![]() ![]() ![]() Designer toys have permeated the contemporary art market more recently as well, with the artist KAWS (real name Brian Donnelly) selling works in major evening auctions for prices in the millions. Designer toys-often made from vinyl and referencing any number of pop culture motifs-skyrocketed in popularity at the turn of the millenium, with nascent toy companies, conventions, and websites generating excitement over a coterie of in-demand artists who were designing them. He sold the company in 2012 and, in 2018, founded another collectible toy company, Superplastic. Inspired by what he had seen in Tokyo, and at toy conventions in Hong Kong, Budnitz founded Kidrobot in 2002. The coveted toy, known as Kid Hunter, was a mischievous pirate figurine, a riff on the American cereal icon Cap’n Crunch-and you had to be in the know to get one. ![]() The shop was owned by streetwear designer Hikaru Iwanaga and sold small plastic toys, inspired by the trinkets found in cereal boxes, that could only be obtained by purchasing clothing from his boutique. ![]() Nearly two decades ago, Paul Budnitz was walking through Tokyo’s Harajuku district when he spotted a long line of Japanese youth waiting to enter a tiny gothic clothing store called Bounty Hunter. ![]()
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