Thanks to @strangecattoys for inviting me to an upcoming custom show in Tampa.

It was such a fun project, working on Kaws’s iconic character, “Companion.”

The most challenging thing was to customize it without changing the original shape or platform but I’m glad I was able to make it work.

This exhibition will feature 29 artists and customizers that will use a replica, 16 inch @Kaws Companion as their canvas.

Each one-of-a-kind figure will be on display and available.

You do not want to miss this show or your chance to grab one of these masterpieces.

The KAWS Custom for Misappropriated Icon 2 event will be held at the All City Gallery in Tampa, Florida on March 16th at 5pm.

KAWS has done it again! This is their second collaboration with Sesame Street and Uniqlo.

This time around, they dropped a full line of plush toys — Bert, Ernie, Big Bird, Cookie Monster, and of course, the lovable Elmo.

KAWS reimagined the classic Sesame Street characters with his signature X’s for eyes. I was lucky enough to get my hands on the KAWS x Sesame Street Toy Complete Box Set during their 50% off sale. They sold out quickly.

Only the complete box set comes with the special cardboard box.

The tissue paper even had the KAWS x Sesame Street pattern on it.

Each plush toy came individually wrapped in tissue paper.

Each one is about 20 inches tall.

This is what they look like in the box.

I’m super happy with my purchase!

Edited by Larnna Thompson

Our next stop was to find dessert. Budi suggested this gelato place, Gusto Gelato & Caffé. It’s one of the most famous gelato shops in Bali and had a lot of great reviews.

The line was super long and had many tourists, waiting to try this place.

There were so many delicious gelato flavors. They had fruit and herb flavors. My personal favorite is fruit.

They have a nice outdoor patio.

I ended up ordering mango with matcha.

Thank you to Josh and Budi for introducing me to this awesome place! It’s definitely worth checking out.

Address: Jl. Mertanadi No.46B, Kerobokan Kelod, Kuta Utara, Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesia

Phone: +62 851-0052-2190

Edited by Larnna Thompson

After arriving in Bali, we visited the Best Nasi Babi in Bali called Pak Dobiel Nusa Dua.

On the way to the place, I saw a lot of beautiful temples.

At one of the restaurants we stopped at, I enjoyed the pork and soto.

The chilis were very spicy so make sure you remove them if you can’t handle spicy food. Overall, it was a great day of exploring.

Address: Jl. Srikandi No. 9, Nusa Dua, Benoa, Kuta Sel., Kabupaten Badung, Bali 80361, Indonesia

Edited by Larnna Thompson

I want to thank Budi for helping me out on my first trip to Bali.

I was super excited to visit Bali this time around and made sure I had a couple of extra days to spend there. After a busy schedule in Surabaya, we met with Joshua in Bali.

To Bali from Surabaya, it took less than an hour by plane. While in the air, we were able to see many mountains and islands.

This is the view of Bali before we landed.

A few quick pics of Bali airport.

When we arrived, Budi showed me a place called Roti’o, which is an Indonesian franchise that makes awesome freshly baked bread. It was great for a quick bite.

There was no traffic.

We arrived at our villa and it looked amazing!

We had our own private pool in our villa.

After settling down, we planned to go on more food adventures, so be sure to check out more of our Bali adventure.

Edited by Larnna Thompson

Budi took us to try a local Soto, which is a traditional Indonesian soup mainly composed of broth, meat, and vegetables.

Many traditional soups are called Soto, whereas foreign, some Sotos are named based on the town or region where they are created which means a different place may have their own flavor depending on the ingredients.

Freshly grilled satay.

The inside of the restaurant was like a street vendor cart.

I also tried the Es Blewah, an Indonesian cold, fruity drink with cantaloupe strips and cocopandan syrup.

The Indonesian Yellow Chicken Soup (Soto Ayam)!

The “Teh Botol” was my favorite iced tea.

The price was inexpensive and the food was really good. I highly recommend checking this place out.

Edited by Larnna Thompson

After a great breakfast from threeOsix Specialty Coffee Brewers, we headed to Forward Factory, where a local speaking event was being hosted to support the local community.

The start up company scene is huge right now for so many young people who want start a new business based on what their passionate about.

