Monday, June 7, 2010

R.I.P. Tobias Wong 1974-2010


Freshness write a piece on Tobias Wong in memory of his passing, "In these heady days of information overload, its quite easy to loose sight of the more important news. So on the day of the most important Apple announcement in 2010 thus far, Freshness wanted to honor Tobias Wong, who passed away last Monday, May 30th, at the age of 35. Remembered by the like of Bill McMullen and John Lee of Theme Magazine, Tobias Wong, affectionately known as Tobi by his friends, was born and raised in Vancouver, Canada. After a brief stint in University of Toronto, Wong continued his educational pursue at the prestigious Cooper Union in New York. Though trained as a sculptor, Wong started to hone his skills as an industrial designer, and in time, created one-off products that were also conceptual art forms. It was his provocations and pranks, however, that earned him the title “l’enfant terrible”, “attention monger”, to even worst labels by the design community. An equal opportunity offender, Wong gained the wrath of Karim Rashid when he re-created Rashid’s book, I Want to Change the World, in the form of a gun-shape cutout. Fast food giant McDonald’s wasn’t please either when Wong dipped its coffee stirrer in gold, for his Ju$t Another Rich Kid exhibit. Continued on with his satirical musing, Wong built a factitious storefront in Chelsea neighborhood. Called the Wrong Store, the retail space was filled with exclusive design goods, included a rare KAWS x Medicom Toy BE@RBRICK. With so many desirable products on display, there was one catch, the store was never meant to open. In fact, the sign at the door said it all, , “Come In, We’re Closed.”"

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