Acclaimed and Award-winning artist, Gary Taxali, partners with Indigo to roll out a line of unique retro wooden toys.
Award winning pop culture artist, Gary Taxali, has partnered with Indigo Books & Music Inc. to roll out a line of six unique retro wooden toys created exclusively for Canada’s national bookseller and available at Indigo and Chapters stores later this month.
This is the first time Indigo has partnered with an artist to create Indigo-exclusive toys. Indigo Kids Vice President, Trevor Dayton conceived the idea to do a retro wooden toy line earlier this year and thought of Taxali after seeing an advance copy of Taxali’s new children’s book, “This Is Silly!”. Coincidentally, Taxali was also looking to create wooden toys, after having successfully launched his own line of vinyl toy figures through his toy company, Chump Toys.
“I’m thrilled to partner with an artist as singular and talented as Gary. The toys he created for us are spectacular! I’m so proud to be able to offer these unique and delightful toys to our customers this holiday. One or two of these toys along with This Is Silly! makes a perfect gift for kids of all ages on your list,” notes Trevor Dayton, VP Kids and Entertainment, Indigo Books & Music Inc.
What separates this line is its timelessness – the market is already saturated with plastic, vinyl, plush and entertainment branded toys, all of which are limited in terms of durability and extended appeal.
Taxali’s unique retro style has appeared on the covers of Newsweek and pages of Rolling Stone, Time, GQ, Esquire and The New York Times. He has previously collaborated with clients such as Sony, Warner Brothers, Nintendo, Levi’s and Converse.
This exciting line of classic collectible retro wooden toys are infused with Taxali’s signature pop culture graphics and designs. They also combine the street art sensibility, 1930’s style packaging and typography that Taxali is known for. Like works of art themselves, with irreverent names like Whirly, Ladder Fun, Flip Floppy, Peck Peck, Toy Monkey Trapeze and Chalk Draw, these whimsical characters showcase Taxali’s signature retro pop art style already seen in his fine art, illustrations, t-shirts, skateboard decks and other products.
The classic toys follow the recent release of his new children’s book, “This Is Silly!” and the book launch/signing which was held at the Art Gallery of Ontario – a hugely successful event selling out of all 300 books in a couple of hours.
The classic toys, along with Taxali’s children’s book, This Is Silly!, and an exclusive, original limited-edition signed and numbered silk screen print will be available at the Taxali toy launch being held at Indigo’s Manulife location on November 27th at 2 pm. Current plans are underway for further products and merchandise based on the book and toys.
For more information on Gary Taxali and the toy launch, click HERE.
About Gary Taxali:
Gary Taxali is an award-winning illustrator, fine artist and toy designer. In addition to working for many clients in the advertising, design and editorial world, he devotes a portion of his time teaching and lecturing at various organizations and schools including Danmarks Designskole (Copenhagen), Istituto Europeo Di Design (Rome) and OCAD University where he serves on the faculty. He has won over 500 awards including a Gold from The Society of Illustrators, a National Gold Addy and Shortlist for a Cannes Lion and in 2009, received a Grammy nomination for Best Package for Aimee Mann's album" "@#%&*! Smilers". He lives and works in Toronto, Canada.
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Posted by: Belstaff Lederjacke | November 10, 2011 at 10:57 AM