TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Urban Toy Stage aims to shine spotlight on local designers
The community’s Urban Toy Stage 2017 convention, to be held from March 3 to 5 at Kuningan City shopping center in South Jakarta, will focus on local creators and producers of designer toys, essentially pricey collectable toys, instead of the usual array of popular international brands and super-hero figurines.
Change Size
Local touch: Artist Yudi Andhika, who makes the yellow dino, is one of the Indonesian toy designers set to take part in the three-day Urban Toy Stage 2017 in Kuningan, South Jakarta. (Yudi Andhika/File)
T
he creative community Catalyst Arts is jumping on the toys and hobbies fair bandwagon — but they’re doing it on their own terms. The community’s Urban Toy Stage 2017 convention, to be held from March 3 to 5 at Kuningan City shopping center in South Jakarta, will focus on local creators and producers of designer toys, essentially pricey collectable toys, instead of the usual array of popular international brands and super-hero figurines.
Catalyst Arts itself is an offshoot of the coffee-and-creative community Kopi Keliling.
“We’ve always focused on the local alternative visual arts scene,” says Patricia Wulandari, a representative from Catalyst Art. “So far, we’ve focused on two dimensional, original pieces such as art prints. But in the last few years, we’ve planned on transitioning toward three dimensional pieces,” she said, referring to creations such as designer toys, which have been in vogue in Indonesia for the past few years.
The eventual goal is to set up an independent publishing company that will produce local toys and comics.
The people behind Catalyst Arts began meeting with movers and shakers in the local toy scene; people who were producing their own high-quality toys and original characters.
One group they communicated with was SOTOY, short for Self-Original Toy, with whom Catalyst formed the basic idea for Urban Toy Stage.
The collective wants to promote local toys because they often see how other toy fairs tend to focus on popular brands like Marvel, DC, or Star Wars toys; setting up local toys as mere curiosities.
The event will feature more than 40 local visual artists from cities like Jakarta, Bandung, Yogyakarta, Pekanbaru, Banjarmasin, Semarang and Surabaya.
At the event, fans, including budding toy makers, will be able to interact with these local producers directly.
Read also: 3D printing makes its way into households
Some of these artists include Addy Debil, Angga Rinaldy Abdulhakim, Arya Adita, Bedlam, David Cornelius Tan, Eric Noah, Eric Wirjanata, Indra Gunawan, Karamba Art Movement, Llazzyboyzz, Mirfak Prabowo, Norman Purnama Sidik, Rifky M Isa, Yeyeyeaaghh and Yonathan Halim.
Some names are already established, such as the Bandung-based My Tummy Toys, which has produced both its own collections as well as designs from foreign toy designers.
“What’s cool is that visitors will get the full art toys experience,” says Patricia.
“There will also be many workshops that will showcase how these toys are made. Visitors will be able to see firsthand the creative process and perhaps support the artists by purchasing some of their toys.”
There will also be a Toy Custom Design Challenge competition, which will pit local toy creators against each other, with the winner decided through a vote from the visitors. The challenge features budding toy-makers trying to create actual toys from their designs.
Read also: New 'Beauty and the Beast' toy teaches children to code
“The design challenge competition is a way for us to bridge the two dimensional with the three dimensional. The winner will be decided based on how good their concept is and how the visitors respond to their creation,” Patricia explains, adding that the workshops are what visitors will take home with them.
Some of these workshops include Mini Skull Jewellery with Yeyeyeaaghh, Make Your Own Critter with Mirfak Prabowo, How to Perfectly Apply Decal to Your Toys with Buddy Batako, and Custom Toy: Modification and Painting with Iky and Rifky M Isa.
Catalyst Arts knows that standing out from the many other similar such events will be a challenge, especially as they focus mostly on a very niche community of local toy fans.
“It’s an even smaller field than fans of illustration art,” Patricia says.
“But the hope is that Urban Toy Stage will trigger people’s interest in learning about the local toy scene. These brands may not be widely known yet, but in terms of quality, they are up there with popular figurines. This won’t be a onetime thing.”
