Japanese Art Toy Designers and Their Artwork

Art toys refer to designer toys, they are collectible figures of different sizes and materials designed by some designers and then customized by toy factories for mass production or made by themselves. Art toys are usually not mass-produced, so they are made in limited quantities, which makes them rarer and more expensive than general toys.

The features of Japanese Art Toy

Artistry

When different designers create their unique art toys, they will design, make and repair the art toys, and paint them by hand to maintain the artistry and uniqueness of each figure. Designers convey their unique design ideas and thoughts through artistic creation, making the art toy more cute and designer characteristics.

Rarity

Excellent art toys should keep a few owned, designers will limit the number of art toys that are publicly sold. At the same time, when the quantity is limited, the corresponding nameplate labels should be written for different art toys to identify the specific amount, making the art toys with numbers rare.

Collectivity

For the sale of art toys, the scarcity of an art toy makes it collectible. At the same time, the supply of art toys is limited, which also makes the art toys more valuable as collectible figures in the transaction.

Japanese Art Toy Designers

Yoshitomo Nara

Yoshitomo Nara’s artworks are influenced by Japanese cartoons and animations, using smooth colored crayons, and cartoon lines to create innocent-looking young girls and pet-like animals. In his artworks, he added a kind of cynicism or other different rebellious flavor hidden under innocence.

There are 3 models of 123 Drumming Girls, which are made of PVC injection molding with a height of 15cm, and each model is priced at 600 USD, with the unlimited release.

Hikari Shimoda

In Hikari Shimoda’s artworks, children’s horns, wings, stars, and other elements are telling the audience that these children are not human. Many artists express their feelings through creation, and Hikari Shimoda expresses his creative feelings in the eyes of children in his artworks. The children’s eyes are full of stars, because these children are staring at the Milky Way in the universe, and the light or darkness they see is reflected in their pupils.

In 2017, Shimoda cooperated with the Asian art organization APPortfolio to transform the design of “Child of this Planet” into an art toy. After all-hand polishing and painting, it was officially promoted with a limited number of 300 art toy works using PVC, ABS materials, and injection molding technology.

Later, many different versions of art toys Lonely Hero And Obake were made of PVC, ABS, Polystone, and phosphor, and the prices kept rising.

Akashi Tatsuhiko

Japanese toy manufacturer Medicom Toy was established in 1996, under the leadership of CEO Akashi Tatsuhiko, in 2001, inspired by the outline of the teddy bear, BE@RBRICK was created. BE@RBRICK has six sizes, ranging from 50%, 70%, 100%, 200%, 400%, and 1000%.

The price of the collectible figure is in direct proportion to the size. Based on the basic prototype, it is constantly redesigned on the prototype, and the combination of multi-artist trend brands makes BE@RBRUCK more changeable and popular.

Hiroto Ohkubo

At the age of 24, Hiroto Ohkubo turned himself into a toy designer and founded the toy brand INSTINCTOY. To make the most satisfactory toys,  Hiroto Ohkubo also went to Hong Kong to find a vinyl toy manufacturer that could make Sofubi. In the end, only 200 pieces of art toys were made in the first batch, which was quickly sold out in Japan.

Until 2016, Hiroto Ohkubo and Kenny Wong cooperated based on Erosion Molly, making limited-edition toys with various colors and materials. At the same time, with the popularity of POP MART, INSTINCTOY in Hiroto Ohkubo began to co-name with other well-known IPs, such as LABUBU in KASING LUNG, Byron in Shoko Nakazawa, Venom in Hot Toys and so on.

TkoM

Inspired by American science fiction, dystopian movies, and characters from the 1980s to 1990s, TkoM produced an art toy that seemed humorous and lovely but blended with the dark elements of popular culture and society.

Demogorgon #2 in March 2017 started with brown soft vinyl, highlighting the details of the work, and was painted with vibrant colors. Both versions are limited to 30 pieces.

TkoM’s works are not only magic dragon and the Monster series but also the famous double-headed series.

HS

The art toy created by HS is very famous in the art toy markets. All monster-shaped art toys with Sofubi vinyl, big and small, but most of them are hard to buy. In 2019, its image appeared in the poster of the art toy exhibition held in Shanghai.

Brutal A sofubi vinyl art toy painted as metal steel.

Thoughts

Japanese art toys relied on anime TV series such as One Piece, Naruto, and Mobile Suit Gundam. This is also the reason why many Japanese art figures have strong stories and cultural attributes behind them. Medicom Toy is a collectible figure based on animation and film and television characters. Today, with the BE@RBRICK building block bear, which is popular all over the world.