adoration

08.28.08

Design Adoration: Tado adoration | be the first to comment!

Everyone that knows me knows that I am a sucker for anything cute, it is a rare occurrence however to find a british designer with a cute style that I find appealing because lets face it Japan does cute the best and most people that try to emulate that level of cute just don’t quite get it.
However a few years ago I came across some designers that I have adored ever since, their style mixes cute and Japanese kawaii elements with elements that have a slightly more sinister edge, creating a style that is very distinctive lies somewhere between adult and childlike. Their work is all about happiness and feeling good, much like the Japanese cute imagery used to make business men less stressed looking at Tado’s work will really really lift your spirits.
Tado are Mike and Kate, two designers that work and live together in dreary old Sheffield bursting out amazing design specializing in illustration, animation, graphic design, toy design and most other things you can think of. Their work has been exhibited around the world and their client list is never ending having worked for big names such as MTV and Nike.
Fortune Pork were one of Tado’s big hits, they were a blind box series of small stuffed toys which featured animal type characters reinvented, each one is incredibly cute some with big smiles, some with big cheeks, and some with big heads. They have been released in different colorways, and you can still pick them up on their websites store, which you should defiantly check out. Albert is so cute!

Right now however Tado are about to launch a new set of blind box items, these figures (a few years in the making) are called ‘Cannibal Funfair’ and again features some of the weirdest and cutest characters you’ll see this side of Tokyo.

Where to get Cannibal Funfair
You will be able to order the series on Kid Robot pretty soon.
And if you want to collect them all then I suggest getting a box of 20 from rotofugi which is an incredibly cute store and well worth a look.
If you live in the UK and want to save on postage then you can pick them up online at Tokyo Toy Store but they will sell out quickly so hurry, hurry!

Lily: The Littlest Cannibal
Magic Pony in Toronto, Canada are holding a special exhibition of Tado’s work called ‘Lily: The littlest cannibal.’

Everything you need to know is here. but for those in a hurry:
Exhibition opens - August 28, 2008 from 7-9pm (with toy signing 6-7pm)
Exhibition runs - August 28 - September 14, 2008

The series mixes their cute style with something slightly more sinister, it is a world of smiley mountains, cute monster mushrooms and all the cute things you would expect to find in a cute cannibal infested forest world. The exhibition itself features a range of media from paintings, to wooden sculpture to plush animals, you can check out the preparations on Tado’s Flickr.
It opens this evening and will mark the launch of the ‘Cannibal Funfair’ series, and the cute blind box figures will be available to but at the Magic Pony store. Mike and Kate will be in attendance at the exhibition doing toy signing! So if you live anywhere near Toronto I suggest you get yourself down to Magic Pony this second, I only wish I could make it but it would be quite a plane journey.

Hopefully one day I will get to meet these guys and bask in the cute love, however until then I will just have to keep saving in the hopes to have enough money to get the entire set of ‘Cannibal Funfair’, and keep checking in the hopes of one day stumbling upon a super rare Giant Albert plush.
I totally suggest you check them out however if you have a spare minute and cute design is your kind of thing, and if you do buy some Cannibal Funfair boxes and end up with a duplicate ‘Piggle’ or ‘Rolo’ I for one would happily take them off your hands. So, so cute!