Creativity comes in so many forms and from such a diverse range of people. Not only with new brands like ourselves, but from the corporate world too.
Creative Character Q&A: SkyBlew
Being able to talk to people from all walks of life on their creativity has been amazing. Having discussions with creative characters, hearing about their unique creative experiences is the reason we wanted to do this project. We’re excited about this character in particular as he’s been a big part of the #BeCreative campaign from the start.
Creative Character Q&A: My Mental Health
All types of people have been getting involved in the #BeCreative campaign. The response has been great, and seeing people express their creativity in their own unique way never gets old!
Creative Character Q&A: 64 Million Artists
We believe everyone is creative, so seeing people express what creativity means to them for our 2016 #BeCreative campaign has been amazing! We’ve been able to speak to people young and old with a diverse range of talents, each one a creative character in their own right.
Creative Characters Q&A
We believe everyone is creative so seeing people express what creativity means to them for our 2016 #BeCreative campaign has been amazing! We’ve spoken with everyone from professionals to students, illustrators to cosplayers, and the diversity in creative talent is great to see.
Be A Creative Character
As the co-founders of mayamada, a Japanese inspired character brand, we’ve naturally got big ideas on creativity. We believe everyone is creative but not everyone realises it. We want that to change!
#BeCreative 2016 Campaign Sneak Peek
Last year we launched the #BeCreative campaign with the goal of inspiring and developing creativity in young people. Things got off to a great start with the support of 24 illustrators who expressed what creativity means to them through fantastic artwork. It even got featured on London Live TV!
Cosplayers: What Does Creativity Mean To You?
We’ve enjoyed talking to different artistic professionals about creativity in our new blog series. So far we’ve spoken to illustrators and musicians to get a better idea of what makes them tick creatively.
Popup Runway @ The White Lion
Last month we took part in the first Popup Runway fashion event arranged by Catch Project. It was our first major runway event and something we’re looking forward to being part of in 2015.
We quickly found out how different photoshoots are from runway shows. It’s a little like comparing films to theatre productions. Both take a lot of preparation and can get hectic once things get started, but with a live runway show you only have one chance to get it right. Add a live audience waiting and watching and it’s a whole other experience.
Thankfully, we had a great team of people organising the event to make sure everything went according to plan…90% of the plan at least! From models to hair & make up artists to everyone at the White Lion, everyone played their part to put together a fantastic evening.
As well as mayamada, other brands involved – Ounce Clothing, Strip Clothing, All Thingz Nice and See:Saw Clothing especially – put on a great show and a successful Popup Runway.
Pharrell “It Girl” Video
Running mayamada has given us plenty of opportunity to see all kinds of reactions to the phrase “anime and manga”. There have been some interesting reactions over time, luckily most of them positive.
Although we know anime and manga does have a strong following, it has lived largely outside of the mainstream since the days of regularly watching Dragon Ball Z and Naruto on TV. This despite the massive growth of events like London Comic Con and Hyper Japan.
That’s why it was great to see Pharrell, arguably the biggest music star on the planet right now (sorry Kanye), release a new video for his single “It Girl”. It’s a great visual mix of anime and old school video games, and fun to watch.
Seeing such a big artist delve into our world was a pleasant surprise. But the video wasn’t without controversy and several major websites have highlighted the “Lolita Complex” theme running through the video.
Admittedly, there are parts of Lolita fascination that can be considered creepy to people already familiar various anime and manga subcultures, so it’s easy to see how a mainstream audience would find it so troubling.
But beyond that is the wider implication of anime and manga being discussed in the mainstream at all which shouldn’t be ignored either.
We started mayamada to help increase the awareness of anime and manga, our goal is to show that it’s not a collection of weird stereotypes, but another valid form of entertainment and storytelling. Our line of clothing and comics go some way towards changing perceptions, and we’re always excited to see other people use the style in creative ways.
Between Pharrell’s “It Girl” video and the new Jordan Brand Slam Dunk Collection, the awareness of this part of Japanese culture will only continue to grow and that’s a good thing.
But maybe try using some older characters in your next anime video Pharrell? Just to be safe.
