Be@rBricks

Photo-6-10-2015,-1-21-00-AMIf you’re a Big Bang fan, remember GD & TOP’s 2010  single ‘Knockout’? I was looking for songs to listen to back then and my friend Brittany recommended that song to me and  what drew my attention the most was seeing a humanoid toy bear in the background. Random observation huh? I wanted one but didn’t know the brand of it and where to find them. Fast forward to 5 years now, I made a post about the Fukuro restaurant I went to in Jakarta this year and the interior was decorated with the exact same toy bears from GD and TOP’s music video. I asked the owner what brand those bears were and that marked the beginnings of my passion  to start collecting bearbricks. Well, I don’t have a collection yet but it is kind of a dream of mine to live with many of them under one roof. My house would be full of bearbricks to the point you can’t even walk.

Photo-6-02-2015,-9-29-16-PMMe at Fukuro restaurant

Screen-Shot-2015-10-12-at-12.36.48-amTOP with the Kaws sculpture in the ‘Knockout’ music video

Screen-Shot-2015-10-12-at-12.38.31-amGD  with the Chanel bear in the ‘Knockout’ music video

 

Screen-Shot-2015-10-12-at-12.41.46-amGD  with another  bear in his ‘Crayon’ music video

What makes these bears super  popular is that they’re always in collaboration with artists. They’re considered to be collectable, fashionable toys, coming in different  sizes, colors, patterns and textures. I follow many Bearbrick collectors on instagram and their crazy  collection of  bears had me  inspired to create a custom design  for my very own bear. As you know I love drawing all kinds of geometric patterns and floral prints so I’m excited  to continue applying  my style of art onto a 3D sculpture!

Photo-5-10-2015,-5-07-48-PM

My bear has some cool assistants as well! A mini ampersand bearbrick with an eraser and Danbo holding a sharpener. I’ve just finished adding a white base coat for  the bear and now I’m onto the color. BUT before I do that I’m still shopping  for proper paints, paint brushes and other relevant materials made for painting sculptures. I’m taking my time on this and having so much fun at the same time because it’s all quite new and the more I explore new techniques, the better. I haven’t properly painted anything  since the Audrey Hepburn painting  I did for North Fitzroy Social Cafe in 2013. Painting isn’t something I choose to do often as I get impatient with it but…it is a lot more soothing than drawing. The thing is, you need to dedicate  yourself A LOT of time, space and energy, and lastly, accept that there will be mess on your workspace – something I still struggle with in painting (the designer part of me hates mess)…

The bear stands at 25.5cm tall so it’s not too big, like I said I’m giving myself plenty of time to get this  done at least by December.

 

You are what your phone wears

chanel1

I’m on the hunt for a new iPhone case since my current hello kitty one  is quickly deteriorating (has small cracks and scratches that came out of  nowhere…not once have I  dropped my phone either!). During my search I saw a bunch of really over-the-top-but- cool  designer-inspired aesthetics and I thought it’d be fun to share my favorite ones. I’m all for ultra thin minimalistic phone cases but looking at these kinda make me go “yeah I want one just for the laughs”.

chanel2

Smoking certainly kills but if I saw a real packet of Chanel cigarettes I wouldn’t hesitate to buy them and keep them forever. Of course I wouldn’t smoke them.

chanel3

The Le boy handbag look. If only the case had a triple  function where not only it protects your phone, enables you to  wear  your phone, but also  can store your small belongings. Now that would be awesome.

chanel4 fendi

Karl Lagerfeld’s got you covered with fur on your phone.

hermes

Heard about that Apple watch’s partnership with Hermes? It’s horrible. This case looks better.

marc

Marc’s Melting Metallic by Marc Jacobs.

moschino1

As of 2014 I’ve been avidly following the Moschino brand thanks to Lee Chaerin, Sandara Park  and my favorite designer Jeremy Scott. Jeremy’s the creative director of Moschino and this guy’s just a pure maniac when it comes to designing anything. Moschino is  now bolder than ever with  a range of luxury items that  play  on popular culture packed with lots of color, fun and heaps of humor.

moschino2

One of their popular products is the McDonald’s-inspired design as seen on their clothes and bags (check out their happy meal bag design). The fries are a notable product, my sister has one and it’s just ridiculous to hold and to look at.
moschino3 moschino4

Moschino’s  Spring / Summer 2016 collection was announced last week and Jeremy introduced another great invention: a Windex iPhone case. Can you get any better than that?! I didn’t buy  any of these case designs by the way, I ended up getting another generic hello kitty cover to stay true to my  5-year kitty case tradition. Yep, you can call me crazy 😀

The Pacific Collection

Display_exurbe_nailvarnish_pacificcollection2

Colors from left to right: Tokyo Koi, Saigon Sunset, Bali Breeze, Hong Kong Harbour, Tahiti Pearls.

 

The Pacific Collection is in town baby!  Exurbe released  their Spring / Summer 2015 nailvarnish range a few weeks ago at the Fashion Hotel in  Zurich. You can see my artwork for the collection here and on the  Exurbe Cosmetics website   (still under development).  The project kicked off  as soon as  I came back from my holiday in Indonesia and Singapore and Melissa from Exurbe had already talked about plans of doing a seascape, summer-y theme. Basing it off the moodboard below, the idea struck me of naming the five colors after vibrant cities we’ve been to. They were places  that evoked a strong trademark color relevant to the colors shown in the moodboard.

 

board

 

The process was quick! The artwork was done in a  matter of days and all that was left to do is send the piece off to the nail varnish laboratory, scan it  and do  some  color calibrating. The computer detects 5 common color tones used in my artwork, from there it sends all that data to a machine that produces sample pigments.

 

exurbe_collection_ss15

swatch

 

Display_exurbe_nailvarnish_pacificcollection2

 

Awesome to see Tokyo Koi and Bali Breeze as bestsellers from the collection. Saigon Sunset is also one of my favorites! While Exurbe do sell other makeup products, they’re a company that specializes in vegan-friendly nail polish. They have a strong market audience in Europe and are seeking to expand their brand  by partnering up with artists from every corner of the world. I’m looking forward to seeing who the next artist is for the next collection…it could actually be someone reading this post 😀

Design had evolved naturally, as a passion and a lifestyle beginning at an early age when I made trips back to the motherland, Indonesia, I experienced the surroundings and the lifestyle that was vastly different from what I was used to. I found myself passing by villages where children made their own toys with whatever was left around them; scrap metal, bits of cloth, banana leaves, and even cigarette butts. Despite this, the children were happy and proud with anything they created.

This image struck me and forever inspires me to contribute my skills to places that need it the most. Design helps me make decisions, while art helps me take risks. Both areas reward me with opportunities to create something impactful and everlasting!