PLUSHIES FOR JAPAN! ::project:: + other fundraisers!

Here's something that's not graphic-design/school related for once.

As many of you may know, a M9 Earthquake hit Japan last week, causing a lot of damage to the country and its people. As a Japanese citizen who lived there for 18 years and dealt with earthquakes so often, my initial reaction was "Oh, it's just another little quake, no biggie." I texted my mum in a joking manner and asked if everything was fine (in all honesty, I didn't even think it was necessary to ask... I was pretty sure she'd be fine at that point), and went off to my friend's house to watch a movie. Things took a great turn when I couldn't get a hold of my mum for over 3 hours; she's the time of person that'll text me back in minutes, even if I send her the most unimportant, ridiculous text messages. Then I saw the news. The pictures. The footage. Needless to say, I started panicing, and was clutching onto my phone, refreshing my email page every couple seconds, waiting for one text. I had phone calls and texts from my friends asking if I was okay. I wasn't.

Couple hours later, I finally got a reply from my mum. Although my family lives well over 400km away from the epicenter, my mum herself was shaken up, and told me it was the biggest quake she'd ever experienced in her life. She was uninjured, but scared. Next was my dad; I couldn't get a hold of him for the longest time. The day of the earthquake, he had to stay at the school he works at with the students, since all transportation systems were shut down, and some children didn't have a way to get home, or have anyone pick them up. Thankfully, none of my family members were severely injured or affected. However, my heart sank to the footage of victims that lived in and around the epicenter. The news of nuclear facilities exploding, fires, after-quakes... I felt more and more helpless that I wasn't able to do anything for my own country, or the people. I was getting more and more frustrated, and some heartless comments on the internet made me sad, angry and agitated. I had to delete "friends" from facebook so I didn't have to see those things. I forced myself not to watch the news.



However, I knew I had to do something. Thus, I came up with an idea of selling plush toys that I had designed and created with a fellow graphic design major, Lane. I am ever thankful for Lane to allowing me to sell the toys; after all, it was initially a collaboration project we had done. I am donating all proceeds/profit to the American Red Cross Japan Earthquake and Tsunami Relief. There have been a lot scams for charity/fundraisers, and I believe that this is one of the few reliable organizations that I feel comfortable sending a donation to. So far, I have had the great support of my friends and fellow etsy-shoppers, and I have been able to make 10 sales. My plushies will be shipped to all over the West coast, London, Canada and France. Needless to say, I am grateful and excited. It may be little baby steps, but I am proud of it, and intend to carry on!



You can support this project by visiting my etsy store ::
(I currently only have 1 listing up, but intend to work on more!)


I also want to take the time to introduce couple fundraisers::


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{image via @ Zakka Nouveau Blog}

Satsuki Shibuya, alumni of Otis' communication arts department, and founder of Zakka Nouveau, an exquisite fait a la man graphic + product design studio, has launched "project stitch + connect"- a fundraiser for the earthquake/tsunami victims. All proceeds are going to either Save the children (emergency response), Globalgiving (Japan + tsunami relief fund), Hands on network, American Red Cross, Americares foundation, Hands on Tokyo, Operation Blessing International, Salvation Army National Headquarters, or World Vision... The purchaser gets their pick!

What really impressed and inspired about Satsuki's concept of stitch + connect is that each product has "patchwork"/"connections" or remanent fabrics, driving the idea that any person can contribute, even with tiny little "pieces" they have around them. I personally felt that this was relevant to what I was doing; on a grand scale, maybe selling plush toys may not be the most helpful way to save the victims of this disaster... But it's obviously better than not doing anything and crying in bed!



I am also excited to announce that I will be collaborating with Zakka Nouveau! Satsuki has kindly dropped off some of her fabrics with me, and I am going to try and sew up a couple items before I leave for Holland!




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Q POP HELP JAPAN ART FUNDRAISER



My friend and co-owner of Q Pop shop, Chris Mitchell is also throwing a fundraiser at his store! Mark your calendars for March 18th, 7PM~10:00PM! I am unfortunately not going to be in attendance (since I will be on the plane to Amsterdam at that time...) but I have donated 2 paintings I did in Daniel Lim's Otis Visual Marathon class 2 semesters ago... So please support!


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#PrayForJapan" Art Fundraiser Exhibition



SWEET STREETS is also throwing an Art Fundraiser Exhibition! This event will be taking place on March 19th (day after Q Pop's event!) at JapanLA, located at 7320 1/2 Melrose Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90046. My friend Amy from Sugarpill Cosmetics will also be in attendance, selling her amazing make-up. (I am wearing only Sugarpill on my face as I type this!) Splurge away for a good cause!

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DANIEL LIM/FAWN FRUITS :: "SWEET IMPERFECTIONS"



My former teacher and mentor, Daniel Lim has a show at La Luz De Jesus gallery located at 4633 Hollywood Blvd., Los Angeles on April 1st. I spoke to Daniel yesterday, and he has decided to donate 100% of his sales to help the victims in the Japan Earthquake/Tsunami. I am constantly inspired by Daniel's compassion and generosity, and this isn't the first time. Please support Daniel by attending his opening at La Luz on April 1st, 8PM~11PM.

You can read more about the event here.


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MIGHTY HARAJUKU PROJECT

Sebastian Masuda of 6% DOKIDOKI has asked me to take part in the MIGHTY HARAJUKU PROJECT, where he will be making updates about what is going on in Harajuku after the earthquake. I jumped right in obviously, since I consider Harajuku one of my most favorite places in the world. Sebastian is working closely with Tokyofashion.com to update info and photos on Harajuku everyday, and I will be translating his tweets in English for Harajuku-fans all over the world to get a grasp on what is going on in Harajuku at the moment.

