TOKYOMADE @ Design Festa Vol. 26

We can't contain our excitement anymore!! We have come full circle in less than a year and we are proudly announcing that TOKYOMADE will have a booth at this November's Design Festa Vol. 26. Booth number C0066 to be exact!




The Tokyo Design Festa is the largest art event in Asia and was most definitely one of the biggest motivations behind the TOKYOMADE concept. Walking through the aisles, gasping with amazement at talented designer after crafty creator we knew we couldn't keep this kind of wonder all to ourselves. Thousands of creators, designers and talents put themselves and their creations on display for all to see. It truly is something to behold and definitely the best shopping spree of the year.

This time last year we were readying ourselves with ideas in our heads and hope in our hearts to get together with some of the Japan-based creators on display at Design Festa and give them a new home/ online space to display their products all year round to an international audience. Tokyomade.com was merely an idea last November, a vision that we had. We trotted off to the Tokyo Big Site like shoppers on a mission. We didn't even have a meishi (business card) or any kind of site concept to show designers and crafters. All we had was a passion to support Japan-based creation and a desire to find artists and creators that wanted to be part of a growing community.

Tokyomade.com launched on February 14 of this year and we are giddy to announce that we will be at Tokyo Design Festa this year in our very own booth showing outrageously awesome designs and creations from over 30 Japan-based creators/ thinkers/ illustrators/ recyclers/ makers/ designers/ artists/ painters/ friends.

In such a short time TOKYOMADE has gone from being a welling of passion to a community of like-minded people sharing their talent with the world. The opportunity to be representing this talent at Design Festa, where the bubbling of passion all began, is one of the most exhilarating and mind blowing times for us! We are eternally grateful to each and every designer that shines on TOKYOMADE, the customers and admirers that appreciate and support them and our outstandingly supportive friends and family - we love you all!

We have got lots of surprises and greatness in stall for all visitors. Please, please if you are in Tokyo on November 17 & 18 come to the Tokyo Big Site to visit us and the thousands of other Japanese and international artists and acts. You will not be disappointed. Oh remember to bring your pocket money there are always plenty of goodies and bargains to pick up, you will be glad you did!

See you there!

Halloween in Tokyo

Not even a typhoon off the coast of Japan sweeping it's way through Tokyo could keep us in last night. The freaks came out!

Although the night was a little more relaxed (for some) than initially planned the rain subsided and the trick or treating continued.

The usual Halloween cast members gathered a witch and a nun, a crab and convict, a cowboy and gypsey, a naughty maid, a Hare Krishna and his little devil, Frankenstein and the bride of and a black angel. Masao went as a psychiatric hospital warden although he was quite happy just to tell everyone he was a doctor and I went as my favorite movie Party Monster. We also met a very large Geisha, a terribly scary flying monkey and a gorgeous Shibuya host boy.

The maid, gypsey and cowboy headed off to wilder horizons while our partying ended around midnight, a fun last train ride home.

Happy Halloween everyone!!

Dr Sketchy's Anti-Art School Tokyo - Hauntingly Good

The Halloween edition of Dr Sketchy's Tokyo was a spooky spectacular.

Goth beauty and stirring strength oozed from Akiko's on stage poise. The professional singer and performer stunned the audience with her rendition of Mozart in a truly powerful vocal performance, bringing a new and spine tingling element to Dr Sketchy's Tokyo.



Leila kept the sketchers entertained as the new Dr Sketchy's Tokyo MC.

Here comes Halloween

Here's to good health (mama), costume creation, a Friday night in out of the rain and the night before Tokyo's biggest Halloween parties!!!

Kampai!

The Pink Cow Tokyo

"I had so much fun just chatting, I didn't want it to end"
Masao Tamaoki

This is how every night should be!!


Tomokuni and TiFdyL with their Bax Bear at Dr Sketchy's Tokyo, the Halloween edition.

Top Weekend in Tokyo

I am yet to have a Tokyo karaoke experience that I fully remember but that is not completely unforgettable. Oh the memories, however blurred. Thank god for technology and the peeps who embrace it. Thanks to my karaoke buddies some highlights were captured...thus the memories live on!

Lindsey's birthday bash started off innocently enough with her on a Tokyo scavenger hunt. Naturally the night ended with jugs of undisclosed liquids, wild screams of joy (or pain) and some sweaty looking singers in some questionable pics.

Happy Birthday Lindsey!









ps Thanks Lindsey, Mark and Fintan for the pics (I stole them without asking!!)

Sunday Afternoon Success

We have been busy singing karaoke and having amazing parties where all of friends come to see what the TOKYOMADE creators have been up to recently. Yesterday afternoon was the first of what we hope to be a string of successful Sunday afternoon events for LADE clothing and TOKYOMADE.

(Getting ready at And Zone Shinjuku, Tokyo)

We got off to an early start as we rolled into And Zone Shinjuku at 10am, extremely early for a Sunday morning post Saturday night karaoke. Meeting up with the LADE guys, Eshimasa, Tomokuni, Michi, Cometman and Machie we all got to work splashing, colorful, creativity and products on the white walls of the gallery.


