The meeting between pop culture and Japanese wood
In the world of Toy Design and Pop culture, some collaborations mark the spirits. That between Karimoku, master of furniture in Wood in Japan, and the Bearbrick, flagship figurine of the scene Street-art and collector, in fact clearly one.
Any know-how remixed to design Today: this is a surprising alliance that turns heads in the world of collectors!
Japanese wood art
Karimoku
Founded in 1940, Karimoku is a Japanese company recognized for the quality of its furniture in solid wood. The sober aesthetics and the impeccable finishes are at the heart of their priorities.
Medicom Toy
Bearbrick
Difficult to miss Bearbrick, these bear -shaped figurines, created in 2001 by Medicom Toy.
Of the Brands as Chanel, Nike, Rod, and artists such as Kaws Or Jean-Michel Basquiat have all left their footprint on this support.
Over the years, Karimoku opened up to more experimental projects, going beyond the furniture.
It is in this reinvention process that collaboration with Medicom Toy and its Bearbrick was born.
The beginnings
The first collaboration between Karimoku And Medicom Toy go back 2005, during the production of very first Bearbrick wooden. This play was carried out as part of a collaboration with Kaws, thus marking the beginning of a series of creations mixing theJapanese wood craftsmanship to the universe of Designer Toys.
The following year, in 2006, Karimoku produced his first Bearbrick stamped with its own brand, celebrating the 10th anniversary of Medicom Toy.
The different formats
But Karimoku And Medicom Toy were not limited to the silhouette of the bear. They also exploredOther formats.
THE Nyabrick, contraction of "nya" (the Japanese "Miaou") and the Rabbrick (rabbit), although rarer, are also worked with the same care and concern for detail.
Nyabrick
Rabbrick
Bearbrick
Discover all formats concerning collaboration Medicom Toy and Karimoku, by sailing in our collection!
Karimoku
The choice of wood
Which immediately distinguishes a Bearbrick sign Karimoku, it is this presence of drink, where we expect to see shiny plastic.
The natural texture, the apparent vein, the different shades: each piece carries in it the history of the tree from which it comes.
Karimoku does not choose these woods at random: oak, walnut, Japanese cherry tree (Sakura), or Hinoki cypress ; Everyone brings a nuance.
High -end manufacturing
Make a Bearbrick in wood is not an industrial operation: it is a process entirely artisanal.
Each figurine is first carved in solid wood, room by room. Then come the sanding, assembly and opening stages.
The slightest defect in cutting or adjusting makes the part unusable. And since the wood "lives", you have to anticipate your reaction.
This is why we no longer talk about a toy here, but a exceptional room, at the border between design And art.
Collaboration with fragment Design
Among the most significant collaborations of Medicom Toy X Karimoku, that with fragment Design.
Together, they reinterpreted Bearbrick by integrating the artisanal know-how of wood specific to Karimoku : forms polygonal or who undulate, in cheeky, of different colors, etc.
