PUMA El Rey by KOZYNDAN

Saw this in Taipei, I had to get it.
PUMA El Rey with artworks by KOZYNDAN.
So well done. Sadly, these are not avaiable in the Mainland market.
I'm sure most of my friends would dig this.


Posted a short article in my Highsnobiety Column, titled "Back to Basics".

Leila from SPIN / World Expo Venue

Leila Fataar from Spin Publicity in the UK was visiting Shanghai last week.
A new friend by way of Alex from Beijing.
We spent a good hour or so lunching near our studio, we had a fun discussion about how this Mainland street scene is currently and where it might be headed.
When there are problems, there are opportunities.
All depends how you look at it as a bigger picture and how you see your role being.

It was great meeting you, Leila, hope you enjoy the rest of your Asia trip.
Catch Leila on Twitter. :-)



Afar and I were visiting another studio, which right outside of the studio windows is the location of the upcoming World Expo 2010 in Shanghai.
Huge venue with lots of buildings being built for the giant event.


After Olympics in Beijing, this is the next big thing for Mainland China.
On retrospect, how did China benefited from Olympic as a whole?

Workshop Visits

Visited the workshop this afternoon with Mr. Box, he's the one with the trucker cap.

Lots to catch up on on a weekly basis. The workshop is where all the magic happens for adFunture. Today, we were working on confirmations of a new production. Not a new character, adFunture collectors should be no stranger to it. To get in the flow of the world, where everything is being "down-sized" (ahem), we will be issuing a down-sized version of Jukai's G-Robot.


If nothing stupid happens (which it always does), you'll be able to get these during Taipei Toy Fest this July.


Copped this in my recent Taipei visit.
Finally had time to crack it open.
One of my favorite characters of all time, but I still don't know its name.
Revol-Tech makes great action figures, that I must agree.


Before I went to the workshop, I dropped off the huge Godzilla I bought last nite at the shop. Kind of in a rush, I just put it with the display. Fitted nicely as a prop for the Monster Pack. I'll go back to reposition it somehow, is not looking at its best right now.

New Sample / Weird Sample

New and final sample arrived the studio today.
I like this alot, and I know some of you out there share that excitment of seeing this being realize. Soon, guys, soon.

As I was blogging on another site, I saw this photo from a fellow blogger's posts.
Air Force 1 x Tennis Classic for Sichuan with Fragment logo on the heel...

..and a panda emboss...
I like Nike shoes, and is evident that I love Fragment's work.
These don't look right... I can be wrong.
But the embroidery and the panda embossment... the quality looks like a knockoff.


Like I said, I can be wrong, but these don't look right.


Just copped this huge vinyl Godzilla before dinner tonite.
Gonna add this to the current Monster Pack display at the store tomorrow.
I've been looking for something like this for the past 2 months, finally ran into one at a local toy store. Took it in a blink of an eye. "I'll take it!" screamed it out before even any bargaining with the shop-keep.

MONSTER Take-Over

For the folks who pass by #351 Zhi-Zhong Lu near Xian Tian Di in Shanghai would notice something different about ICONIC-1 over the weekend.

PUMA Japanese Monster Pack dropped at ICONIC-1 over the weekend, and we wanted to make sure people know where they can cop these. The Mecha Godzilla took over the front window of our neighboring shop!

Our next door neighbor closed down, Anybody's Blonde is gone.
One's loss is another's gain. Ahem...
ICONIC-2?? Nah... that'll be just silly.


I've yet to pick up my own shoes yet, I want that MECHA KING!
Yoyo, save me a pair!

Jukai & his Wooden Desks

So there I was in Taipei, Jukai asked me join one of his classes he was teaching at Zhi-Li Polytech. I said "what da hay!" since I wasn't doing much in town anyways.

Wooden desks and all.... I felt like 17 again. haha

The class was about characterzations for commercial use.
Which, by now, Jukai has that locked.
It was very fun listening to him teach, especially when he showed previous projects that we handled as materials. As he was talking about those projects, he would look at me a bit and I nodded. Nodded in recognition that "Yes, I remember this shit!" "Yes, that client was hell, yes" etc. We just laughed as we did this in class, and the students had no idea what da hell was going on with their teachers.


Now why would you let your kids be taught by this guy?? haha
I'm only kidding, Jukai is a great designer and really nice guy.

Thanks for having me there, Jukai. It was fun.

Buff Monster & Oliver Hibert had different canvases

Buff, why you look so confused??




AH.. that's why...
You were dizzy...not confused.

Kidding aside, folks, and no, this ain't one of those websites.
This happened last week during FX 09, held last week in Orlando USA.
BUFF MONSTER was among the few artists asked to perform a live body painting session at the venue with many people watching. Buff painted his signature Squirter characters on cos-play model Yaya Han.

Nicely done, Buff. (you lucky....)

-----------------------------------


I mentioned about American artist Oliver Hibert back in March, quite alot of emails came in sharing their interests in Oliver's artworks. And frankly, I wasn't surprised.

This character was first seen in London back in 2007, when Oliver participated in DesignersBlock London 2007. I was in London for our Guerilla Shop event shortly after DesignersBlock has ended. I too remember seeing this on the walls while taking a bus ride.


These photos were from Oliver's own site.
I just want to show some of you this character, for those who haven't seen it.

Hot Dog Dinner Meeting and Secret Base!