(Eshimasa, Tomokuni and Machie getting their pieces ready for display)

The open plan gallery was really perfect and things fell into place smoothly with each designer having their own piece of wall with enough room to showcase some hot street wear labels from Canada, a projection space, TiFdyL live painting and a super fresh dj area pumping out some mighty fine tunes during the 8 hour set.

To make things even easier And Zone is a divided space with the gallery on one side and a very cozy lounge serving some top veg curry on the other.





A huge thank you to everyone that was able to come and celebrate with us and LADE clothing, without you our Sunday afternoon would not have been half as enjoyable. A special thanks to Eshimasa, Tomokuni, Michi, Cometman, MacBag, Sci-Fi, Ichigo Seijin, Tiny Azure, Shojono Tomo and Ryo Honda for being part of the TOKYOMADE collaboration/ family.

We realized yesterday that in a few short months TOKYOMADE has grown into something so much more that we originally imagined it could be. TOKYOMADE has become a collective of talented, inspirational and positive artists that share their creations, but more than that we have become an international group that shares life and laughs and that is more than we could ever have hoped for.

Of course the biggest thank you must go to the LADE clothing trio, their partners, friends and family for their vision, hard work and for inviting us to be part of a very rad Sunday afternoon. We are very excited to be apart of many more events just like it.

LV Hallucinations

Technicolor Louis Vuitton hallucinations. Extremely kawaii!

WOW that was five years ago?!

Thinking about red wine and seeing Kylie in yellow stilettos and cargoes for the first time!

I'm happy I'm Relaxed boo boo bo bo bo

Just do it! If you can't do it atleast watch it (then you can't help but do it!)

New Kylie

Kylie has reinvented herself yet again!

Nasty, I love the black cat suit/body stocking. Not what I expected, I miss the disco balls, the golden lycra and the spinning around but...it's Kylie and I shall never utter a bad word!

Pink Giveaway

The gorgeous, talented and very special Aimee of Aimeeroo fame is doing her bit this month to raise money for a very worthy cause. A month of Pink Giveaways are also planned to raise Breast Cancer awareness.
TOKYOMADE have teamed up with the flamingo loving Aimeeroo and a Pink prize pack is up for grabs. So click on over to Aimeeroo for your chance to support and win!



How to win
1. If you want a chance to win the Pink Prize Pack here is what you need to do. Leave a comment on this post. Only comment once, and be sure to include your email address so if you win I (Aimeeroo) can notify you.
2. You have until Tuessday October 22nd at midnight MST. The winner will be notified by email and announced here as well.

(The rules are taken from Aimeeroo)

Virtual Shopping in Japan

(I wrote about this over at TOKYOMADE as well but I am a bit in love with the new shopping site I discovered so I thought I would share here too!)

A trip out into the Tokyo shopping jungle can often be overwhelming. Searching for new season clothing and accessories on any given weekend can end in either giving your bank account or body a major battering. With close to 13 million people calling Tokyo home the shopping meccas on holidays and weekends can literally feel like you are in the front row of a death metal concert; the noise, the human traffic, the occasional head banging.
While I adore the feel of the fabrics, the smell of new bags, the glam of the Tokyo stores and never ending examples of fashion mix ups on display what I don't enjoy is jostling to get out of the station, pounding the scarily overcrowded pavements, lining up to try anything on and having to say 'sumimasen' (excuse me) 354 times.
Recently I have been thinking there has got to be a better way to search for all of the styles and wardrobe updates needed as the seasons change without hitting the streets of Shibuya and Shinjuku during the weekend rush. I had spotted an ad for ZOZOTOWER in a few fashion magazines I had picked up recently. Thinking it was just another shopping complex I dismissed it until Masao came to my shopping woes rescue tonight and suggested I should head to www.zozo.jp. What I was about to discover was the end of all my Tokyo fashion finding worries.

ZOZOTOWN is a virtual Tokyo (the site is in Japanese but still easily navigated - we would be happy to help you out if you need it). This immaculately designed site is Tokyo without the crowds. ZOZO have gathered together many of the Tokyo street fashion big guns and created a virtual town in which to house them.



Shops such as Beams, Car Life and Hysteric Glamour can be found in ZOZOTOWN. Simply click on the store name, then the store image to enter the virtual shop and start browsing BY YOURSELF. No crowds, no shop assistants. Sit back, relax and SHOP!

So I would love to sit around and write to you all but I have got a whole lot of relaxing, virtual shopping to do - winter is coming and my wardrobe is a mess!

Check out ZOZOTOWER for 5 levels of virtual shopping fun. Oh and if you are really keen and happen to know somebody on the inside you might want to get yourself an invite to become a permanent at ZOZORESIDENCE

Days go by...

They say time flies when you are having fun, we must have been having way too much this week cos I am not quite sure where it has gone ???

Something fun for you created by the Obasan Kicker