Coarse Toys – False Friends: Life of Lies (1.7.10)

coarse_ff_noop-paw

They’re here.  Well, almost…  Ever since Coarse Toys showcased the resin False Friends sculptures in their art shows in Chicago and Berlin, collectors have been clamoring for production versions.  With the announcement of the False Friends 2 figure set, Coarse is set to make their fans very happy.

False Friends presents another chapter in the ongoing Coarse universe. A young noop has taken the fateful decision of disguising himself as a Paw! to avoid becoming the prey of his mortal enemy.  While the gambit succeeds, the Noop is forever transformed.  In the aftermath the two become uneasy friends.

The set features two 13” figures – a noop in his  removable plush Paw! suit and an upright paw.  Both feature the “spring” (Easter) color scheme of the original sculptures seen in the company’s touring show.  Limited to 200 sets, both figures ship in a hand-crafted wooden box which features a monkey rabbit nose handle and a rubberband style closure mechanism. 

Coarse’s legendary attention to detail continues to the internal packing for False Friends.  Most toys ship with some sort of protective device – typically a blister.  That’s not the Coarse way however.  They’ve brought us stylized ‘letter’ packaging ‘peanuts’ and crazy multi-layer foam inserts.  For False Friends they revisit the approach for their previous 1:3 Pain figures with two cotton pillows – embroidered with the figures’ edition number.  Stylish and over-the-top, just what we’ve come to expect from the brand.

Coarse will offer a limited pre-sale through their coarsehkg online shop on December 10th 2009 for 24 hours, with a ship date of January 4th. Limited to 200 sets, False Friends will retail for HK$4388 (~$520).  The official release date is January 7th – in addition to availability through coarsehkg, False Friends (ed. of 200) will be available from select retailers yet to be announced.

With False Friends, Coarse continues its remarkable and rapid climb to the upper echelons of the art toy world.  We’ve written quite a bit about the reasons for their rapid-fire ‘sold-out’ success but really it comes down to one thing above all else – designers Mark Landwehr and Sven Waschk have managed to capture collectors’ imagination.  Coarse makes products that seemingly shouldn’t exist, but yet do, much to the delight of us all.