The Toylife of Marine Ramdhani on TOYSREVIL
Bandung, Indonesia based Marine Ramdhani, known on TOYSREVIL as the creator of JOUWE and owner of My Tummy Toys, has passed away on Wednesday October 10th, 2023. Leaving behind his wife and a son he adored. In this blogpost today I'd like to celebrate and introduce folks to the toylife of my dear friend, on TOYSREVIL.
When I first knew of Marine was on multiple toy-forums, where he did his utmost best to engage folks, and as well promote his creations. This was the late-2000s and "social media" as we know today, did not exist. I remembered his "ONE JUST ONE": FIRST EVER ART TOYS EXHIBITION IN EAST JAVA SURABAYA (OCT 22-29, 2008), which I invited him to submit to TOYSREVIL, with event images since posted HERE. Among the customs on his resin figure, was on display the unpainted "master prototype" for what would be his eventual JOUWE vinyl release ... but more on that later, scroll thru to find out!
It was not until 2009, when he and his toy brand MY TUMMY TOYS exhibited in Singapore (for STGCC 2009, where I helmed a booth myself), did I manage to meet Marine in person, and where he invited me to Bandung, and I accepted.
Released during that time were Marine's self-produced "Jouwe Digi Wings", which I was gifted a unpainted black matte version (fkn loved it), and could see and feel for myself the quality achieved by @mytummytoys, when RESIN was starting to be acknowledged, and subsequently blossomed in the toy-scene. I first interviewed Marine on TOYSREVIL in 2009, and even did giveaways! I believed I just have asked Marine of Jouwe's body/belly was inspired by the creator himself :p
My week-long trip to Bandung was one of my most memorable times overseas. Hosted by Marine and housed in the residences behind the Lou Belle shopfront, I had the opportunity to meet the various artists practising in Bandung then, and subsequently had the honor of releasing exclusive editions with, including "BEATUP BOXER - BLACK VALENTINE" Edition with Breeanzz, and "HEART OF LAVA" MINI GOJI with The Yellow Dino.
"2009" was indeed a memorable year, as I was subsequently invited to Munny World Indonesia, and had a Meet&Greet session alongside Marine too!
Introduced to the toy-scene, was the JOUWE vinyl figure, produced by (now defunct) Kuso Vinyl, in collaboration with Plastic Culture. The first colorway released was RED, followed by 3 more (Yellow, Blue and GID). Years later, Marine brought my attention to bootleg-Jouwe vinyls, released in other colorways, which I egged him on to buy up all of them! He did not though.
TOY RELEASE ANNOUNCEMENT
A CLOSER LOOK AT RED JOUWE
ALL RED-JOUWE FEATURES
One of Marine's (toy)pride, was JOUWE being the custom-based for multiple group custom shows throughout the world, starting with FEED MY TUMMY @ Prototype in Hawaii (2009), with Event Pics & Custom Blog-Features to share, cheers.
Group customs show continue in 2010 with CUSTOM JOUWE SHOW @ OUTLAND RECORDS (JAN 15-FEB 14, 2010) in the Netherlands, followed by twin-shows in ARTY FARTY GALLERY (Germany) and TOY ART GALLERY (U.S.A.).
Custom Previews
Event Pictures
Event Images
Customs Preview (on Flickr)
In particular, this show was especially memorable for me, as I had participated in the show (TRE05:RHINO CUSTOM JOUWE), or rather "was supposed to be apart of", but the item missed being collected, and it was mailed back to me, as I was lying in hospital for Stroke recovery (it was completed and mailed out before I fell to Stroke, in late October 2010). I've since kept the custom in memory of it travelling to Germany and back LOL
Marine Ramdhani, creator of Jouwe had this to share with TOYSREVIL-readers: "Jouwe is not just a unique sculpt but can space for everyone," but don't forget this character will always growth like a comics book, Jouwe family will come next year (Plum - Bismarck - Trucker and one more Rhino character that I never post called "Dum Dum"), thanks for all artist who wiling taking a part of this event also Toy Art gallery, Haynmade, You, all blog who always support my work, Win and Josh from Plastic Culture, Jonathan Ma, DKE toys to make my dream happen."
It was a four years' wait, before JOUWE vinyl "returned" to Indonesia, celebrated by a line-up of appearances, including JOUWE WELCOME PARTY" @ ORE PREMIUM STORE (2014) and "JOUWE COMES HOME TO BANDUNG" @ LOU BELLE SHOP (JUNE 27, 2014), with Plastic Culture.
No further colorways were released for JOUWE vinyl, and Marine returned to RESIN, with a newly resized JOUWE in 3-inches tall (seen here in-hand) which was the base for customs from invited artists that would be apart of yet another group customs show for JOUWE CUSTOM SHOW AT #SWDBDG2016 in 2016 (Star Wars Day Bandung)
Besides JOUWE himself, Marine had created a "family", in the form of "PLUM" (Jouwe's "Mother"), and "BISMARCK" ( Jouwe's "Father". Plum was co-created with Aish (interviewed HERE), and reviewed in-hand HERE ... while Bismarck debuted at Popcon Asia 2014.
"Jouwe" evolved into other forms and variations, including JOUWE SHARK / J.SHARK the resin figure(s), and also apart of Capsule Collections with multiple folks - including TOYSREVIL - which made its debut in #POPCONASIA2014 (I have a couple of packs for sale soon).
Through the years, I've only managed to Interview Marine online (2012) and roped in for a TOP TEN TOYS FOR 2014-feature, but his connection to "collectible art toys" waned, as he became more "toy collector" than "toy-designer", to which we continued to bond over, in our various "toy talks" and "Happy Box"-experiences whenever he came to Singapore, for his record label engagements.
The last time I engaged in a toy-sharing was for a #THROWBACKTOYTHURSDAY Feature in 2014, relooking at JOUWE, as well Plum... they were physical manifestations of my dear friend's creativity, creation and efforts, spanning both VINYL and RESIN, and the indie toy-legacy left behind for all to winess and remember, IMHO.
In more recent years, Marine had cocentrated more on his music label @ffwdrecords, a Indonesian based Independent Records Label (Founded 1999). As well he tended to his Insta @marine_ramdhani more, engaging with folks, where toy-forums dwindled in existence, content since vanished in time. I at the very least intend to keep his toy-memories alive here on TOYSREVIL.
I had contemplated posting these, not wanting to seem as if I am soliciting clicks to my blog from a dear friend's passing ... but I also want to celebrate my friend and his life that I know of, with features on TOYSREVIL and shared on Facebook.
Achmad Marin Ramdhani (1975 - 2023).
Rest In Peace, my friend.
Andy TOYSREVIL
