Features
art & design
Simone Legno
Kawai Connoisseur
"tokidoki is the hope, the hidden energy that everyone has inside, giving us the strength to face a new day and dream about something positive that something magical will happen to us." Simone Legno
Just five years ago, Italian artist Simone Legno was given a plane
ticket to LA. Within hours of landing, the decision was to relocate
there from rome, and so began the tokidoki empire.
How did an Italian designer, starting out with a personal website of Japanese-inspired graphics, end up head of a massive lifestyle brand in Los Angeles?
I think the key of tokidoki is the mixture of visual inputs, cultures and perfect blending of opposites living together. tokidoki is like my artistic life diary. I grew up in Italy with a classic Italian background, but I was dreaming about Japan since I had a natural love toward this country’s culture. Moving to LA I got all the typical glamorous, urban streetwear influence from this unique city.
tokidoki is Japanese for “sometimes”. Why did you choose the word sometimes?
tokidoki is a happy world. It is a cute, playful and pure, yet provocative, sophisticated world that I imagine, live and dream of. I chose a Japanese word because I love Japan. I love everything from the ultra-modern, happy face of Shibuya to the serious, magic silence of Kyoto. I chose "sometimes" because everyone waits for moments that change one's destiny…by chance or by meeting a new person…tokidoki is the hope, the hidden energy that everyone has inside, giving us the strength to face a new day and dream about something positive that something magical will happen to us.
The tokidoki family includes angry puppies in spiky cactus suits and cute cows holding guns – are your characters playing dress-ups, or is it more your interpretation of how the world works?
I think they are mostly dressed up to point out in a symbolic way the wrong things of the world we live in. Both of them are symbols of protection (cactus suit and toy gun) and the cow and puppies are both defenceless characters.
It’s no secret that you love everything about Japan – how did you feel when you were approached by iconic brand Sanrio to do a collection?
Most of my projects are linked to character design, since it's the thing I love to do. I can say that the collaboration with Hello Kitty was a huge honour for me, since Kitty is the queen of the Japanese kawaii (Japanese for “cute”) world - the most famous one in the huge ocean of character iconography that contributed to make me crazy about Japan. Since I was very young I loved Hello Kitty and never felt embarrassed about liking something so cute and girly. We collaborated a first season which sold out both in Japan and US. Next up is a holiday season, and then we are extending the contract for another year. We are careful to stock it in a limited number of the best stores to have a top quality of product, and keep the collaboration cool and not too commercial.
Any plans on relocating to Japan?
Not for now, but my goal is to live three months in LA and three months in Japan...then probably I will retire there. At the moment I am too busy and need to focus on my little busy and fast-growing company here in California, so it will have to wait.
2008 saw tokidoki work with Onitsuka Tiger, Hello Kitty and even produce a soccer ball with Mikasa Sports – what can we expect from you next?
We are doing some more seasons with them. We also have some collaborations in single countries (Levi's Taiwan exclusive for example), and headphones with Skull Candy. I want to focus on purely branded tokidoki products, since we are still developing our current lines.
To learn more about tokidoki and their extensive range of products from vinyl figures to collaboration based products check their website tokidoki.it.
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I think the key of tokidoki is the mixture of visual inputs, cultures and perfect blending of opposites living together. tokidoki is like my artistic life diary. I grew up in Italy with a classic Italian background, but I was dreaming about Japan since I had a natural love toward this country’s culture. Moving to LA I got all the typical glamorous, urban streetwear influence from this unique city.
tokidoki is Japanese for “sometimes”. Why did you choose the word sometimes?
tokidoki is a happy world. It is a cute, playful and pure, yet provocative, sophisticated world that I imagine, live and dream of. I chose a Japanese word because I love Japan. I love everything from the ultra-modern, happy face of Shibuya to the serious, magic silence of Kyoto. I chose "sometimes" because everyone waits for moments that change one's destiny…by chance or by meeting a new person…tokidoki is the hope, the hidden energy that everyone has inside, giving us the strength to face a new day and dream about something positive that something magical will happen to us.
The tokidoki family includes angry puppies in spiky cactus suits and cute cows holding guns – are your characters playing dress-ups, or is it more your interpretation of how the world works?
I think they are mostly dressed up to point out in a symbolic way the wrong things of the world we live in. Both of them are symbols of protection (cactus suit and toy gun) and the cow and puppies are both defenceless characters.
It’s no secret that you love everything about Japan – how did you feel when you were approached by iconic brand Sanrio to do a collection?
Most of my projects are linked to character design, since it's the thing I love to do. I can say that the collaboration with Hello Kitty was a huge honour for me, since Kitty is the queen of the Japanese kawaii (Japanese for “cute”) world - the most famous one in the huge ocean of character iconography that contributed to make me crazy about Japan. Since I was very young I loved Hello Kitty and never felt embarrassed about liking something so cute and girly. We collaborated a first season which sold out both in Japan and US. Next up is a holiday season, and then we are extending the contract for another year. We are careful to stock it in a limited number of the best stores to have a top quality of product, and keep the collaboration cool and not too commercial.
Any plans on relocating to Japan?
Not for now, but my goal is to live three months in LA and three months in Japan...then probably I will retire there. At the moment I am too busy and need to focus on my little busy and fast-growing company here in California, so it will have to wait.
2008 saw tokidoki work with Onitsuka Tiger, Hello Kitty and even produce a soccer ball with Mikasa Sports – what can we expect from you next?
We are doing some more seasons with them. We also have some collaborations in single countries (Levi's Taiwan exclusive for example), and headphones with Skull Candy. I want to focus on purely branded tokidoki products, since we are still developing our current lines.
To learn more about tokidoki and their extensive range of products from vinyl figures to collaboration based products check their website tokidoki.it.
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