spicy brown's tofu robot
with mondo recent coverage on Spicy Brown's 4"-er tall TOFU ROBOT vinyl figure, on various toy-websites, especially coupled with Junko Natsumi's schweet photography of the mechanized soy protein vinyl-robot on flickr - i had to find out about the origins of the Tofu Robot for myself, and was lucky enough to have a wee chat with his designer; Kazuko Shinoka :)*read the mini-interview after the jump*
TOYSREVIL: so which came first, the tee shirt or the vinyl toy?
KAZUKO SHINOKA: t-shirts came out first.
TRE: when did Tofu Robot "come alive"? btw, is it a "he" or "she"? LOL
KS: it was in the Summer of 2005 ... the green Extra Firm robot, is a "he" :)
TRE: what was in your mind when you conceptualized+designed the Tofu Robot? what inspired the design?
KS: When Spicy Brown started, we wanted to create characters that have cool/cute style with Japanese taste. Here in the US, Sushi, Miso soup, tea, Edamame, Tofu, and Tempura are the most known Japanese/Asian food.
KS: Spicy Brown gave me some ideas to do some design for Tofu. Since I love Tofu and Edamame, I created Tofu Robot for boys, and Tofu Rabbit for girls. When I thought about Tofu, cubic/lego kind of images came up, and Edamame looked like ears of rabbit.
TRE: Tofu Rabbit is darn cute and would make a cool vinyl toy too, IMHO :) ... so you really like tofu, huh?
KS: To me, Tofu is such a source of the positive energy and life. It's so soft and simple, but so nutritious, and can cook with anything.
TRE: coolness. does Tofu Robot have anyone else in his "family" we can all look forward to? are there any plans to add to the toy series, or even a variant edition?
KS: Yes. Tofu Robot has brothers and sisters! Medium Tofu Robot (Blue-brother) and Soft Tofu Robot (Pink-sister) are coming out soon. Also we are planning to different kind of Tofu like "stinky Tofu", but at this moment, I am not that sure, but I believe co-branding with other designers are coming out soon.
TOYSREVIL: more Tofu Robots? COOL! LOL - thank you for your time and answers, Kazuko! hope to see the robots soon :)
KAZUKO SHINOKA: Thank you Andy! I am glad that you are interested in my vinyl toy tofu robot :)
[image source: Spicy Brown / MPH / Junko Natsumi's flickr]
