Co/Mix 2011
We are very busy organising the Co/Mix Exhibition, events program and gallery shop taking place at the National Arts Festival In Grahamstown from 30 June to 10 July. After last year’s Fringe exhibition we vowed to return with something bigger, but even we didn’t know how big it was going to be! We have 26 local and 6 international comic artists and illustrators taking part. If you’re gonna be in Grahamstown for this year’s Fest, you cannot miss it.
Read about it on page 43 and 47 of the Main Festival Booking Kit.
In a little more detail …
CO/MIX 2011 is an innovative group exhibition featuring 26 South Africans and six international artists, each involved in some aspect of comic art and sculpture. CO/MIX is concerned with comic art as an aesthetic form and a narrative platform. It leapfrogs over the barricades that once defended fine art from pop culture, bringing cartoon images onto canvas and fine art works onto usable, wearable surfaces. Drawing inspiration from the Beautiful Losers DIY street art movement, CO/MIX conjoins expressionist comic art with political and underground cartooning and the contemporary visual subcultures of skate, surf, street, hip hop, Indie craft & graffiti, overlaying it all with a passionate concern for aesthetic integrity in the creation of unique art objects.
The exhibition is curated by Andy Mason (CCIBA) and Pete and Elaine Woodbridge (Woo-men Plush Toys) and coordinated by Lieve Vanleeuw (Words & Images). Part of the main festival programme at the 2011 National Arts Festival in Grahamstown, CO/MIX 2011 includes a number of related events, including workshops, seminars and an outdoor graffitti wall. A gallery shop selling merchandise such as prints, t-shirts and toys by the artists will be part of the exhibition.
Recent Trade Fairs – Pics
Here are a couple of pics of our stands at recent trade fairs. First up is Ambiente in Frankfurt which we attended with the DTI during February. The space you see below was designed for us and part of a large South African Pavilion with something like 24 exhibitors. Everything was very well organised by the Germans. It was awesome to be part of an international show and to see the other designer products available. Quite a challenge talking to people from many different countries. The European market is very competitive but Woo-men got a lot of interest from buyers who had never seen us before.
I usually don’t show other products on this blog, but I have to share something gorgeous with you that I found in Frankfurt (not available in South Africa yet). Below is a pic of Puno one of the animal characters made by a company called Zuny. He is a limited edition ‘toy’ made from faux leather and is actually a bookend, stuffed with lead filings or something to make him extra heavy. Visit the beautiful Zuny web site and see them all.
Next up is Design Indaba which we attended right after getting back from Ambiente. We really enjoyed designing and decorating our stand and making it look all homey. We used a warm chocolatey brown paint and added hand-painted ‘Noodles” in white. These are illustrator Pete Woodbridge’s signature icon. The best part was discovering the plastic punnets which we used to display Woo-men on the walls. Our large size toys were a success and we also got to display our one-of-a-kind crochet wall art (usually available at Kalk Bay Modern). It was our fourth Design Indaba and just as busy and fun as ever before.
Woo-men at Design Indaba 2011 in Cape Town
Hooray tomorrow we are setting up for our favourite show in the whole world – Design Indaba 2011. Find us at stand 2027, which is near the Exit. We are so looking forward to 3 days of excitement and inspiration and to meeting more Woo-men fans.
Our full range of Woo-men characters will be on show, with lots of choice, packaged in our new cheap-chic plastic punnets. A couch load of huggable, large toys and whole armies of Mr. Tiny will be waiting to take all your stress away. You can also buy our unique, framed crochet artworks. Illustrated cards by comic artist Peter Woodbridge will also be for sale.
“Design Indaba Expo is a 100% local-is-lekker celebration of South Africa’s ingrained creativity. Advertising, architecture, craft, decor, film, fashion, graphic design, interior design, jewellery, new media, publishing, product design and visual media, are all presented shoulder-to-shoulder.” How absolutely brilliant. You cannot go wrong deciding to spend an entire day hanging out at the fabulous Design Indaba Expo! Read More about it.
