Friday, April 03, 2009

chiak chow (eat grass)

It has been a hell of inspiring, adventurous and an incredible week for me! I know my title for the post somehow contradicts to the content, but let just say, all good things does not come in a package. there's always a bad apple or two in the whole bag. 

Remember my last post when I mention that I was undecided about the conference? .....

Well... in the end, I decided to go to both the conference.... SuperMotion and Maximum Minimalism Conference! At both conference, I met a lot of inspiring and world top motion graphic artist, designers and animators. Here goes the list of my favourite speakers at the conference.

1. one of today's most important designer - Stefan Sagmeister, 

Mr Stefan Sagmeister uses a mac

I love his speech and how he share his lessons in life as a designer. He's just an amazing, humble man with a brilliant brain and is also not selfish to share. He has a great sense of humour too! Really a great man and a great designer indeed.

2. My favourite duo from France who is the reason why I decide to pursue the multimedia field 4 years ago and they are also the reason why I fork out RM380 for the ticket, Kuntzel+Deygas. 


the autograph they gave me and they drew the puddle of water below Cap & Pepe to show that it was a rainy day last Sunday

3. Tokyo Plastic 

Sounds Japan-ish but TokyoPlastic is founded by 2 UK fellow. TokyoPlastic stuff is superb and not to mention Sam (the speaker) is kinda cute and cool too! :D Some of you might have seen their work over at MTV and another most famous and recognizable ones will be the Nokia Music DJ ads. 


   


Check out his studio's website too you will definitely enjoy all the head banging! (if you manage to get to their Drum Machine)


4. Fourth favourite on my list is Supernature based in China. They showcased the best interactive multimedia platform I've ever seen. Their work is amazing and 2 guys out of the 3 founders of the company is actually Malaysian. Malaysia Boleh! If any of you were over at Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, you would've probably seen their amazing project for Coca-cola. If not, check out their website.


from left: Billy, Lin Yew, technical guy, Yeoh

At the end of the conference, I went up to Lin Yew and asked him if I could interview him for one of my research paper, and thank god he said yes and gave me his name card! *jumps in joy*
Seriously, as a Malaysian, I am proud of them and what they do and they are just so humble and not selfish to share their work, unlike Hue Visual Lab, a local motion graphic company who was the worst speaker over the two conference and they are very, very COCKY too! 

5. Director Kobayashi



Director Kobayashi sounds like a name belongs to a Japanese guy... but he's not. Ironically, he's an italian living in UK. The world a mess eh? An italian guy with a Japanese name...(FYI, kobayashi is a name he took from a movie. it is supposed to be his nickname or something). His portfolio includes working as a 2D compositor for Hellboy 2, and "The Golden Compass" and the rabbit Sony ad (fake one) which brought him to fame over the internet. He's a very nice and humble guy. In fact, he was overjoyed by being here in Malaysia for the first time. 



I had a good chat with him



6. Next is Mr Koji Morimoto

a legend 


I have no idea who this guy is until I attended the conference. I know it is quite embarrassing but I guess it is excusable since I am not into anime. :P Mr Morimoto is one of Japan's premier animator. He was there to screen and share 5 of his videos which cost RM600+ on dvd. Those video he screen are not trailers but the full length video. His animation is incredibly good and I wish I get to see his 5 videos again!


7. Then there's Shun Kawakami from Artless Inc.

Shun is the guy with the hat


His typography and his designs are simply minimalist and  yet it is powerful and strong! Don't believe? Try isseymiyake's website, he designed it. After the conference, I had a chance and I went up to him to ask him what is his favourite font, and he said "Grosteque". As I predicted, it is a san-serif type! :D Another amazing artwork of his is the art and sound collection. Have you ever enjoyed a piece of artwork while listening to music, or have you ever listen to music and admire a piece of artwork at the same time? Well, this is what Shun did. I went to his exhibition at National Art Gallery, and it is AWESOME! I spent near to 1 hour at his exhibition space just to admire the art while listen to each piece of music for each respective painting that comes with different meaning. Simply marvelous! and not to mention, the design is in black and white (my favourite!)



art and sound

And there were few others such as Umeric, Troika, Rune Entertainment and Chris Bosse from Lava who designed the famous National Olympic Stadium in China.

Besides just the 2 conference over the weekend, my lecturer organised 2 field trips to Capsquare and National Art Gallery for us to visit the exhibition that was up in conjunction with KL Design Week. My favourite from the 2 exhibitions are: 

1. Aya Kato's Earth Dreaming 


the mesmerizing work by Aya Kato is beyond description

2. Shun Kawakami's "Art and Sound"

and that's me, enjoying the music and art....

3. Heath Nash's recycle products



beautiful right? they are made from trash. can you believe it?

3. Don't Panic corner - which I subscribe to and they were giving away packet of "Don't Panic" special envelope for free, and guess what is inside?


Don't panic, just grab one ....

Yup! that's a packet of condom in there. Practice safe sex it says... and one of my friend grab 6-7 packets of it for safety reasons i guess....LOL

4. and last but not least... the Mari Brand booth...
Aren't they cute?

Those are the good things.....But the main reason why I am chiak chow-ing is because I am on financial constraints and also because I am really tired and my assignments are piling up. After spending RM560 on the tickets to the conference, there are also other stuff that i spend on. Such as public transportation to KL for 4 days (hey although they are public transport they are not cheap okay - around RM30 per day), Aya Kato's book, and my subcription to IDN for a year which cost me RM199..... 

sigh.....

really chiak chow.......

Btw, have you seen PrayStation before? If you have not, see the picture below: 



I know this is a long post but i did not say it is short post right on the first place? :P 

Have a nice day!

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