You can follow Sebastian's twitter here.

You can follow TokyoFashion's twitter here.

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home-like+romantic+healthy+multi-cultural+noisy+sweet=?

A little something I'm working on for my Identity+Systems Design class.
This class has easily been one of the most challenging yet fulfilling classes I've taken at Otis so far.
So much to learn, ranging from being able to be quick with adjectives to exploring different mediums and techniques for
image-making (I am currently in process of teaching myself illustrator, with the thanks of my dear friend)...




In other news, I had the honor of being part of my friend and amazing photographer, Valerie's project.



You can read more about her project and follow her photo-blog here.

Frank Gehry speaks!

Here's a little something I did for my experimental typography class.
As much as I am a horrible typographer, I adore typography like a rejected-hopeless-romantic lover.
(And experimental typography, oh you, you are ever so kind and greet me with open arms)




The assignment was to find an dialogue that related to your assigned building/architect (Chiat Day building+Frank Gehry in my case) and to create a "map" based on their conversation. The shortest side of the map had to be minimum 20", and the finish map also had to be fold. I chose an interview from Playboy magazine, where Gehry discussed his hate for the term "starchitect', and his quite DILLIGAF attitude towards architecture. I was primarily inspired by his attitude and passion towards his work, as well as his comment of "no taste" being a bigger issue than "bad taste" in modern architecture.

A little folding, crumpling, throwing into the copy machine, scribbling, scanning and voila.

Mevis and Van Deursen//

Here are some hand outs I designed for a presentation my group did on Mevis and Van Deursen.





The amazing Dutch duo have become a great source of inspiration for me.

Barry Deck + Ellen Lupton + Ed Fella + Kali Nikitas.

Today I was fortunate enough to meet some of my design/type heroes in one sitting. ...Kind of.
Barry Deck was having a lecture at Otis, and attendance was mandatory. Not going to lie, my initial thought was "UGHHH". (But who isn't, when you're in class from 8AM~7PM, and it's the last day of the week for you?) But needless to say, I absolutely enjoyed his lecture, and am definitely more inspired than I was at 15:33 when I was furiously consuming my chocolate+custard crepe.

This is partially because I am now taking an identity + systems design class, taught by the amazing Maja... A truly challenging, work-loaded, makes-me-want-to-rip-my-hair-out, but challenges me to be the best image maker I can class. Barry's insight on creating a visual identity system for a client (may it be a giant corporation like Coca Cola, or a smaller local business) has sparked some thoughts and ideas for me. What hit me most was his idea of "Sometimes less is more". I am definitely going to apply this idea in my upcoming week.

For now, here are some examples of the images I've made in class...

Work from week 1, where our assignment was to create a symbol/logo for a partner we worked with.

Me + Illustrator = No Bueno.

I was in for another treat when I found out that Ellen Lupton was going to be having a lecture at CalArts. I'm pretty sure I'm not the only graphic design student out there whose life got saved with her "Thinking with Type" book. Her lecture was equally inspiring for me as Barry's was, and her perspective on the future of publication/books was quite interesting. It's quite sad that people are going crazy over "digital books" (as Ellen puts it, you are probably a "slut") and the future of print seems bleak. But the whole D.I.Y movement of the creation of publication has more hope than anything, and I find it interesting how as much as the future of print is
questioned and worried about, the idea of a "book" has become something of a frenzied social activity. I myself am a great fan of the efforts put into a book, as well as the physical experience of holding a book in your hand, flipping through it, reading it (or not) and being inspired by it.

Oh, and the night couldn't possibly get better when I bumped into Ed Fella. I think I had a small heart attack. And I could never be happier that Kali is our chair, and she kindly introduced me to him. AH!!! ...But I have to say one of the best parts of the night was getting to know some graphic peeps from CalArts. I can't wait to see them again soon!

Which leads to my current assignment in progress...

I'm really excited about this project, even though it's still in its baby-steps. We'll see how you turn out, child!!

::Spring 2011!::

So my last semester as a junior at Otis has finally begun. The first week was a hassle for me to get back into THE GAME (as John put it during my "advising"...), and I suffered from the "Oh I have enough time I'll do it later" syndrome; which, interestingly enough, was something I thought I overcame after IB. Not. But strangely enough, I'm scribbling TO-DO-TO-BE-DONE-WILL-DO lists down every where, so I'm pretty sure I'll be fine from now on.

COMMUNICATION STUDIO::

For the first time ever, I was in a crit taking place on... the lawn. As much as it was a good change to leave the classroom and venture out, LA sun rays are (still) not my best friend.

{l to r:: Montana (lump), yours truthfully, Mikey, Vicky + Kendra}

{my manifesto poster rough.}

I have some interesting plans for the poster, and can't wait to manifest them onto paper. This project is truly exciting for me, since I get to dabble in words, and stir those words up with visuals.

EXPERIMENTAL TYPOGRAPHY::

Experimental type is becoming a great place for... experiments.

I chuckled at Erin's quote of "wearing lab coats and messing around with type"... but yes, sans lab coat, that is what I'm doing. With the help of Sean's comment, I had a myth-busters moment for M/M Paris's look. My love for hand-done typography is going on full blast in this class, and I can't wait to start working on more assignments.

But for now...... sleep. (//while you can get it)

COMM III FINAL VIDEO!

done. done. done!