendar From CardBoy
Thursday, January 1, 2009
The flat-packed freedom fighter is back with a 2009 calendar. This year’s design from CardBoy is based around the Chinese Zodiac (year of the Ox). The free papercraft calendars should tide you over until the previously-blogged t-shirts and book come out later this year. You can download them at the CardBoy website right now. Since [...]
Continue reading...New MUTT toy is a PVC Potato Head for the DIY Generation
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
While its structure shares an ancestry with the Budog, Speakerdog and Dum Dummies, the similarities end there. MUTT is a DIY toy that is customizable and expandable. The MUTT's shell is an ambiguous shape that allows artists to take it in any direction. The real fun of this figure comes in the form of its accessories.
Continue reading...Jouwe The Resin Rhino Comes Flying Your Way Next Month
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Marine Ramdhani sends us these great new proto images–the culmination of a 5-month process–all the way from Indonesia. The Jouwe figure–a hybrid Rhino and Ant–has already sold out in grey and white. Marine is giving us a head’s up on the forthcoming (end of January) black colorway. There will also be a secret colorway [...]
Continue reading...New Stage II Monstres from MONSTREHERO
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
custoMONDAY alumni MONSTREHERO are dropping some new monstres in their webshop this weekend. Not much information has been leaked about the Stage II monstre. We do know it is a dangerous mutated form of the seemingly harmless Codename P.A.N.T.s. Where they came from and how they got here is still unknown; our sources tell us there [...]
Continue reading...Ring in the New Year With Robbie Busch’s El Diablo
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
Robbie Busch has been finessing his art formula since many Kidrobot devotees were drinking formula (particularly true for kids born in the late 70s when formula briefly reigned over milk). His colorful career spans comics (more Sandman than superher0), film, animation, music, photography and writing. Robbie, aka McBoing Boing, has clocked decades as part of the urban art scene, so who better to wax poetic on cultural changes as we teeter on the precipice of a new year? ToyCyte chatted up the New Yorker about life, art and his first original resin toy. You can check out paintings and pieces from Robbie's recent show at Rotofugi here, including prototypes of his El Diablo figure. The first wave of El Diablos available for purchase hit the Argonauts Resin store at 12PM PST/3PM EST today.
Continue reading...17FEET Sets Their Designs on Feeding the Hungry
Thursday, December 25, 2008
17FEET is a small and mighty interactive design group based in San Francisco. They've worked with heavyweights including Microsoft and Samsung and local favorites like CLIF Bar and SFIndiefest. When it came time to send holiday gifts to their clients, they looked past the traditional offerings of logo'd t-shirts and fruitcakes. A passion for designer toys had been brewing like a constant drip of Peets coffee in the office, and with that in mind, the Feeters set their designs on combining that interest with feeding San Francisco's hungry.
Continue reading...Pimp Meister Many Mey for Popsoda Custom Show
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
WOW. San Francisco’s own Kirkland Jue went all OCD on his latest custom and used almost 3,000 Swarovski crystals to transform a bird-flipping, exposed-brain kaiju figure into this blingin’ pimp. No longer a misunderstood piece of Japanese vinyl, Pimp Meister Many Mey could now easily be the next neck accessory for Pharrell. Says Kirkland: “Normally reserved [...]
Continue reading...Make Your Own Colorways With the Fall 2008 Color Ink Book
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Anybody else find coloring to be a prescription-free method of relaxation? The Brothers Washburn introduced Color Ink Book, their “DIY Art Periodical,” at SDCC and APE and now have the premier issue ready to ship. The Dark Knight issue features B&W art from Julie West, Jim Mahfood, Sara Antoinette Martin, Bubi Au Yeung, Annie Owens, [...]
Continue reading...Action Marketing Group’s Munny Contest
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Action Marketing Group prominently announces on their splash page that they “have never outgrown their experimental phase,” and to that end, they’re doing something with custom toys. I’m not sure I 100% understand the correlation between Munnys and marketing, but that hasn’t stopped me from reporting an interesting toy story before. I found out about [...]
Continue reading...Custom SUG Show in the Netherlands
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Running through January 15th in the Netherlands is a custom SUG show. SUG toys are of course one of the signature toys of American brand, UNKL. The collection features the work of 18 international designers and can be seen at the Concrete Image Store in Amsterdam. SUGs are not one of the usual “platform” toys [...]
Continue reading...JUDAS-Z Art Toy Travels The World in Tighty Whiteys
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Judas Arrieta is a Spanish artist working in Beijing. He’s been working as a painter for 15 years and has exhibited throughout Spain, Europe and Asia. His work focuses on the intersection between art history (academically speaking) and Asian pop iconography (Manga). Judas enjoys the transformation of daily objects–a fridge, a bag of chips [...]
Continue reading...Qees are Everywhere: Found at the Silverlake Flea Market
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
I’m a big fan of finding cool art in unusual places. While I was in LA for VTN a few weekends ago, I stopped at a fleamarket in Silverlake and happened upon the paintings and painted accessories of Gina (aka GuadalupeGurl). I don’t know a whole lot about her (according to her MySpace page, she’ [...]
Continue reading...Design This Design That Free Toy Magazine
Wednesday, December 24, 2008
Does this ever happen to you? You find out about something great when it’s just about to end. Such is the case of the online design magazine, Design This Design That. Ariadna Ramley of Mexico City has been doing the magazine since August, but she’s ceasing publication with this final toy issue. The toy issue [...]
Continue reading...Jeremy Fish Honors The Ghosts of the Barbary Coast
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Jeremy Fish’s latest solo show recreates a San Francisco saloon from the 1850s at FIFTY24SF. The exhibit includes a repurposed 100 year old redwood fence, 500 pounds of solid wood from Indonesia and enough saw dust to take a little piece of the show with you via your sneakers when you leave. It’s been a [...]
Continue reading...Kim Songhe’s Handmade Kim’s Couplets for SiLLY THiNG
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
I was really enamored with Korean artist Kim Songhe’s recent Be@rbrick, and while I’m less drawn to these new plushes, I do enjoy the handmade aesthetic–in particular that each plush doubles as a pencil stand. These dolls are handmade in limited quantities as part of the Kim’s Couplet series for Hong Kong’s SiLLY THiNG. The [...]
Continue reading...Jermaine Rogers Respectfully Disagrees (Sneakers Not Included)
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Following last week’s Job Epiphany, poster and toy artist, Jermaine Rogers, is releasing a this print inspired by the recent sneaker incident in Iraq. Entitled, Respectfully Disagree, the print will be available today sometime between Noon and 3 PM MST. Regarding the imagery, Jermaine says, “Throughout history, men have always devised new and interesting ways to [...]
Continue reading...David Horvath’s Little Yoya Monster
Tuesday, December 23, 2008
Now that David Horvath’s Turtle is out of the shell, a range of new figures are heading our way from David and Toy2R. Next up is this Little Yoya Monster, which pairs up David’s aesthetic with the mascot of the high-end baby boutique, YoyaMart. The 5-inch figure is limited to 500 pieces and will arrive [...]
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Friday, January 2, 2009
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