Friday 25 February 2011 from 10h00 - 20h00 (On-site tickets sales close at 19h00)
Saturday 26 February 2011 from 10h00 - 20h00 (On-site tickets sales close at 19h00)
Sunday 27 February 2011 from 10h00 - 18h00 (On-site tickets sales close at 17h00)
Adults R60 – Pensioners and Students R40 – Scholars and Children R30 – Kids under 10 FREE
Woo-men at Ambiente 2011 in Frankfurt
The best things about Woo-men
At the start of a new year, and a major marketing push this month with two large expos, it helps to sit down and review our achievements as well as what Woo-men magic is made of. I made the following list:
- The smile factor – We love seeing how people’s faces light up when they see our toys.
- The hug factor – They’re soft to the touch and comforting to hug, for kids and ‘kidults’ alike.
- The coolness factor – Designer comic plush toys are funky items to have in your home.
- The newness factor – Although we have been going for 4 and a half years, we are still brand new in many markets.
- Originality – Woo-men are the unique vision of Pete Woodbridge, comic illustrator extraordinaire.
- Employment – Apart from keeping ourselves really busy, we provide employment for 4 women, and have a zero staff turnover.
- Reasonably priced - Times are tough, but Woo-men are well priced for a collectible art toy.
- Hand made - Discerning customers love the look and feel of expertly hand-made toys.
- Safety – Woo-men have been safety tested and comply with international toy safety standards.
- Zero returns record - We’re proud of the fact that we have never had a single return.
- Export - With the assistance of DTI and CCDI, we are geared for export to anywhere in the world.
We’re really proud to be able to offer this level of service and craftsmanship in South Africa. Look out for my following posts about the shows we are involved in during February.
Visit the Woo-men Studio on YouTube
Check out this video on YouTube.
At the National Arts Festival last year we met an enthusiastic fan who then volunteered to make a video for us! Lauren Minnie was a journalism student at Rhodes University at the time. She subsequently visited our studio in Cape Town and made this video. It shows our studio, daily activities and some of the highly skilled ladies who work for us. It also shows designer/illustrator Peter Woodbridge at work in his studio. The video features original music played on the Hang by Pete Woodbridge.
Crochet Characters
We recently started a special project to embroider Woo-men and other unique comic characters on crochet squares. Each is a completely individual work of art and is crafted by hand. We have had smart frames specially designed for them (not shown here) and each piece is titled and signed. The project takes Woo-men from ‘toys on your bed’ to ‘art on your wall’. This is for someone who wants something very unusual, light-hearted and funky on their wall, and who enjoys the warm look of the woollen stitches.
Woo-men crochet wall art made it debut at Kalk Bay Modern during December 2010 and January 2011 in the Jewelry and Textiles Exhibition and will be on show – and for sale – at Design Indaba in Cape Town at the end of February 2011.
Woo-men Give-Aways
From time to time we have old stock of toys, end of lines etc. that are available as giveaways for charity. If you are a genuine charity organisation in South Africa such as a children’s home, where Woo-men can bring fun and comfort to those in need, you can apply to us and tell us about your requirements. We will decide purely at our discretion whether to give to your organisation. Please be prepared to provide us with proof of your activities as a charity organisation and an article with photographs for this blog if we give products away to you.
Woo Mama in Shweshwe
Woo Mama is our African Mama character. She comes with a separate blanket and baby. Not your average African doll, she is based on our Cherrie character and comes with all the contemporary styling and cute edginess of the other Woo-men characters. She’s had a colourful fleece blanket up untill now, but we’ve just started making her blanket in shweshwe lined with fleece and we love this new, locally inspired look.
New pink eyes
We recently took delivery of a one-off shipment of pink eyes. Some even have pink washers. I am so enjoying having a new colour to play with, especially such a delicious one. As we will probably never get this colour again, all the toys we make now, with the pink eyes, will one day be collectors items!
