Mobius - Designer Toys and Lifestyle in Koreatown

Looking for the latest designer toys and top streetwear brands?  Give Möbius a look.  Opened in mid-June in Koreatown (LA) by owner Wonhee Lee, Möbius smoothly blends art and lifestyle together as represented by the inspiration for the store's name -- the undulating 'Möbius Strip'.  The boutique offers a strong mix of the  latest  vinyl toys and streetwear (about 50-50)  in a stylish space that also serves as a gallery connecting people to artists.  Online shopping is coming soon but in the meantime go check it out in person.  Also be sure to take a look at Wonhee's blog for more about the world of Möbius. It's great to see designer toys spreading throughout the huge sprialing maze that is Los Angeles.

 

MÖBIUS Gallery + Store
3300 W 6th Street
Los Angeles, CA 90020
310.756.9988

Die Gestalten Verlag: Release The Freaks

Fresh off the success of, Dot Dot Dash!, Die Gestalten Verlag (dgv) has launched their very own online store, Release The Freaks. The store will feature a selection of familiar toys and a handful of hard to find pieces. Devoted to promoting the culture of character art labels and handmade limited edition art toys, you will find a wide range of offerings from Asia, US and Europe. Don't forget to sign up for their mailing list to get up to date information on new releases.

6-6-6 @ Span of Sunset

To celebrate today's macabre date, 6-6-6, Span of Sunset is offering 18% off select items. There's some Secret Base in there, so if you're curious to see what the buzz is about or just need to fill in your collection, have at it!   In addition, if you purchase at least $66.66 of merchandise at their Sunset store or Online, you will receive a free Black Metal SoS shirt designed by Andre Brandou.  These offers are good through 06.09.06.

Span of Sunset
7527 Sunset Blvd.
Los Angeles, CA. 90046
323.512.3807

VinylFixx Custom Gallery Grand Opening

VinylFixx's custom gallery will have its Grand Opening on Thursday February 16th at 12:00 pm PST. You will find a series of custom toys by several artists available for purchase online. More items will follow thereafter from Jim Koch, Mimic, Brent Nolasco, LIV3R, Moodude and more. This is a great opportunity for you to own an awesome custom toy pieces. For more info please visit VinylFixx's website.

PhuEk! P-79
Lash Munny
Nibbler by Motorbot

Sket One Eggster
Artwork by Moodude
Dril's Rusted Down Dunny
Hi Design Biscuspid MadL

Playjam #5

Melanie dropped us a line to let us know that Playjam #5 from Madam Edgar, a retail outfit based in Montreal, Canada, is now online.  Playjam is a flash-based hybrid catalog / "magazine" that's done quite well.  This issue has a nice selection of original and unusual toys -- the kinds of toys that typically don't get much attention (yes, we're slightly guilty of this too!).  One hint: mouse down to the left/right corners of the "pages" in order to move back and forward through the content.  If you're looking for something off the beaten path, check it out.  The only downside is that there is precious little information about each product or the artists.

 

Nostore: Buy a shirt and help a charity

By Peskimo NoStore is a brand new online site offering cool  limited edition art products (mostly T-shirts at this point) from such top names as Jon Burgerman and Peskimo.  While the shirts are quite nice, the really cool bit is that each artist has donated the art work featured on the products.  Thus, 50% of the proceeds from Nostore go to a charitable cause chosen by each artist.  To wrap up, check out NoStore, buy a cool shirt or two and help a chairtable cause at the same time.  Kudos to the founders of NoStore and the artists participating in this project!

Nakanari Customs available from Myplasticheart.com

Exciting news!  Four Three custom Funny Clubs done by Nakanari are available for purchase directly from Myplasticheart.  I'm a big fan of customs partly because they're little bits of original art and partly because they are so rare, in fact unique.  These are quite affordable and range in price from 55 to 65 USD, so get on it before they're  gone (1 down already).  Kudos to Nakanari and MPH for making customs so readily available to collectors.  Buy 'em here.

Pink Billyclub, Green Billyclub, Black Arrows, & Red Arrows

Trip Report: Spanky (Nagoya, Japan)

L to R: Ken Joho and I

During my recent vacation to Japan, I traveled across city lines  from Kyoto to Nagoya to visit the Spanky toy store. The owner, Ken Joho, kindly  picked me up from the train station after my failed attempts to locate the store. Ken, a man in his mid thirties wore a pair of square “vintage” black spectacles, a purple Spanky t-shirt and pin striped loose pants.  He  guided me through alleys of stores  lining an indoor arcade mall. He pointed out the former location for Spanky, which now serves as storage. He mentioned  the expansion of the store and thus the store’s name, Spanky, “to expand”. Ken is also the owner of Headlock Studios which has produced several key vinyl figures such as Ray the Aersol can, and Touma's Snouts and Talons. After a short stroll, we reached the main Spanky store. A 4 feet tall big boy figure along with a few capsule toys machines stood before the entrance. Once inside, toys of all sorts laid before me. A quick scan of his inventory discloses the usual suspects such as Disney toys, Star Wars, The Simpsons. However,  upon closer look I found a glass case of hard to find designer vinyl toys, such as the White Talon and Yellow Snout by Touma. A few Dalek 8” Qees also stood on the top shelves along with a handful of humanoid figures by Eric So and Michael Lau which were neatly hidden behind a selection of Scary Girl figures.

           Spanky #1 in Nagoya, JapanI was invited into Ken’s office and we quickly started   talking about toy collecting.  Ken, a huge Spider-man fan,  started Spanky as a result of  his first trip to the United States ten year ago,  during which he spent a great deal of his  visit shopping at flea markets and swap meets sweeping up everything and anything featuring  the comic book superhero.  When he returned home, he set up shop to sell his large haul of toys.  From only a space no  bigger than  a typical kitchen, Ken’s business grew slowly and steady.  Interestingly, Spanky’s creation is   quite similar to the way in which Paul Budnitz started a small business selling toys from Hong Kong which would later become Kidrobot.  Today, Spanky consists of a main store which carries designer toys and a second store which mainly carries Japanese toys. Spanky also has an online store taking orders from all over the world. As his website might be challenging to navigate for non-Japanese, it is most likely easier to write Ken via email with your orders.

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Funny Club Show in LA at Munky King on May 7th

The Funny Club show which features over 140 customized versions of B.B. Birdy and Nakanari's Funny Club vinyl toy makes its final US stop at Munky King in Los Angeles from May 7th to June 11th.  During  the opening reception on Saturday May 7th from 7 to 11PM, B.B. Birdy and Nakanari will be customizing blank Funny Club toys on the spot.  The list of artists who have contributed customs to this show goes on and on but includes such big names as: Sket-One, Huck Gee, Joe Ledbetter, Gary Baseman, Frank Kozik, miQ wilmOtt, and MAD! Check the FULL list here.

 

This show was previously at Rotofugi in Chicago and pics are available from B.B. Birdy, Evil Vince and Ironcow Productions.

Munky King
441 Gin Ling Way
Chinatown LA, CA 90012
(213)620-8787
info@munkyking.com