Official Blog of EDDI / adFunture

For the time being

2010-06-04T23:47:00.000-07:00

Due to "connection difficultities", I won't be updating this blog for a while.

Please feel free to read my blog at Highsnobiety.Com
(http://highsnobiety.com/columns/eddiadfunture/)

And catch me on Twitter.com/eddiaft as well.

Hopefully, this problem can be solved soon.

Take care!

Eddi

I'm back, again

2010-02-28T23:31:00.000-08:00

I'm back

KOBE!!

2010-01-28T11:41:00.000-08:00

I'm in Hong Kong this week. No, not for the holidays, I'm actually working more and more in HK now. Some projects are going on over here, will show you more as we move along.

Meet our new studio member! KOBE!!!

Goodbye 2009.

2009-12-28T13:19:00.000-08:00

As we are counting down the days towards the end of year 2009, is time to reflect on what were accomplished in the past 12 months, and look ahead towards what are to be done over the next 12.

Designer Figures wise, I would say we took it easy in 2009, and only came out with a handful of items, but I stand behind every release, I believe none of them were made for the sake of making. Not all of them were well-recieved, but you know my attitude towards that; As long as I like it, hell, we're making it! After 8 years, this part of the company motto has left unchanged. Huge thanks to our friends for putting up with us, and allowing us to come up with some really cool projects. Let's name drop a few as I send my most sincere thanks to these individuals. Mr. Hiroshi Fujiwara from Fragment, we had the pleasure of making vinyl figures of the man himself. We released 2 editions so far, 3 more are on deck in 2010. Endo-san from Devilock; I collected Palmboys when I first started collecting figures, so being allowed to produce a new edition of Palmboy in such a tall size was quite meaningful to me. Sam Lee and his Subcrew; With me living in Shanghai for so long, people often neglect the fact that adFunture is a Hong Kong outfit, and it has been really fun to work with one of the iconic HK streetwear brand on a special edition of YOKA. Our Taiwan connections, Remix, Mania, Revelator, Filter017, really awesome to have all you boyz worked on the Mini G-Robot Series and YOKA Series 1, this was a long time coming. Greg and Mikal from MISHKA and Joel, who would have thought that the Bootleg Kaiju would be so well recieved?! Frankly, I didn't, I just thought it would be fun to try making some colorful Kaijus. These guys are amazing to work with, and definitely expect more to come out of this partnership down the road. Last but not least, huge thanks to Futura. Only 140 pieces of his tag have been made so far, and that's between 2 colorways. If you didn't get one for your collection yet, you surely should, as we have no plans to mass produce such an meaningful piece in terms of graffiti and vinyl arts.

Teddy Troop Series is still on-going, so don't let the introduction of YOKA make you think otherwise. With the introduction of YOKA, however, does allow us to release more ideas on a more regular basis. YOKA Series 1 has just came out, and I'd say the distribution channels are not matured yet, but we are working hard to improve that. So hopefully, the YOKA product can be more accessible in 2010. Aside from the platform figures, many unique sculpts are in the pipeworks. Some of you might have seen samples of the works we are doing with Nate Van Dyke and Parra, those will be released in the first quarter of the 2010. There are more that you've never seen, and it will remain that way until they are good and ready.

Besides the designer figures, I have been intrigued by sneakers and clothing for a long time, hence the introduction of SoleGoodz Sneaker Boutique out in Shanghai. Clothing wise, adFunture actually offered a small collection in Asia in the second half of 2009, responses have been very positive. However, with the differences in visual directions, we have decided to ease off trying to turn adFunture into something it is not, which it should remain as a designer figure outfit. I've been working with SU alot on a few different lines, which are quite diverse in terms of taste and directions. These have nothing to do with what adFunture does, these are just ventures that I got myself into out of interests, and I'll continue to do so in the new year. ICONIC-1 Store is now closed for rennovation, and when it reopens in early Janurary, you'll have a better sense of where we are heading (hopefully not downwards...). While all these are business ventures at the end of the day, I really want to keep it "personal" to a certain extent. If the love ain't there, then my heart won't be neither, so that won't work. With that said, I guess it is safe to say that adFunture will have some changes made to its structure very soon. What those changes are, I'll share with you all a bit later.

I doubt I'll have time to update this blog before Jan 1st, as I'll be heading over to Beijing (yes, again!) tomorrow. I'll end this post with my sincere wishes to your families and you all, have a happy New Year, and as YODA said "May the force be with you" in 2010!

Eddi
Dec 29th,2009

Nie Zheng x G-SHOCK Photo Exhibit in Beijing

2009-12-28T02:11:00.000-08:00

Was in Beijing for a bit, went to check out buddy Nie Zheng's photo exhibition in collaboration with G-Shock.

Beijing was freezing when I was there... But the great crowd from the exhibit kept me warm. Nie put out some great works that night.

