This week we took a nice side-trip to Chicago for the sites, the flavors, the toy ambience. This was part and parcel the end to a first-time visit to Rockford, IL (home of Cheap Trick and a quaint downtown with lots of older architecture) for business purposes. And, as usual, the Windy City did not disappoint. This was partly due to a constitutional visit to the incredible vegan palace that is the Chicago Diner where we truly feasted like mini kings. I will never visit the metropolis without at least knoshing there.
We grabbed tea lattes at Argo and stopped to visit friends and take in their spectacular view of downtown. From there we shuttled to our overnight stay at the Hotel Chicago, a somewhat fancy boutique deal we nabbed online. Later that evening, despite the frosty air we stepped out for a pie at Lou Malnati's which was just perfect for a serious warm-up (get the butter crust people!). But the pièces de résistance were to be found at Chicago's premiere toy emporium, Rotofugi!
THROUGH THE THICK OF IT: Further through the wicked cold temps (it was 5°F when we arrived) it was nice to meet proprietor Kirby Kerr and chat about the shop some. The fairly expansive store was chock-full o' goodies. He was at work installing the last minute touches on this month's new show from Shawnimals Plus Ninjatown and an adjacent exhibition by Finnish artist Daria Tessler which seemed somewhat dwarfed by the vast gallery space that certainly would (and has) best host some fairly sizable sculptural type work. He was just putting out the brand-new and colorful Eeensy Charms - a collab from Rotofugi and Squibbles Ink. I'm pretty sure I got the first sneak peek at these and here's a shot of what they look like.
I was strangely attracted to the small show by Shawnimals which was just beside the front counter, representing a decade of work. These were mostly small soft sculptural plush pieces and a few pencil sketch drawings for good measure.
THEY GOT IT ALL! The shop was very well appointed with a vast array of collectibles in all ranges, sizes, and materials. They feature everyone from Awesome-Toy to Playge/Ferg to Alex Pardee to Luke Chueh to Mighty Jaxx to Horrible Adorables (loved the display wall). They also stock a vast selection from Funko and Kidrobot (they had the new Warhol plush pieces already!) to round things out for locals looking for an affordable option among other eye-poppers. Some of my favorites were objects by Gary Baseman, Coarse, Chris Ryniak and Michael Lau.
They stock everything from enamel pins to minis to larger scale figures. It's a great shop and when visiting Chicago, this is a must for any collector of adult collectible art toys for sure. The super-size Coarse piece in the front window, alongside their many Designer Toy Awards encased in the display were impressive! Here's a smattering of what we saw and did while trying to fend the freezing digits outside!
CHICAGO CHICAGO - a hell of a town! Our travels may take us up there again reasonably soon. Great eats and fancy toys abound, and the best skyline in the country bar none. The architecture is perfectly varied, old and new. Even with my thick knit cable scarf wrapped around my face it was a challenge walking only a few city blocks without the feeling of chaffing setting in quickly, so good thing the strong wafts of rich chocolate followed us for a nearly ten minute power sightseeing ritual thanks to the neighboring Blommer Chocolate Company that we couldn't see, but certainly sensed! Best unexpected moment by far, it actually warmed me up some. And our other sightseeing rounded out the trip quite nicely!
