Interview with Nick Andrews (for Toy Art UK 2018)
(Above: "Toy Art UK"-logo created by Maverick Icons)
I'd had a bit of an online chat with organiser Nick Andrews about the recently concluded Toy Art UK 2018 (Aug 25), and would love to share his thoughts with you!
As the (pop/toy) culture shifts, with weekend events happening with increased frequency in South East Asia and essentially exploding in China, the United Kingdom has thus far a sole dedicated art toy event (in the form of "ToyCon UK") to look forward to, until now.
I am also taking the opportunity to post table-snaps of participating artists - whom you could contact directly for availability of the goodies you see on their tables featured here (*Click on IG image directly linked to the creators, thanks)... ALSO, you might want to check out this Facebook album for more of the event pics since featured here as well! Now, ONWARDS
TOYSREVIL: As the doors closed, tables kept aside for the inaugural Toy Art UK, what was your first feeling? Had you anticipated what had transpired on the event floor, back when you started the journey of organising the event?
NICK ANDREWS: I suppose my first feeling pretty predictably was relief. Everything seemed to have gone to plan and the vendors all wanted to come back again. There was a sequence of events I had picture in my mind over and over, and I think that helped to be honest - having played that sequence over so many times I had prepared myself for most eventualities.
My event partners at Retro Events took away the concern of most of the unknown, because this is what they do many times a year.
TOYSREVIL: How did TOY ART UK come about? What was its genesis?
NICK ANDREWS: This is really difficult for me to pin down, so I am going to say it was born out of a passion for Toy Art and for seeing Toy Art in front of new buyers and collectors. I have always had a real sense that it would be great to see affordable, credible art in peoples homes and to show collectors that having something unique in their home is achievable.
NICK ANDREWS: Toy Art UK came about because of that passion, but also because people in the Toy Art world from all over the world encouraged and supported me. I can't name everyone, and some people don't even know what they did, but I can say that Okedoki, Doktor A and John Stokes are a few of the people who have been extremely instrumental in getting me to take that next step and create the Toy Art UK event.
TOYSREVIL: How long did it take to organise the event? Any hurdles? Any air punch triumphs? Any more numbers you can throw at us?
NICK ANDREWS: So from start to finish the event took around 7 months to put together, and the only real hurdle was my initial confidence that this would work. Once I started to ask the artists everything just rolled into place and fairly quickly we had a fully booked event.
I don't really do air punch triumphs, sorry but that's just not me - the nearest I could get to that would be the tears of joy when I saw the incredible event poster Pete Fowler created for us.
In terms of numbers we had more people through the door than I expected for our first show and I was delighted.
TOYSREVIL: Anything you loved about the event? Anything that you hated? (Or wished “could’ve gone down better?”) Anything you noticed (but did not know before)?
NICK ANDREWS: I learned that people really wanted this event to happen, the UK needed more Toy Art shows and I truly believe hosting the show in the North of England was absolutely the right thing to do for the Toy Art community. To be honest the one thing I noticed more than anything else was the love in the room at Toy Art UK, it was amazing and almost overwhelming.
Not just in terms of the support we had from the artist but also the support the artists gave to each other. From established names to brand new artists everyone was made to feel a part of Toy Art, and my initial vision of no egos and inclusivity was realised in the most spectular way.
TOYSREVIL: What did you learn from the event, that'll help you the next time around ... Anything you are keen to do the next time around? …there will be a “next time around”, yeah?
NICK ANDREWS: I learned on a personal level not to give up and to push on with putting ideas together to create something real. This was hard because like pretty much everyone else in the world of toy art I was having to create all of this as a second job, so for 6 months or so I was averaging 16 hour days for 7 days a week.
There will very definitely be a next time and we are starting to plan that very soon for 2019.
TOYSREVIL: Tell the readers of TOYSREVIL: “Who Is Nick Andrews?”
NICK ANDREWS: I think anyone that knows me will tell you that I wear my heart on my sleeve and I am passionate about everything I do (maybe a little too passionate at times). My background professionally is advertising and print, starting in the late 1980s in the newspaper world.(Caricature by Alex Gallego)
I then moved into digital type at various print and setting houses and finally into digital media of various kinds over the years. Now I create websites for customers ranging from a flooring showroom to a catholic gift shop, pretty much like everyone else I do what I had to do to pay the bills.
Thank You for the time answering these questions, Nick! Looking forward to #TOYARTUK2019 :)
I would also recommend you folks to stay connected via their toyart.co.uk / Instagram / Facebook for updates of current happenings and toynews in the scene.
Cheers
Andy TOYSREVIL
