The organizers of the annual Taipei Toy Festival (台北國際玩具創作大展) have created a new event for fans in Taichung. One Day Children (一日‧還童), which opened at the end of last month and runs through May 8 at the Taichung Jhonggang Shin Kong Mitsukoshi (新光三越台中中港店), features 300 pings (about 1,000m2) filled with vinyl figures and artwork by some of the designer toy world’s biggest names.
The festival seeks to promote urban vinyl, or figures made with high-quality materials in limited editions, as an art form, says Monster Taipei project manager Rita Shen (沈詩華). The company, which runs the Monster Gear store in Taipei’s East District (東區) and has held the Taipei Toy Festival since 2004, organized the One Day Children event as a way to reach toy lovers in the rest of the country.
“We’ve held the Taipei Toy Festival for a long time, but there are few events like that in the middle of Taiwan. We wanted to create something for fans there, too,” Shen says.
Photo courtesy of Monster Taipei
One Day Children is divided into six sections, each of which is dedicated to a brand or designer from Hong Kong or Taiwan. In addition to figures, the exhibit also showcases photography, paintings and other artwork.
The roster includes Medicom Toy, which produces the popular Bearbrick figures, How2Work, Toumart, Winson Ma (馬志雄), Kennyswork and Mr A Lei (阿咧先生).
Collectors can ogle rare figures inspired by characters like Knucklebear, Touma’s cute but bloodthirsty creation, Ma’s simian adventurers Apexplorer and chocolate cat Necoco, illustrator Kasing Lung’s (龍家昇) wide-eyed menagerie of colorful animals and one of Japanese artist Yoshitomo Nara’s pugnacious, big-headed kids.
Several toy creators will attend the festival over the next month to sign autographs, including Kenny Wong (王信明) of Kennyswork (tomorrow and Sunday at 2pm), Winson Ma, April 16 and April 17) and the Toumart and Danke Schoen team (April 23 and April 24). Other activities include a jigsaw puzzle contest on April 30 and a workshop on May 8 that gives fans a chance to customize their own figures (reserve a space in advance by calling (04) 2255-3333 X7055).
Toys for sale include a limited edition set featuring the character Molly by Wong. Only 20 sets will be available for NT$1,250 each.
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