Last day of March

How time flies.

Bring on April, I'm ready.

Magritte Days, Magritte Nights

Seoul Square is situated directly across Seoul Station and their LED displays are always interesting. This has been my favorite so far - taped in January. It somehow represents what my life has been like for the first half of this year; strange, unsettling, thought-provoking, but still quite delightful.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magritte

Design Festa Vol. 30 - Part 1

I've been frequenting Design Festa for several years now, it's a great venue to check out the independent art (and design and crafts) scene. Most of the exhibitors are Japanese, but there are more and more international participants each year.

Loved the main poster illustrations, did my own version for my Napzzak Project.

The event area at Tokyo Big Sight in Odaiba is huuuuuuuge. A view of the first floor stage for music recitals, fashion shows, and performance art.

There are eating and resting areas throughout, the main being on the second floor. After the first time I attended, I never ate there again - bad overpriced food, in my opinion. I usually get something to eat from the convenience store before going in.

I don't take a lot of pictures anymore. There are times when I find myself more absorbed in taking photos than actually enjoying the event. Besides, the place is so big that once you start taking photos you really don't know when to stop. It gets pretty overwhelming.

I was viewing the event with fellow Blythe friends Tibiloo and Natsuko. We met up with Paul Kaiju and Melissa of Super Junk. Paul was showing his work. Loved the bunny.

Melissa brought some of her incredible handmade pose dolls. We got a private showing.

The sitting pose dolls are tiny tiny tiny and so well made! I don't trust myself with something that delicate, so I snatched up the bigger doll (in the tube).

Some of the other artists that grabbed my eye. Someone has a leg fetish.

I like rabbits. It comes from my fascination of the "I'm late" white rabbit from Alice in Wonderland.

This booth cracked me (and my friend Tibiloo) up like crazy. Take a stereotypical Japanese fetish and pair it with cute merchandise, this is what you get. Not only did they have bondage rabbits, they had a whole assortment of various characters to suit everyone. I got a blue rabbit in red rope cellphone strap.

More rabbits: white rabbit with a serious expression and a skinny wood rabbit.

Most artists sell their work at the booths. This was my favorite artist this time around. Her work was incredibly intricate and lovely. Soooo expensive. NOT overpriced in my opinion, I'm quite sure that it deserves the price she's asking because of the time she spent making these.

I was low on cash. Which may be a good thing, because if Design Festa exhibitors start accepting credit cards I'd probably be a spending fool.

Work by Atelier Mina : http://ateliermina.michikusa.jp/

I was happy to find Korean artist Drinky Doll. Another favorite artist.

I like the whimsical characterizations of this artist as well.

Inai Takaomi : http://inaitakaomi.web.fc2.com/

I once did a project similar to this, but this egg carton display is way cuter.

The land of colorful monsters, Japan is. This one was tired of all the art gazing.

Hybrid puffball and Barbie legs monsters. Kawaii? Or not?

I loved these Kewpie Christmas trees. Thought I would make one myself but am now kind of regretting not getting a spray painted one.

More posts about Design Festa follows.

Design Festa Vol. 30 - Part 2

You run into interesting people at Design Festa, even non-real ones. This girl needed a tissue.

Duo in white. Couldn't find their booth, maybe they didn't have one, so never found out what they were about.

The boudoir look reinterpreted by a Japanese cosplayer. Her falsh lashes were so thick they completely hooded her eyes.

A kawaii illustrator Alice. (Can't find her namecard, boo.)

Oh, and there's this Panda Guy who is always at Design Festa (I've seen him every single time I've been), he had a photo-op board set up for those who were willing to be goofy. I'm always willing.

Design Festa Vol. 30 - Part 3

Watching artists in action is another great part of the event. I love how large scale these are. (But how do they "take" their art home? Are they discarded after the event? I should ask next time.)

I once heard an indie artist say that they became an artist because they always wanted to draw on the walls without getting yelled at. I totally get that.

My friend Tibiloo and I left our mark on a scroll of rolling paper. I always doodle rabbits and Tibiloo, who is originally from Bourgogne, drew a famous Bourgogne escargot (snail).

SICAF and SCLF 2009 - Part 3

There is a section for independent artists hidden away in the huge convention space and frankly it is one of the most inspiring. The handmade items and art pieces are refreshingly human in the midst of the sea of mass produced paraphehalia.

This particular artist, RipinAlice, caught my eye right away. Not only because her main theme was a favorite of mine but also because her work was cute and intricate at the same time. I conversed with her shortly and she was as sweet as her work.
Besides her official site, she has a blog.

Another artist that I was already familiar with was Drinky Doll. I have a thing for rabbits (another influence from Alice in Wonderland) and this artist has a very distinct and original main character rabbit.
I didn't have the chance to talk to the artist, unfortunately. His/her (don't know) work comprises mostly of carved wood sculptures and illustrations. More art on the artist's blog.
And now the geeky/dorky/goofy part. I couldn't have gone to a cartoon/animation convention and just took pictures like a reporter, could I? Geeky girls just wanna have fun!

In Asia, the "V" sign - f0r victory, not the rude British interpretation for this gesture - is obligatory when taking photos. Double V! Notice my convention-appropriate Candy Candy shirt!

Forgot who I was supposed to be. I think I got the expression right, though.

Hello, Mashimaro! He was damn terrified of me, I wonder why. (Tried to run away but I caught him!)

I had another uber-dorky photo of myself in a pink wig and mad scientist glasses but friends, after seeing it, advised me not to upload it anywhere else because they said people who don't know me would judge me and I would never ever, ever ever ever, have new friends whatsoever in the future.

I'm willing to bet most people's imagination are far worse than the actual thing so it's probably better to post it anyways but since my friends are so adamant about it... Imagine away. ;P

Sabo? Sabo!

Sabo is the nickname for the designer/illustrator Sang-Bong Lim, who runs a "multiculture" shop in the Hongik University area (fondly called 'Hongdae' by the locals).

I ran across his whimsical designs in a shop window in Gangnam ('South of the River' district). Apparently they will be available shortly for those too lazy to make the hike to his Hongdae domain.

Sabo's website : http://www.sabolim.com/
(Korean, English and German)