Vinyl Toys are not just a fad. They are here to stay and they are crawling into every corner of pop culture. The only problem is that most people just don’t understand them. They look a lot different than normal toys. They cost more, and they can be a pain the butt to track down if you are looking for something that is limited or very popular.
If you really want to understand the ins and outs of vinyl there are very few people in the world who are better to talk to than MD Young, Co-Founder of MINDstyle. While we haven’t had the pleasure of sitting down with him here at the wookie just yet. He did a great interview with the folks over at Vinylpulse.com
Check out this little bit here and then click the link at the bottom to see the whole interview:
The term ‘Art Toy’ is used quite frequently these days. While it sometimes gets used interchangeably with other terms such as “designer toys”, some see it as an indicator of creative quality — a step above so to speak. What’s your take ?
MD: When we entered the market, we were a bunch of collectors with a background in the entertainment business and sales; with an understanding for pop culture and passion for art toys. At the time, the only terms used were urban vinyl or designer toys. What interested us most was the ability to license an artists original work and create quality collectible figures. It was our belief early on that such products were a great way for an artist to expand their fan base and reach a wider audience. Let’s face it, with the world wide web everything is much more accessible and news spreads so much faster. While everyone’s budget does not allows for a purchase of say a USD $10,000 original painting, most fans and collectors would spend USD $100. This had us focusing on the whole art and toy factor. Whereas art posters and art books were readily available of one’s favorite artist, we saw art toys as another product for the artist to reach their fan base and more so, create a wider fan base therefore actually increasing their fine art value and collectibility. The term “art toy” is now loosely applied to roto-vinyl figures or at times used to define a product category.
However here at MINDstyle, we used the term from our inception to define the usage of original art by amazing artists Buff Monster, Kathie Olivas, Brandt Peters, Ron English, Colin Christian, Michael Lau, Cameron Tiede and Doktor A to name a few while producing collectible premium limited edition figures. For this reason, we were one of the first to readily use the term and is the main reason why we branded all our MINDstyle products as “art toys.”
Source: VinylPulse.com