Nie Zheng is the one in the middle, with YL Wang and Chai.
I've asked Nie to do an exhibit for the past 3 years, finally, I got to see one!
Congrats, buddy!

Street Art Exhibit at Magda Gallery Shanghai

2009-12-24T01:50:00.000-08:00

Was down at Magda's gallery last nite for a preview dinner. She has this amazing street art exhibition in Shanghai's Bund18 tonite. Lots of great pieces are being exhibited by legendary graffiti artists such as SEEN, Ms. Van, Crash, Obey, Jonone, Sic, and last but not least, my personal favorite, FUTURA.
Only took a few shots, if you want to see more, you'll have to check out the exhibition yourself.

Pieces by the Godfather, SEEN.

This FUTURA piece was from 1983.
Magda... X'mas gift from you to me?? No?! Ok...

Merry Christmas to All !

2009-12-22T08:34:00.000-08:00

Is that time of the year again. Sincere holiday wishes from the adFunture crew to you and your families!

Have a safe and Merry Christmas!!!

PS: a special thanks to KANO for designing one of the two X’mas Editions of YOKA!

FUTURA x Nike Air Force 1 Hi

2009-12-21T10:21:00.000-08:00

To my surprise when I walked into NSW, these FUTURA x AF1 were available. Am just a fan of FUTURA's work, I had to have them for sure! The metal lace tag with FUTURA's fonts was a nice touch.

SUBCREW x adFunture YOKA Set

2009-12-21T10:15:00.000-08:00

SUBCREW x adFunture; Working Below the Hype.
The project included a SUBCREW Yoka and a matching shark sub for Yoka to ride on. This was the first time we made an accessory for YOKA, and this is just the beginning. These are sold exclusively through Subcrew's dealerships in Asia. Don't sleep on this!

Working Below the Hype

2009-12-16T11:07:00.000-08:00

Hong Kong's own SUBCREW worked with us on this one.

Subcrew x adFunture; Working Below the Hype!

What's inside that box?
You'll see soon enough!

Mr Cartoon G-SHOCK / adFunture Eyewear

2009-12-15T10:44:00.000-08:00

As of Nov, ICONIC-1 Store in Shanghai became an official dealer for G-SHOCK, and they offer us some great items.

This just came in this afternoon. DW-6900 by Mr. Cartoon. The graphics on this special makeup is pretty cool.

As part of our upcoming special capsule, we had some eyewear frames made in Japan.

I'm wearing a pair now, and I have to say, we are very happy about the quality. The design? Hey, love it!

...stay tuned

KEA at Shanghai Art Museum

2009-12-15T10:35:00.000-08:00

Went to check out KEA's exhibit at Shanghai Art Museum.

Love his works!

Won't show too much here, as I'm sure he will publish lots of better photos on his site later.

Congrats on the great opening, KEA!
See you again soon, next time, in Taipei.

Mickey & KEA droppin' by

2009-12-14T08:43:00.000-08:00

Mickey and KEA were in town. Haven't seen these 2 boyz for so long. KEA is in town to exhibit at Shanghai Art Museum. Love this guy's work! Will post some pics soon.

Vids for Designer Con YOKA Exhibition

2009-11-22T03:39:00.000-08:00

Here are some vids by various artists participating in DesignerCon's Custom YOKA Exhibition. They are pretty cool, definitely check them out.

Rebel Traxx from Sulaiman Latiff on Vimeo.

PUMA’s SHANGHAI ALLEYCAT RACE

2009-11-17T03:31:00.000-08:00

Yoyo and her Bumble Bee ride.
You thought it was a photoshop when I showed this bike a few months ago, didn’t you?!

Mike Lamborn

Hugo from DAWN (GZ)

The Shanghai Alleycat was successfully completed, thanks to everyone’s support to this event. We had about 130-140 bikes out there on the streets of Shanghai racing against time that day. It was pretty fun, even if you were just there watching it as it unfolded. This Alleycat was a bit different, because we opened this event up to “anyone with a bicycle”, no matter what type of cycling you are into, you were welcome to join the race. It was able the fun, the ride, and the meet.

This nice couple took part in the race, and actually went home with 2 awards: Second Fastest Female and the Coolest Bike Award. Note the gentleman’s ride.. it was a self-built tri-cycle. In our eyes, he was cooler than the boyz with the shiny new bikes. It was great seeing folks from all walks coming together that FREEZING afternoon. Once again, on behalf of the Shanghai Alleycat crew, big thanks to PUMA for supporting us do this, and thank you very much for coming out, and let’s do this all over again soon.

