If you are a music lover you probably have heard of ATP (or All Tomorrow's Parties, taken from the classic Velvet Underground track). It is a long-running curated music festival where the musical performers are selected by a fellow musician or group. They also formed their own record label as well as host several other international events year round. It's an exciting collaborative organization based in London originally founded by Barry Hogan in 1999.
And they have kept the energy flowing with a fun set of 5" limited edition vinyl figures, dubbed "Dolbee". There are 365 of each (one for every day of the annual calendar). These have been released through cooperation with design studio Clown Shoes - and they are styled to reference the infamous cassette tape of yore, and housed in a boom-box cardboard box. Every variation that was created included the shared efforts by toy designer and artists like: Sket-One, Tara McPherson, Mad*L and others. Let's have a look-see at the trio I got:
These guys are cute and odd, and articulate 360 at the arms and feet. The material is a harder shell vinyl, more like plastic, and the well done and colorful in some casses paint application looks to be label decals.
top: Skull (by Sket-One) for Release the Bats middle: KO (by Kathie Olivas) for ATP vs Pitchfork
bottom: Madness (by Jeremy Madl/MAD) for Nightmare Before Xmas
Each designer went to town to animate these figures in a way that would blend something related to the event with their personal aesthetic in a relevant and immediate way. These figures have become scarce and you probably will only find most of these in a small handful of quality vinyl toy shops in low quantities. For instance, I could only locate one design (a good one!) by Michael Motorcycle on Amazon. You will also find these in the secondary market ranging from $19-50 depending on where you look.
If you are an avid collector of vinyl figures (and/or records) these lil' guys will likely appeal to your senses. My only criticism is I wish they had a soundtrack, or a "push play" button with some sound effect, or came with a download code or usb or something to attach it back to the music. The festival has had everyone from Stereolab to Nurse with Wound and everyone in between. Here is a batch of images so you can see the various details on them.....
There you have it. I give these guys a 9 for originality, a 10 for design and packaging -- and a shout out to other clever designers out there to consider like collaborations in the future. Music to my ears. :)
Special thanks to DKE Toys.