Tokyo Design Festa vol. 32

Well, I finally made it to Design Festa, and it did not disappoint! Luckily my husband had warned me that there was a big employment recruitment seminar on at the same time and told me not to go to the wrong wing at Big Sight, to be honest, they would have had one look at me and not let me in since I was not sporting a white shirt and black suit....

 ...the lines were amazing, 4 or 5 people deep and went all the way from the station to Big Sight which is at least 8 minutes walk and 99% of them were dressed in black with white shirts, it was quite eerie really.

 Anyway, enough of boring suits, Design Festa really only has one rule, if you have created it yourself you can exhibit it and what an array of artists there were. There were white walls where artists were painting, I could never do that, I hate anyone watching when I am creating! It was great seeing artists in real life whose work I admire.

Megumi Wadano

 There were so many different things to see and take in, this unicorn looked so real! It really was an inspiration overload, by the time I left I thought my brain would implode.

 I met some lovely people too, this is Taeko, she is an illustrator and had travelled up on the over night bus to do the show, rather her than me! Her artwork and key chains were so cute.

Taeko

 I loved this rainbow giant rocker, I was trying to work out where we could fit it in our house, hmmm

kamika

 These two girls were so cool, the one with the blue and purple hair had the most fantastic false eyelashes. They were selling cute face masks. The mix of people was great too, some were professionals touting their talent, others made things as a hobby and students getting their work out there, trying to get noticed. 

irohanihohedooo

 Yet more amazing work, this funky monkey is actually made out of paper, I thought it was wood to begin with, takes the whole origami thing to a new level (I can't even make a paper crane, let alone a monkey). I don't have a link for this one, the card I picked up has the artists name but no email or web address.

パピコレ

 Now, this pair were funny, they are Korean and I had trouble understanding what they were saying because they talked in unison, they had some sweet bracelets made from safety pins and some rather nifty bags. They were from a Women's Art College in Korea.

 There was a lot of weird and wonderful art work, I am sure everyone would have fallen in love with something there, I could have spent a small fortune, but I didn't. There were several stands with what I can only describe as grotesque art, one that turned my stomach had key chains with baby embryos hanging from there neck, I know art is subjective and there are those who go in for the shock factor but for me, that was not art, each to their own!

can't find a card for these funny little guys or the next picture

 This was the back of the stand in the dim lighting area, there was group playing just in front of the so I couldn't pick up a card, the stars were so pretty though. There were several bands/artists playing in and about the place plus a big main stage and and an outdoor stage, there were also many people dressed up, after I had been there a while it seemed perfectly normal to be having a conversation with a man sized sardine about the mini books he has created. I would say teenie tiny book and rabbits are definitely all the rage just now.

 This artist had lots of bags, all one of a kind and each one had this crazy style applique, must have taken he quite some time to make each one. A lot of the sewn goods were very much of a muchness. I went this time to scout the place out and see if I should get a stand next spring, I am still very undecided, looks like a lot of fun but I think to have a successful stall I would need to be super organised and be prepared to fork out quite a bit of money, hmmmmm.

.ema.

 Well, that, was just a snippet of the day, I will up load the rest of the photos to Flickr when I get the chance. Daddy-ebi took Ebi-kun back to the doctors, so he is now on antibiotics and some hardcore cough syrup, I hope it kicks in soon. He (and the rest of us) isn't getting enough sleep which means he  is just 'orrible! He was in bed by the time I got home.

Just to finish off, this is Tokyo Big Sight, it is a rather impressive structure, very futuristic!

 And this was taken from the roof top plaza, I stepped out to get some fresh air just as the sun was setting, seems like a fitting image to end on, don't you think?