Welcome to the May edition of Reactor-88's Custom Corner. This month we're highlighting Hugh Rose, who resides on the small island of Guernsey. If you're not familiar with Guernsey, it's a British Crown dependency located in the English Channel. One bit of Guernsey trivia- it is the only English soil that the Nazis conqured during WWII. It's a very unique place and has been very inspirational to Hugh, who started making toys about four years ago. Hugh helps out at a local school art department in the day, and afterwards treks to his studio to continue with his passion for making custom toys.
A lot of Hugh's toys have a classic nautical theme, which I really enjoy and of course makes sense living on a tiny island. Along with very nice, subtly sculpted additions, many of Hugh's pieces are jam packed with tons of detail – it's easy to get lost in each piece just staring at all the intricate paint work. I can only imagine how long it took him to finish his "Once and Future King" Munny. Hugh mainly creates for shows and direct sales through his site, but he is taking commissions at the moment. If you'd like to discuss a project with him, he can be reached through his site at www.hughrose.co.uk or directly via email. If you'd just like to admire Hugh's work, you can follow him on Twitter or friend him over on Facebook.
Nice custom.
I have to point out though that Guernsey was not the only island to be occupied by the Nazis during WW2. Guernsey along with the larger island of Jersey and a few smaller islands make up the British Channel Islands and all were occupied and heavily fortified by the Nazis until they were eventually liberated in May 1945.