ONEWAY & adFunture for Shanghai Alleycat

2009-11-12T03:27:00.000-08:00

As we are getting closer to the actual Shanghai Alleycat event, sponsoring brands are rolling out the goodies. None of these items are for sale, but produced to be given away to the participants and winners from the day’s race.

adFunture will be giving away 100 of these Shanghai Alleycat YOKAs to those registering to race that day.

While ONEWAY will drop its newest messenger bag item, and to start things off, 10 of these especially made variants will be awarded to the winners of the different categories in the event.

I held one of these tonight, and must say I like the quality of it.

For its regular season, I know for a fact that ONEWAY will have like 5 other colorways of this design, without the Alleycat logo and VEIL’s logo of course. I wouldn’t mind a red one myself. K, you get my hint~~

Congrats, Frankie!!

2009-11-08T03:23:00.000-08:00

Frank always gave me headaches whenever he want to do something “different”. It was like that since like 5 years ago. There were the 48 one-of-ones “I,WZL” figures, and then there was the 2-meters tall “Perk Pioneer“, etc, etc. Forget about pushing the envelope, I think Frank’s mission was simply to push ME.

Our usual conversation would go something like this:
Frank: How tall is this?
Me: 9cm.
Frank: I think this will look awesome if is bigger!
Me: …okay,… how big?
Frank: 2 meters.
Me: you @#@$%$@ kidding me, rite?
Frank: No. How long do you need?
Me: ….ah shit…

Frank: What’s the minimum if I give you a new graphic design to be put on this?
Me: Depends if its a single-stamp graphic or something messy like a camo.
Frank: Hmmm… let say a camo.
Me: To make it worth your while, I’d suggest 1000 pieces.
Frank: Ok. I’ll give you 48 designs.
Me: 48 designs??
Frank: Yes, but I only need one of each.
Me: you @#@$%$@ kidding me, rite?
Frank: No. How long do you need?
Me: ….ah shit…

You get the picture…..

A few months ago, another one of those emails arrived, with Frank’s name attached to it, and I knew, that very moment, “ah shit….”

After reading that email, however, my reply was short and simple: “OKAY”.

A sculpture, 7″ tall, the character involves a dragon and a rooster. Symbolic to Frank being born at the year of the rooster, and his new bride, Kim, being born in the year of the dragon. The character was designed for the two’s wedding event in Germany. And for Frank to always remember he can always have his ways when it comes to 3D sculptures, he wanted to have this character (no official name still) available to give to the guests attending to his big day with Kim.

How could I say no to this dear friend?

70 pieces produced, 2-piece rotocasted sculpture, Frank has successfully pushed adFunture into the business of producing wedding premiums. Thank you, Frank. Once again, you did it.

All kidding aside, it was our absolute pleasure having these at your wedding.
My sincere wishes to you and Kim.
I’ll see you soon in JP.

Random Shots

2009-10-27T03:20:00.000-07:00

Was in Beijing for a bit over the weekend, for various reasons. Here are a few pics, will explain more later.

Setup 1 nite before….

2009-10-16T03:00:00.000-07:00

ICONIC-1 was used as Clot’s JUICE STAND Pop-Up Store for the past month and a half. Today, we turned it into an exhibit venue for Bee Wong’s FIRE PANDA 10th Anniversary Exhibition. This exhibition is split into 2 showrooms; ICONIC-1 Store and its next door neighbor SOLEGOODZ Sneaker Boutique. I haven’t curate an artist exhibition for a long time, about 2 years. Setting up an exhibit one night before the opening, well, haven’t done that in a while….

Bee Wong arrived this afternoon, and we immediately went to work.

K from ONEWAY came to Shanghai for our friend’s anniversary exhibition opening. I actually met both of these guys on the same day almost 2 years ago. Is nice how the three of us worked very closely ever since.

Setting up. Crack opening each exhibition pieces. We were like kids opening up our X’mas presents.

Li Ming aka DAYBREAK. Veteran FIRE PANDA member, impressive illustrator in his own rights as well.

So what does this exhibition entails? Why both Iconic-1 and Solegoodz?

Paintings and illustrations. Of course, FIRE PANDA’s forte.

Customized figures. I just can’t help myself…. Each FIRE PANDA member customized one FIRE PANDA vinyl.

Customized PUMA shoes. Thanks to the support of PUMA.

adFunture usually drop a new item in each exhibition, how can this time be different? Especially with it being FIRE PANDA’s 10th anni.

So, let’s drop the big one.
I bought a FIRE PANDA 5″ like 8 years ago. Loved it. This time around, we made it big. I mean like 14″ big.

I’ll post more images after the opening. Better yet, if you are in town, swing by and take a look for yourself.

Tsukiji. Tokyo

2009-08-15T10:33:00.000-07:00

Woke up early to go check out Tsukiji.
This district of Tokyo is mostly known for its fish market.

If you love sashimi, this is the place to go for the freshest raw fish.

