miho hatori and phill van visit nooka

to say i'm a big fan of miho hatori is an understatement. i have followed her career since the first cibo matto release, went to live shows, purchased remix projects and love her as a cartoon in the gorillaz – so it was with great pleasure to entertain miho in my studio yesterday. film director, phill van was kind enough to bring her by after she was intrigued when he showed her my web sites [phil is also someone to watch out for – he's gonna be big. i met phill at the last ghostly records party, so thanks missy and sam!]. we chatted about living between 2 cultures, music, the death of futurism, language as well as her upcoming projects. i got a preview of her new solo album, and it sounds AMAZING.

i was a bit shocked to hear that she never saw the urban vinyl versions of her gorillaz character before coming to my office! they've been out a while...i will get kidrobot on the case today.

miho's site is here.

phill and miho both look great in their grey leather nookas don't you think?

shin tanaka vinyl toy debuts

mutual admiration society member shin tanaka was very kind to send me a BEAUTIFULLY signed vinyl figure produced by play imagination from singapore. in terms of design process, it's very interesting to see this come full circle. re-cap: shin tanaka makes PAPER figures inspired by the popular urban vinyl phenomenon. this concept bring the joy of color and form to the masses without having to spend much money or even to leave your house – just print, cut, glue and there it is! the nature of cut/paste/bend/ with shin's great design sense produced a unique vocabulary of form evocative of the urban vinyl genre. now there is an actual vinyl version of the paper figure that has made him famous!

also, look how nice he signed the piece in the back. thanks mr. tanaka!