The If You Could Collaborate exhibition opened its doors last friday and as you can see with a good turn out. The show closes this Saturday at 6pm. If you can’t get down there before the close, all the final pieces can be seen on the If You Could Flickr pages, the final pieces , the show set up and the opening. Also worth checking are all the pieces from the showreel on Vimeo.

SO WHAT’S THIS EVENT THEN?
It’s the launch night of Gavin Strange aka JamFactory’s vinyl toy named ‘Droplet’. It’s the 2nd series of designs, with the launch night being the first place in the world for people to get their hands on the new toys!

For more info: http://www.jam-factory.com/droplet/

WHAT’S A DROPLET?
It’s 2.5″ vinyl toy, designed by JamFactory and produced by Hong Kong toy company ‘Crazy Label’.

It was the debut vinyl toy from JamFactory and Series 1 was released on 1st May 2008, which were available online and in toy stores all over the world, including Urban Outfitters in the US!

They’re on their 2nd series now, which encompasses 5 different designs, each having it’s own unique colourway and ‘little droplets’.

They are ‘blind boxed’ meaning all colours are packaged in the same style box, it’s a lucky dip which design you get!  Each colourway has a different ratio, with the purple & gold crown Droplet being the most sought after! (of course, he’s a king!)

After the launch they’ll be available online (JamFactory’s online store, Crazylabel online store plus other online retailers) and in stores!

WHO’S THIS ‘JAMFACTORY’ THEN?
Gavin Strange is a 27 year old jack of all trades; Senior Digital Designer at Aardman Animations by Day and a designer going under the alias JamFactory by night. Originally from the midlands but now firmly calling beautiful Bristol ‘home’

Working in the field of Web & Graphic Design primarily but also character design, illustration and photography. Gavin has created pretty things for the BBC, Channel 4, Howies and Hemingway Design aswell as giving talks at Apple Stores around the UK.

When he’s not doing all that Gavin is organising the Xynthetic creative collective (which he founded) or out on his fixed gear bike filming for his bike movie ‘BÖIKZMÖIND’ (http://www.boikzmoind.com/)

For more info: http://www.jam-factory.com/

It’s going to be a great event, so try your hardest to get down!
More to follow…

As the birthday celebrations come closer, Stussy have teamed up with Ricoh to put out a limited edition GR Digital III. There will be 500 released in Japan in February next year which will mark the iconic brands birthday. As far as spec goes its a straight up GR Digital III with a Stussy twist, you’ll get a 10MP 1/1.7-inch CCD sensor, a 28 mm/F1.9 “GR” lens, 4x digital zoom, ISO sensitivity between 64 and 1,600, a 3-inch LCD display and SD/SDHC/USB ports.

via: crunchgear.com

This is your last week to catch Conor Harrington’s Headless Heroes exhibition at the Lazarides gallery. Open Tuesday – Friday 11am – 7pm, Saturday 12pm – 5pm, the exhibition closes on Thursday at 7pm.

Lazarides
11 Rathbone Place
W1T 1HR

t: 0207 636 5443 / w: www.lazinc.com

Here’s was Lazarides have to say about the exhibition, Conor’s last solo show of 2008.

Continuing his exploration into masculinity and power, Conor’s new paintings and drawings combine historical re-enactment, F1 pit-stops, text and glamour models. Conor’s aim is to have the visual aesthetic of his paintings reflect the visual culture we live in.
Since he was a teenager painting on the streets of Cork, Conor has always tread a fine line between ’street art’ and ‘fine art’, never aligning himself with a particular movement or aesthetic but instead pushing forward with his own unique representations of the world around him, creating works that are striking yet accessible.

CINCH TOKYO
5-5-4 Minami-Aoyama, Minato-ku, Tokyo
Luce Minamiaoyama B-1F
B-1F 5-5-4 Minami Aoyama. Minato-ku, Tokyo
03-6419-1699

photos from: hypebeast.com

(As usual, we will be covering each battle and trying our damned hardest to get interviews with all the artists)

SECRET WARS IS RE FORMATTING AND ROLLING INTO 2010 WITH A DIFFERENT KIND OF CHALLENGE

After 3 and a half years of single battle series locally in over 20 countries, we have decided to try something different and potentially more exciting for 2010… Introducing the European Warriors series!

“When we started Secret Wars 3 years ago, it was influenced heavily by various things from the Marvel comic, to Warriors and Fight Club. After experiencing the team battles around the World and seeing the benefits of this compared to the singles battles, we decided on trying it as a complete 6-8 month series!”

“I have noticed the crowds are more vocal and patriotic towards team battles – there seems to be more at stake and I love watching the artists free-styling alongside each other…. You never know what will come out the other end!” Terry Guy (Founder of Monorex and Secret Wars)

The rules are the same but the structure of the competition and dynamics of the battle are slightly different – see below for details.

How the competition will work & when

There will be 8-10 teams/cities involved in next years competition, and each city will select 6 artists to part of a squad. Each team will select 2-3 wildcard entries consisting of previous champs and general bad boys! The remaining members will be picked at the local qualifiers.

City selection events – November / December 09 (Check Secret Wars website for dates)

Yet another banger of a night lined up for you at the next installment of Idle Hands. Ugly Duckling – Maxfield n Twisted Link LIVE! Idle Hands is picking up pace with every event, getting stronger and more support. Get down to Bucks SU for what will be another heavy night of painting, scribbling, boozing and beats.