While in Surabaya, I was able to speak about the creation of the Maihiro brand, alongside friends who wanted to share their insight on creating their brands. My friends each shared their own story and experiences on how their brands were created and developed.

I was joined by Natasha Victoria Lucas, food stylist; Indra G. Masribani, toy artist/blogger; and Budi Tandiono, toy distributor/owner.

Natasha’s love of food, photography, and travel led her to begin her own food and travel blog, YummyTraveler.com, five years ago. She also does Food Styling & Photography and has worked with many reputable restaurants such as, Union Group, Opco Group, and Pullman Hotel. Currently, Natasha has her own culinary television show, named after her blog, “Yummy Traveler,” which has been aired on the Foodie Channel (First Media).

Founder of Toykultur.com, Indra G. Masribani, is a Bachelor of Art graduate from Curtin University Australia. Indra has been drawing doodles on the back of his notebook since middle school and fell in love with designer toys such as Trexi and Mad*L. Indra has been actively collecting toys since 2010. He doodled his own character, Gacha, in 2014 and made it into a figure that same year. He then released the first colorway in March 2015.

Toy distributor/owner, Budi Tandiono, has a bachelors in marketing and a diploma in filmmaking. He is a husband and father, blessed to have a wife that supports his hobby of collecting toys. Although Budi is still new at collecting toys he enjoys learning about the toys he collects and is also a film and movie enthusiast. Budi is also co-owner of Plastic Culture.

I was really impressed with the space. It was very nice and clean.

The sign showed a quote from Gandhi.

Inside had a very industrial vibe with a nice installation and mural.

Thank you to Rendy for coming.

Thank you to the event host, Ria Lyzara.

I was the first person to speak.

I’ve always loved Disney’s vision.

Indra talked about his toy journey.

BOT, brotherhood toys

The next speaker was Natasha.

Budi talked about how he turned toy collecting into a business.

Thank you to everyone who came out to support this event. A special thanks to Surabaya Start Up and Forward Factory.

Also, be sure to check out more info from our friends, TTC:

StartSurabaya – Cultivating a Creative Brand – Nakanari x Plastic Culture x Yummy Traveler x Indra G

Edited by Larnna Thompson

This was by far the best suckling pig dish I’ve ever had in Surabaya. The Babi Guling Ibu Ayu Komang was delicious!

Thank you to @buditandiono.

Address: Jl. Karang Empat Besar No.3, Ploso, Tambaksari, Kota SBY, Jawa Timur 60133, Indonesia

Phone: +62 812-4608-5758

Edited by Larnna Thompson

Awhile ago, Maihiro got invited to be apart of a Dunny mini series.

We received their official template and they allowed us to design our signature Spiki on it. Here’s the concept for the Spiki Dunny.

Here is the control art for the design, there were 2 versions of the design, both of which were rejected. They then asked me to send in more designs, which we declined to do because we believed that our approach was what worked best for our brand.

However, a few weeks later, Kidrobot reached out to us and told us we were chosen to be in the 2012 series and that our design would be 1 of 50 ration, which means that for every 50 boxes, there would only be one chance to get the Spiki Dunny.

Working with Kidrobot has always been very professional and we always receive quick responses from them.

Here’s the updated sculpture.

The process includes a lot of back and forth each time something is added.

We tried to match the scarf to our original Spiki design.

After that, we received the pad print sample with the details.

Here is the testing sample for the scarf.

We showed them the crawl detail from the hand painted Dunny.

Here is the final Spiki sample for approval.

Kidrobot also promoted the series with a trading party so I was able to fly to L.A. and met some awesome friends and supporters who stopped by the event. Pictures from the event to come.

Some of the other artists, I’ve known for a very long time.

We had artist proof sets that sold out on our website in less than a few minutes. Thank you to everyone who purchased them.

Each set came with a print and custom made Shurikens and samurai sword.

This was such a fun project. We learned a lot from working with a big client like Kidrobot.

I was really happy with how everything turned out. It was a dream come true.

I hope we can work with them again in the future. Stay tuned for the next post for the Dunny trading party in L.A.

Edited by Larnna Thompson