I came across this store where folks were lining up in front.
With a small table set up in front, people can buy the raw seafood and eat it right there. Talk about fresh!

I had a few of these. My favorite sashimi!!! I picked them up and the store owner immediately prepared for me. It doesnt get fresher than this. Yummmm...

A nice temple that I passed by. Dont know much about it though.

If you are interested to visit Tsukiji, bare in mind the market opens at 4:30am, and closes at 11am... dont sleep on this.

Tokyo. Day 1

2009-08-14T10:53:00.000-07:00

Paid Tokyo another visit since my last trip here over a year ago.
This intersection in Shibuya is still as crazy as it has ever been.

Picked up the Sneaker Tokyo book by Shoes Master. A nice book for the collection.

Scored some videos for Yoyo as well, I'm sure she'll enjoy these.

Sushi, how can I not go nutz on these when I'm in Japan??

Spent about 6 hrs on subway train commutes today.... so many ads on the trains..

SoleGoodz Opening Recap

2009-08-09T10:58:00.000-07:00

SOLEGOODZ officially opened 2 weekends ago, didn't have time to show some pics until today.

Thanks to everyone who came out to support us that rainy day. Much appreciated.
SoleGoodz will be bringing you special selections down the road. Hope this store can present the sneakers differently than how you see them in the corporate branded stores.

If you ever make it out to Shanghai, hit us up.
SoleGoodz is at 351 Zi Zhong Road, right next to Xin Tian Di.

adFunture x G-SHOCK: SHOCK THE WORLD Collab

2009-08-06T11:01:00.000-07:00

When we were asked to collaborate with G-SHOCK, we decided to design a new character. Instead of putting, squeezing the design on a watch strap, we went back to a t-shirt platform. For SHOCK THE WORLD Shanghai, SHOCKA makes its appearance on this G-SHOCK x adFunture collaboration tee.

Expect to find this available next weekend via our website.

As for SHOCKA, expect to see more of it sooner or later.

PUMA at SoleGoodz

2009-07-30T11:04:00.000-07:00

With the official opening scheduled for this Sat, Aug 1st, we decided to warm up the SOLEGOODZ space with PUMA and friends 3 nights before. An easy night of food, booze and shoes.

We invited about 20 friends to come in and check the latest PUMA goods, at the same time, catch up on what has been going on in this crazy city of Shanghai.

From DJs to interior designers, streetwear brand owners to tv hosts, hip-hop dancers to corporate directors, we had the crowd-mix of a Chinese hot pot dinner. I hope the interactions that took place was fun for everyone. I'd rather have this than a 300 people crazy party where you won't even remember how you got home...

DISC BLAZE is definitely making a strong comeback. Diggin' those ill colors.

A good friend from the PUMA camp, Erik Troppenz, was in town. He was commenting on what was on the feet of product designer Scott Hung.

Soon after, Nicole and I joined the conversation... Notice how we talk... with all eyes looking on Scott's shoes.

This type of judgement was no fun for Scotty! Okay, we were just being mean.

The boyz from DUSTY and Hitz trying on a few pairs.
With some things, you just have to try it on for size.

Yoyo and Denson. Both dance-a-holic.
Yoyo is responsible for alot of our management work at adFunture, she's also the one with that Bumble Bee fixed-bike I blogged a while ago. Yah, that's HER bike!

Eddi: "So, what was it?? The water? The milk? The steaks? How da hell do I grow taller?? Tell me!!"

I went with the PUMA Suede Angeler. Not a limited edition or what not, but just a fine looking pair of kickz.

So, back to Scott Hung and what he had on...

the PUMA Cabanna Racer.
We were actually saying how nice this shape is, and we understood why Scott chose to use this Cabanna Racer as base for his 8 designs for 2009 Winter collection. It was a very good choice on Scott's part.

Scott, it was nice seeing you again. I'm sure we'll work together again, be it on shoes or on some other platform. You are a cool dude, take care.

"BROTTT!!" ...ARKIV

2009-07-12T15:09:00.000-07:00

"ARKIV INSTANT", "BROTTT"... These 2 terms had been floating around the web for a lil' while now, but this past weekend was the first time collectors being able to see the actual ARKIV INSTANT vinyl figure up close and personal. For myself, I found it just fun to hang out with its creator, a person whom I talk to everyday online for the past 8 months; Arkiv. And I must say, he's one cool cat.

Arkiv surely was kept busy all weekend at TTF where we got him to custom the special batch of GID ARKIV INSTANT figures on site, and paint a big canvas on the last day.

The canvas was used as table mat while he customed his figures, so, all the paint from the custom paint process got on that canvas. Then, he painted his painting on it, and for us, it will remind us what a fun weekend this was for all of us involved in the adFunture booth at TTF.

Big thanks to Arkiv for being such a good sport and put up with all our arrangements.