Interview with Smallstuff Pepe

With the advent of Facebook and Twitter, and other likewise social-online-connectors, the notion of "self-promotion" is heightened in this age, where the cloud viewed in-front (on a daily basis) is filled with so much "noise", it sometimes is defeaning - even coming from someone who plies his daily trade amidst the "noise-cloud". But the fact of the matter is, as much self-made activity is out there, there will come a time soon when folks will learn to wade thru the clutter, and discover for themselves, who are indeed the ones to look out for. One such person is Switzerland-based SmallStuff Pepe, who lets his work speak for themselves moreso than constant "Check me out"s. Today we have a little toyheart-to-toyheart, about where's he's from, what he's done and what to look out from him, in the very near future :)

TOYSREVIL: Tell us *Who is SmallStuffPepe? Designer or Artist?* Who are you? Please Do describe yourself and your work to people who still do not know. And why "Small-Stuff"?

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: I'm a Swiss based Designer. I live in Zurich and during the day I work as an architecture model maker. At night, I love to create my own toys out of wood, resin and vinyl. My wood designs are usually very simple. I love clean forms and tend to lean towards minimalism. With my resin work i use a more fun loving and playful tone.

With my vinyl customs I like to drift into a fantasy and mystical world. As you can see I love to dip my toe into all the different toy making disciplines. As for the name "SmallStuffStudio", it is kind of an overall term for my designs because i usually work in a pretty small scale.


TOYSREVIL: How did you get into the current scene (online) and how long have you been in action? And how long do you imagine to take yourself?

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: All started about five years ago with my first completely handcrafted resin toy series. I designed a small creature named DATAHUNTER. It was a multi-part resin series I made from scratch with a tiny USB flash drive in his belly. At the time I  didn't have any experience. I learned a lot about prototyping, molding, casting, painting and packaging with that project. I did  about 150 pieces. It was a lot of work but quite a success. Up until that point I had never heard about art toys before, but through creating this little guy my interest in the designer toy scene was sparked and soon i was completely addicted!



SMALLSTUFF PEPE: From  then I began to learn more about toys and soaked up all the info on the forums & blogs like yours! I had a blast with twitter which is totally unknown here in Switzerland. It is such a great way to talk with all the amazing artists & toy related folks out there. 

TOYSREVIL: One of the magic of online connectivity is places like Singapore and Switzerland can be connected! (And as well be able to share our collective "addictions" too LOL). How is the scene in Switzerland? Particularly the toy and lowbrow art scene. And how does the vibrancy (or lack) of the scene affect or influence you as an artist?

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: The Swiss art toy scene is very small and there are only a hand full of artists who work on their toy ideas. We have a lot of great designers and an interesting art scene too but usually it takes a few years until a particular design trend finds its niche here in Switzerland.


[Ancient Critters by Pepe]
SMALLSTUFF PEPE: I know a few plush designers and one or two mates who are doing customs but sadly that's it. But no worries i'm not unhappy here :) However, I do live in a small country so for me the the best way to decide where I was going with my designs was to focus worldwide, mainly US and UK.


[Early Plush by Pepe]
TOYSREVIL: Nice to see your vision set for beyond the horizon! No one "dreams" out of "nothing". We all react to seeing and/or experiencing someone/something, and dream forth from there, IMHO. What and who influences you? Who are your heroes/heroines? And how do they affect you?

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: I take the inspiration for my toys from all kinds of sources. Anywhere from street art to classic industrial design. I love art nouveau, pure modernism, japanese wood prints, and digital artwork. I have a wide range of influences and I always keep my eyes open to new exciting stuff! To be honest i don't have personal heroes and idols. But I do like to stay informed about what other toy designer are working on through blogs & twitter.

But if I were to choose from within the toy world then the true heroes for me are all the people out there who share the same passion as me and love to exchange experiences. It's beautiful to see how the scene holds together. One of the most amazing things is to be able get to know artists on twitter or through a online contest. Hopefully I can meet them all someday in real life!

Just had the opportunity to meet Seattle based kajiu & resin cupcakes loving Jon from "Rampage Toys" in Munich not late ago. And last week i was on a trip to Paris and got to meet the lovely and very talented artist couple Julia & Guillaume from "ArtMyMind". These peoples and all folks out there who support me and my work are my true heroes!



TOYSREVIL: We've seen designs from you, with a distinct clarity of form and shapes. And especially impacted with me are your HEARTWOOD figures (shown above) - What is your notion of conception, actually? How do you approach a design, creation, and ultimately execution?

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: I do a lot of doodling and sketching. I notate ideas on my sketchbook or while I am doing online research about a particular  theme i'm working on. But when it comes to creating a new toy design, I begin with an idea straight from my head that i try to transform it into the three-dimensional form. I just start sculpting on a chunk of clay or chop a plain wood block into shape and see where this takes me.


