Old itw made for Toysrevil in 2009... I want to post it here since a long time to not loose it.
YUME The Little Geisha Girl by Plastikmat
By day, French-designer Mat aka Plastikmat [www] works in a toy company, and by night (or rather anytime he's free :p) Mat has created a little geisha girl named YUME. Sporting long jet-black hair with a pierced-bun at back, and an even longer pair of tunic sleeves, Yume could very well be mistaken for the proverbial Chinese Zombie (IMHO) - but for her rosy red cheeks, and silent zen-like stance :)
A 5 inch tall resin personification of Yume is set for a release this coming February 28th, in a White Edition limited to only 9 pcs. Subsequent releases include the Regular Colored Edition (limited to 29 pcs / release on 31st March 2009) and a third Altertoys board-version. Tentative price for White Yume is 59 euros (TBC). Meanwhile, I had a chat with Mat, about the origins and genesis of Yume...
TOYSREVIL: Who is YUME? And How long ago was she created? What's YUME's story?
MAT: Yume has multiple characters revealing herself under various shapes.
Depicted as a little girl destined to become a geisha, a gloomy prospect in her mind, she often looks a little sad. But as any child, she keeps her share of innocence and dream. She imagines a world of her own, with friends making her able to evade her fears of the the real world competition and superficiality.
MAT: Her main ally in this dream, the Dragon, characterizes her need for freedom. Soon, a new human-like character will join her dreams, an asexual friend from whom she need not fear jealousy nor face her own desires, the kind of person she would like to be. This is one of her features I would like to develop in the future.
MAT: As an adult, she’s still melancholic but in a more tired way. She’s not dreaming much anymore and she appears in the full extent of her sensuality. She lives in a much harder world where she’s admired, but not in the way she'd hoped.
TOYSREVIL: I personally like it that Yume's not as "innocent" as she "looks" - which is not a negative-thing, as I feel it imbues her with an added dimension to her character and existence, IMHO ... What inspired the creation and design of YUME?
MAT: Yume was "officially" born 2 years ago, but she started to form in my mind sometime before. As a child, I submerged myself in the European "Bande Dessinée"-like and American Comic Books, which gave birth to my passion for drawing and designing toys as a means of transfering my ideas into the real world. I have always been fascinated by the Japanese culture and the mix of these universes has lead to most of my creations, among which is Yume.
MAT: As a toys fan, I created a project called "Wad & the Wumpsters" - a small boy whose imagination gives birth to monsters, who come to life in the shape of furniture; such as chairs and tables. Aim was to make real product, and realised prototypes. I quickly reached the limits of this project as it gave me a limited scope of creation, especially for drawings.
MAT: Then Yume came, and since then I have continued to discover her strange world and get more fond of it day after day. To make the Yume prototype, I then worked with dgé²; french designer. He made the 3D file, which was really helpful, and it was a real pleasure to work with him on this project.
TOYSREVIL: Is Yume in Vinyl or Resin or...? And will Yume be only in White DIY form? I would love to see (and have :p) her with her black hair and rosy-red cheeks :)
MAT: Yume is in Resin. It was impossible to make it in Vinyl given the limited number of pieces I wanted to create for the first edition.
Yume won’t be released in DIY form for now, the white version was not officially created as DIY. However, some of them will be sent to a few artists for customization.
TOYSREVIL: Looking at the various other drawings of Yume on your blog - Will Yume be made available only in standing form? And when will Yume be released officially?
MAT: For now Yume only exists in standing form. But there is the possibility that other figures will come. I am already working on a new figure .
The WHITE edition Yume will be released on the 28th of February 2009. It is limited to 9 pcs.
A 5 inch tall resin personification of Yume is set for a release this coming February 28th, in a White Edition limited to only 9 pcs. Subsequent releases include the Regular Colored Edition (limited to 29 pcs / release on 31st March 2009) and a third Altertoys board-version. Tentative price for White Yume is 59 euros (TBC). Meanwhile, I had a chat with Mat, about the origins and genesis of Yume...
MAT: Yume has multiple characters revealing herself under various shapes.
Depicted as a little girl destined to become a geisha, a gloomy prospect in her mind, she often looks a little sad. But as any child, she keeps her share of innocence and dream. She imagines a world of her own, with friends making her able to evade her fears of the the real world competition and superficiality.
MAT: Her main ally in this dream, the Dragon, characterizes her need for freedom. Soon, a new human-like character will join her dreams, an asexual friend from whom she need not fear jealousy nor face her own desires, the kind of person she would like to be. This is one of her features I would like to develop in the future.
MAT: As an adult, she’s still melancholic but in a more tired way. She’s not dreaming much anymore and she appears in the full extent of her sensuality. She lives in a much harder world where she’s admired, but not in the way she'd hoped.
TOYSREVIL: I personally like it that Yume's not as "innocent" as she "looks" - which is not a negative-thing, as I feel it imbues her with an added dimension to her character and existence, IMHO ... What inspired the creation and design of YUME?
MAT: Yume was "officially" born 2 years ago, but she started to form in my mind sometime before. As a child, I submerged myself in the European "Bande Dessinée"-like and American Comic Books, which gave birth to my passion for drawing and designing toys as a means of transfering my ideas into the real world. I have always been fascinated by the Japanese culture and the mix of these universes has lead to most of my creations, among which is Yume.
MAT: As a toys fan, I created a project called "Wad & the Wumpsters" - a small boy whose imagination gives birth to monsters, who come to life in the shape of furniture; such as chairs and tables. Aim was to make real product, and realised prototypes. I quickly reached the limits of this project as it gave me a limited scope of creation, especially for drawings.
MAT: Then Yume came, and since then I have continued to discover her strange world and get more fond of it day after day. To make the Yume prototype, I then worked with dgé²; french designer. He made the 3D file, which was really helpful, and it was a real pleasure to work with him on this project.
TOYSREVIL: Is Yume in Vinyl or Resin or...? And will Yume be only in White DIY form? I would love to see (and have :p) her with her black hair and rosy-red cheeks :)
MAT: Yume is in Resin. It was impossible to make it in Vinyl given the limited number of pieces I wanted to create for the first edition.
Yume won’t be released in DIY form for now, the white version was not officially created as DIY. However, some of them will be sent to a few artists for customization.
TOYSREVIL: Looking at the various other drawings of Yume on your blog - Will Yume be made available only in standing form? And when will Yume be released officially?
MAT: For now Yume only exists in standing form. But there is the possibility that other figures will come. I am already working on a new figure .
The WHITE edition Yume will be released on the 28th of February 2009. It is limited to 9 pcs.
