Japan: Design Festa Fall 2013, part 2

Design Festa is one of those experiences that is so surreal, so sensory-overwhelming by its very design and nature that you might have to stop and wonder if someone might have spiked that water somehow. You can explore a labyrinthine space filled with dwarves, nightmare-faced visions, sexy girls in scanty-clothes, murals unfolding in real time and way, WAY more! Design Festa is a twice-annual event where artists from all over the world, though predominantly Asia, come together to showcase their talents and rub-elbows together. As you might imagine, this leads to some incredible collaborative experiences as well as some rather unusual neighbors, like my multi-eyed friend here who was seated near a caricature artist. As the caricature artist was drawing, I watched our friend here hover and observe, making the artist and his model both squirm a bit. Good times, I assure you! Where else would you find a caricature artist from South Korea hanging out and interacting with a special effects artist from Japan? Well, maybe a movie set, but for the rest of us this is the place to meet and mingle!

You don't have to be into large-scale formats to be well-received, nor does your art necessarily have to make sense or even comply with general standards of decency to gain an audience here. Luckily, most of the creators are exceptionally talented at what they do, whether it's manufacturing tiny robots and dioramas or drawing girls shooting rockets out of their genitals. The world is a very big and multi-faceted place, and there's room for everyone's creativity here, or at least that's the attitude the team behind Design Festa tries to bring to the table, and I can most certainly respect that. There's a little something for everyone to be found here, whether you're into decorating your phone cases to look like tasty desserts, punny t-shirts, nightmarish masks, fur-suits, or good old fashioned rope bondage, it's a well-rounded showcase.

There's really only so much I can say about the experience, after all... this is the kind of thing that requires you to bring all your senses to the table, but since you couldn't physically be there with me these photos will have to suffice. Enjoy!

Japan: Design Festa Fall 2013, part one

What do you get when you combine some of Asia's most creative artistic minds together twice a year at Tokyo Big Sight? You get a wildly inventive, incredibly diverse array of outstanding talents and creations mingling together, sharing their crafts and selling their wares as part of the ongoing Design Festa Series! As mentioned above, it's a twice-annual festival, occurring in the spring and again in the fall, allowing artisans from across the land (along with nearby countries) to come and share their passion with each other. Meet and greet many of the creative minds themselves, live and in the flesh! Most of who and what I encountered during my visit to the Fall Design Festa of 2013 was thoroughly awe-inspiring, for the precision and sheer imagination or dedication that went into it, while sometimes it was more confounding or awkward, like school girls with fabulously voluminous hair getting railed by a faceless man who appears to be wearing a device intended to, I think, uhh, collect her fluids? 

Huh. But hey, just because it might not necessarily be my cup of tea doesn't mean it isn't a well-crafted piece of art that will titillate someone else! 

But anyway, here are some sweet elephants, in case you're feeling a little disturbed by the blatant hentai above. Remember, though, that these pieces were all publicly displayed for all to see inside of Tokyo Big Sight, so the artist wasn't trying to hide their creation from curious eyes. In fact, completely the opposite! This event is all about getting your work seen and sharing it with others. One of the coolest things about Design Festa is that it's not limited to one particular type of artistry- if you're into cosplay, there were many people milling about in costumes, from furry to space alien, steampunk pirates to mohawk and studded leather sporting punks. All are welcome, and all art is respected. It's a wild experience, and pretty psychedelic when you stumble down some of the more performance arts-oriented groups laden corridors, but do your best to keep your wits. I know it can be hard with the Japanese rope bondage demonstration in one corner, and the friendly lolitas in the other, but there's a lot to see here!

Given just how much there actually is to see here, I've broken this post into several different posts, and it's still pretty photo heavy. I didn't want to exclude any of it, though, because it's all so fabulous!

I hope you enjoy~