SMALLSTUFF PEPE: I rarely use plans or exact dimensional drawings when working on new designs. Ultimately though, the clarity of the final form and shape is an essential part for me because when designing a new toy is always important to create a form that is appealing and best production wise too.  


TOYSREVIL: I like that you mentioned "clarity" - the distinct ability to see what it is you are working towards, IMHO. Do you collect toys yourself? Who do you collect? And who do you want to collect?

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: Yes I have a small toy collection. I would say i don't collect like a maniac (my girlfriend would maybe say otherwise ;) but from  time to time I stumble upon a new toy that i just have to have! But I don't have a favorite artist that I need to have all his pieces on my shelf.

For me the toys that means a lot to me are the ones that i get from other artist and toy designers from all over the world as a gift or through a toy swap! Then I have a personal bond to the piece because I know the artist that stands behind that product. That means a lot to me.


TOYSREVIL: The "personal touch" = one of the swell reasons "toys" carry more value than commercially purchased, IMHO. Do you ever want to mass produce your own creations? And/or have your designs being produced by others? And I mean mass production versus the limited amount of toys you already do produce.

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: Good question, to be honest a year ago i would have done anything to get one of my designs produced in vinyl and do a large series overseas. This attitude has changed a bit now. Of course i'm always looking forward to reaching more collectors with my work and making my figures available for a larger audience. But right now, I just love producing my own toy designs in these very limited handcrafted series.

I think the small imperfections, the slightly different shapes and light sanding scratches on each  toy gives them that handmade and unique touch. It is something very personal. In this way, each one is a one of a kind piece of artwork.


[Above: WAAGHBLOCK Wood-Toy / Below: AARGHBLOCKs]

TOYSREVIL: You hit the nail smack-dab on the head with that remark, IMHO. The charm is in the imperfections, while the perfectness reside in factory-line work lol - Share with us something about SmallStuffPepe that people may not already know about?

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: Hm... well I don't think many of your readers know me and my work yet, so it's just great that i can share my stuff with you. Other than that i don't have any crazy hobbies like free-climbing or anything like that. At the moment my days are spent building architectural scale models of airports, train stations and skyscrapers and in my spare time i work on my toy ideas and try to stay informed about the latest buzz in the art toy scene, that's what i love to do and it's at least as exciting as free-climbing! :)


TOYSREVIL: Dude - one look at my potbelly and you will KNOW I have no affinity with "freeclimbing" so tis al good for me hahaha - Now enough with the "pleasantries"! Do share with us something about SmallStuffPepe that you do not want people to know about?

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: Haha, a tricky one...Nearly no one in the toy community knows what I look like besides the few who I have had the chance to  meet so far! Not that i'm very shy but i like to show my toys & stuff and not push me as person into the spotlight. Maybe that's also one of my weak points, i'm not that good at promoting myself: so here i am! ^___^

TOYSREVIL: Pleased to meet you Pepe! Self-promotion seems one of the ways to got around these days - as simple as emailing folks what you have - and it doesn't need your smiling face to get done! LOL Congrats on Winning the CTU Battle Bracket for two years running! How is that like? Would you like to describe your creations? And are they a small part of something larger? Or just done for the contest?


[Above: CTU Battle Bracket Winner / Below: Winning custom of Battle Bracket 2]

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: Thanks a lot. Actually i do custom platform toys very rarely. I usually start from scratch with my toy ideas so in most of my projects i work more as a toy designer rather than a customizer. I do love to customize blank vinyl once in a while and always use pretty extensive sculpting work before painting up my customs. I'm so honored that i could defend my title with my 2.5" Qee "Keeper of Sotek" custom at the CTU Battle Bracket! There were again so many amazing entries, that really meant a lot to me! 


SMALLSTUFF PEPE: My approach is to create kind of a mystical & ancient character but still try to let the original toy shape shine through in some way. I love competitions and this is why i love to partake in the contests & shows where so many talented people come together to share the best of their work. 


[Gobo Skully Custom]
TOYSREVIL: Tell us, why should we be looking at, and procuring works from SmallStuffPepe?

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: I have a lot of new stuff lined up and a few very exciting collaborations already planned. The watchful readers probably already know that I have teamed up with the amazing UK based resin bot creator Cris Rose for a wood series that will be released very soon! We really like how these turned out and hopefully you'll love them too!


[OCCTOBOBBA resin toy by Pepe]

SMALLSTUFF PEPE: I am also working on a larger series of my 4.5" resin OCCTOBOBBA's. Also some new wood guys will pop up at my online store for sure. Besides that i'm looking forward to building my own wood workshop, doing commissions and working on my new "SmallStuffStudio" webpage that will include a lot of Tutorials about making toys & tools! Did i mention that i love to make toys yet...?! :D 


[Early-Release of PearGirl by Pepe]

web | www.smallstuff.ch
mail | pepe@smallstuff.ch
twitter | @smallstuffpepe
facebook | smallstuffpepe
flickr | http://www.flickr.com/photos/42427251@N04