I met up with Jim from STRANGEco to talk about their upcoming line for 2004. For those of you who don't know, STRANGEco produces original art toys, imports new and original figures from Hong Kong and Japan, and commissions exclusive versions of the best designs from the new breed of toy artists worldwide. Here's what STRANGECO has planned for in 2004:
The Neo Kaiju Project - STRANGEco and Super-7 Magazine have teamed up to present a fresh spin on Japanese giant monster ("kaiju") design. Series 1 will be previewed at Toy Fair, hatching ten original figures by artists Gary Baseman, Tim Biskup, Seonna Hong, Kathy Schorr and Todd Schorr. http://www.neokaiju.com/ | |
MARS-1 by MARS-1 - STRANGEco presents the first limited edition vinyl figure by emerging San Francisco visual artist MARS-1, whose robotic/organic style has been shown in galleries throughout the United States. http://www.mars-1.com/ | |
Tiger Baby by Sam Flores - International art phenomenon Sam Flores lends his distinctive character style to vinyl, the first in a series of figures produced with San Francisco's Fifty24SF Gallery. There will be a couple of different paint schemes for this toy. http://www.samflores.com/ | |
AMOS Toys - UK-based AMOS Toys continues to present new In-Crowd figures by designer par excellence James Jarvis. http://homepage.mac.com/james.jarvis/ | |
Scarygirl - Acclaimed toy artist Nathan Jurevicius returns to the Scarygirl universe with a new series of Mini Scarygirl 4-inch figures. Featuring twelve characters from the Scarygirl comics, the new figures will be packaged individually and in special four-figure box sets. STRANGEco will also be featuring the popular Mini Treehouse series- treehouse stump display and all. http://www.nathanj.com.au/ | |
Rocketworld - San Francisco-based Rocketworld is the creator of the I.nsurgents W.ilderness G.ruppo - a new line of collectible vinyl figures designed by Patrick Ma and co-produced by STRANGEco. Comprised of characters from a fictional insurrection of mutated animals against human destruction of their natural habitats, a portion of all I.W.G. sales are passed on to a variety of different wildlife groups (including the World Wildlife Fund, the Gorilla Foundation, the International Rhino Foundation and the Zoo Conservation Outreach Group) . http://www.rocketworld.org/ | |
Presspop Gallery - The newest brand distributed by STRANGEco, Japan's Presspop Gallery features a bold line of collectible vinyl figures from underground comic artists Archer Prewitt, Chris Ware and Dan Clowes. http://www.presspop.com/ |