Met with the Phalanx crew over dinner.
Things are cooking up for TTF this July. We are getting a head start this time.
TTF this year will be at a new venue, so we got alot of room to play with.


Little did I know what I ordered was a Double Dog!
I was full that nite...


After the dinner meeting, all of us headed over to Paradise Toys owned by Jones.
This guy has everything!
Mark and I were drooling all over his display....


I picked up these 2 pieces from Secret Base.
These are ill ! I gotta have these in my collection.

Taipei Once Again.

Not a huge fan of rain.
I know we need rain to survive as a planet, but still.. can't say I love it.
Especially no love rained-out short trips.

My Taipei visit got rained out.
Had to find shelters to hang out, and I was lucky enough to have great hosts in the city. Bruce and Jesse took me to some great food. Got my mind off the rain issue.


BRAiDCHiLD's DJ Mykal was also a great host.
I was just in time as he brought Dexpistol from Japan over to Taipei for an event.
Great nite with great music among great friends.
The gig was at Club Mint right under Tower 101. They renamed the club, but sorry, I can't remember the new name. I'll just keep referring it as MINT for now.




A great turn out even though the event wasn't hugely publicized.
Congrats to Dexpistol, BRAiNCHiLD and Mykal.

No title

A long day.
Last day in Shanghai before my Taipei visit again.

It was a day full of contracts and discussions and problem solving.
Is usual for any businessese to deal with these aspects, and while I'm no stranger to these, I rarely deal with so many all in the same day. Not complaining, just taking a moment to think back what I got myself into from this one-day of actions.

Tomorrow will be a new ride.
I welcome the challenges.
I will embrace the opportunities put forth in front of me.
How I make good of these opportunities will depend on how I look at them and handle them individually.
This year, for the company, for me, will be "make or break".
Jan 2009, ICONIC-1.
Over the next 2 months; 2 more.
Is a risk or not, depends how I handle them.
I was reminded an expression "Are you bitting off more than you can chew"
I don't know. I surely hope not.
I guess I'm thinking like this is a $10 buffet!

Drinking without a Bon-fire

So there we were, a group of us enjoying Chinese's favorite national passtime.
A new friend in the group, an old friend rejoined the group after a few months of busy workload.
Yes, there was drinking.
Yes, there was singing.
No, there was no bon-fire in the middle.


They used my entry into the double-digits (33) as the excuse for the party...
Lame...
Who wants to remind themselves their own age nowadays....
But if we must. Ok.

On a separate note, thanks to the folks at Highsnobiety, I've starting blogging there as well. But I'll keep the non-sense more over here, while post the more meaningful ones over on HS. Hey, I know you like reading my non-sense, but I'm sure not everybody does...

HF Vol.2

Our second version of HF Vinyl Figure will debut on April 11th via our eShop.
This one, in our studio, we call it "the works", simply because of the denim effect and the other elements we added to spice this up.

Personally love how the colors came out.
For those Fenom headz, you know this is the pair of Fenom that everybody wants.


Distribution on this one is a bit tighter then the previous version.
Hope you'll enjoy this piece as much as we do.

Talked with Cadmus Family

So my sister called, telling me that Hailey was walking like an ape, and asked me if I know why.
"I don't know..."
"Remember the 3 YOKAs you left for her a few weeks ago?? Hailey has been playing with them alot!" she said..
As it turns out, is true, what kids see, kids do.
"Next time, try giving her figures with a straight back!" she kiddingly said.
But I was pretty sure she wasn't kidding..



While I was in Taipei a few weeks back, I sat down with the boyz from Cadmus Family for a short interview where we discussed about the current state of Taiwan street scene. Now that interview is up on their site. The site is in Chinese, so if you can read Chinese, then you might want to check it out. If you can't, don't worry about it, I didn't say anything surprising or what not.

My sincere thanks to da CMF crew.



Rocking this lately.

KRINK x ANDRE / NSW x Fragment Design "NOISE"

Is another 3-day holiday here in Mainland China.
While the guys are off for the next 3 days, I'll be continuing working out some product schedules for A/W '09.

HF Vol.2 will be released on April 18th, via our eShop and at ICONIC-1.
For those collecting this series (yes, is a series), you might want to mark that date on your calendar. I personally love this variant, especially with the washed-denim effect.


More works in progress.
Another 10" YOKA will be dropped next month as well, not just the blanks.


KRINK x ANDRE Squeeze Markers.
Check them out here.


I first noticed this t-shirt on Hiroshi when I saw the EYESCREAM Magazine.
I just thought it was funny.. well, is now official.
Is a NSW x Fragment Design tee, a part of NSW S/S '09.
Go grab one.

BAPE CAMO'ed Mercedes Benz 300SL

NIGO's new Mercedes Benz 300 SL, in BAPE Camo.





Nice.
Very nice.
This is the way to live, ain't it.
Good, good, good.
Be proud, kids, you all helped pay for this.

Hmm.. that came out sounding negative... o well, that's me.

Cheng Du Pt.2

Went out for a bit of site seeing with Box and Nicole when we were in Cheng Du.
No, not everywhere in the city looks like this. But for most tourist sites, yeah, still more about the traditional elements and establishments.


This gentleman was making rock-candy.
The candy was not the point, it was more about how he does it, and the shapes that he makes with candy. Again, traditional stuff.




What's all this??


Again... snack making...